54 | mup 1|2013 English Abstracts Effects of Equine-Assisted Activities and Therapies on Psychological Functions in Children and Adolescents: A Meta-Analysis Nora Winkler, Andreas Beelmann The effectiveness of equine-assisted activities and therapies (EAAT) on children and adolescents in terms of psychological benefits has ever been investigated in one US-American meta-analysis by Graves (2011). A meta-analysis involving EAAT studies from the German and English-speaking worlds has not yet been undertaken. Apart from the overall effect size, a number of factors were examined to identify beneficial components of EAAT as well as the methodological quality of the studies. Overall, EAAT was found to have a moderate to large effect on psychological domains with Cohen’s d =.64, generated from 19 studies. Furthermore, the analysis revealed a significant increase in effectiveness the longer the duration of treatment carried out, as well as the tendency that therapies held in a group setting produce higher effect sizes compared to individual settings. With regard to methodological factors, it was found that studies with a poor quality design had significantly higher mean effect sizes than those of high quality. In addition, the analysis indicated objective research instruments such as standardized tests and physiological measures as most suitable for assessing the effectiveness of EAAT. The present study illustrates quality research is still needed in this field of research, but previous results are promising. Keywords: equine-assisted therapy, therapeutic horseback riding, effectiveness, meta-analysis, children, adolescents Horsebased Psychomotricity - Groundwork as a method for the development of psychomotor competences Elke Haberer, Melanie Ploppa Psychomotricity have always been connected to several different job groups and areas of expertise. The present study takes a new line to those facets, analyzing the groundwork component within the concept “psychomotricity with horses” and its potential to nurture psychomotor competences in children. By means of video-based observational study, several situations in groundwork with children were analyzed and examined for possible uses in developing motoric, cognitive, and social competence. Groundwork offers diverse experiences with material-related, body-related, and social situations. Provided that these experiences are made in an environment of psychomotor procedures, the methodology of groundwork is very suitable for the development of psychomotor competences. Keywords: horsebased psychomotricity, psychomotor development, groundwork, material-related, body-related, social experiences English Abstracts