Horses have always played an important role in Brazil. Even today, they are still widely used for work in rural areas and in situations where cars and other vehicles cannot easily replace them. But their role goes far beyond transportation and manual labour. In some cases, horses can do something that machines simply cannot: help people through therapy.

One example is hippotherapy, a therapeutic approach that uses interaction with and movement of horses as part of rehabilitation and development. This month, we visited several hippotherapy centres with our volunteers and were deeply impressed by the work these horses do and the impact they can have on people’s lives.

It reminded us of a beautiful passage by the Brazilian writer Jorge Amado, which we chose as our Portuguese quote of the month. In the passage, a child is asked what the best thing in the world is and gives several answers before finally discovering the answer: a horse.

— Você sabe qual é a melhor coisa do mundo?
— Qual é, minha tia?
— Adivinhe.
— Mulher…
— Não.
— Cachaça…
— Não.
— Feijoada…
— Não sabe o que é? É cavalo. Se não fosse cavalo, branco montava em negro…

English translation:

— Do you know what the best thing in the world is?
— What is it, Auntie?
— Guess.
— Women…
— No.
— Cachaça…
— No.
— Feijoada…
— No. Don’t you know what it is? A horse. If it weren’t for horses, white people would ride Black people…

The quote reflects the historical importance of horses in Brazil, while our visit to the hippotherapy centres reminded us that their role continues to evolve. Today, horses are not only part of Brazil’s history and rural life — they can also be partners in therapy, rehabilitation and human development….”