e-Quino is an interactive videogame being developed to complement equine therapy for children and teenagers with neurological disorders. The game is being created by a multidisciplinary team to recreate the feeling of well-being provided by equine therapy sessions at CEDICA for times when in-person sessions cannot be held. It will include activities like guiding a horse through an obstacle course and tossing balls into rings that provide feedback to emphasize achievements to the player. A pilot test of the game is planned with 24 students classified with conditions like Down syndrome and autism.

2. e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to
Complement Equine Therapy
Javier Díaz
Claudia Queiruga
Tomás Arce

3. CEDICA
Centro de Equitación para Personas
con Discapacidad y Carenciadas
CEDICA is a provincial reference center in equine-assisted
therapy and activities located at the racetrack of the city of
La Plata, Argentina (http://cedica.com.ar/).
CEDICA is a nonprofit association founded in 1994.
Its MISSION is to equalize opportunities and favor
family reintegration, schooling, professional insertion
and integral improvement in the quality of life of its
patients.
Currently, CEDICA has over 100 student-patients, mostly
children and teenagers, from all over La Plata and nearby
cities, and from very different sociocultural backgrounds.
The rehabilitation activities in CEDICA take part once a
week.

4. Videogames in Health
Serious games dealing with health issues are
a growing field.
PlayMancer Project: it is an initiative to develop a video
game for treating specific mental disorders. The game is
specially developed to help patients recognize their
emotions, regain self-control, train certain movements and
relax specific muscles.
iSocial Project: it is a three dimensional virtual learning
environment for teaching social competence to youths who
have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders
(ASD).
LIFEisGAME: It is a serious game to teach people with
Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) to recognize facial
emotions.

5. e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to
Complement Equine Therapy
e-Quino is a video game that recreates equine
therapy performed with children and teenagers
with neurological development disorders at
CEDICA.
Goal: to recreate the feeling of well-being equine
therapy gives to CEDICA student-patients,
whenever the actual activity cannot be
performed.
e-Quino is being developed by a multidisciplinary
team composed of highly-trained therapists with a
background in equine-assisted activities and
therapy, educators, doctors, programmers and
designers specialized in 3D art.

6. e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to
Complement Equine Therapy
Activity 1: the player guides the horse, walking, past a mound

7. e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to
Complement Equine Therapy
Activity 2: the player must guide the horse, this time at jog,
through the main course without changing the gait

8. e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to
Complement Equine Therapy
Activity 3: the player rides the horse through a fenced area

9. e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to
Complement Equine Therapy
Activity 4: the player chooses an object of a certain color
from a basket and takes it to the indicator of the same color
across the field

10. e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to
Complement Equine Therapy
Activity 5: the player zigzags through dice on the ground

11. e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to
Complement Equine Therapy
Activity 6: the player tosses three balls to a ring located at
the height of the rider

12. e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to
Complement Equine Therapy
Each activity provides congratulatory feedback to
the player to emphasize their achievement.

13. e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to
Complement Equine Therapy
We are currently developing a pilot
test with 24 student-patients
classified in: 8 diagnosed with Down
Syndrome, 6 with Pervasive
Developmental Disorder, 7 with
mental retardation and 3 with
developmental delay

14. e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to
Complement Equine Therapy
e-Quino shows the important
role that technology such as
serious games and immersive
reality can play for inclusion of
people with different needs in our
society.