Animal-Assisted Therapist (Equine / Canine)
🐴Runs sessions with horses or dogs for children with cerebral palsy or autism and adults after injury: riding builds muscles, a dog helps with speech and calm.
Prospects & pay
What the work is like
💼 Job market
🇺🇸 $66.5k a year on average
Other therapists, including exercise physiologists — US: Census ACS 2020–24 (full-time), BLS projections 2025–35
🇬🇧 £37.8k median a year · 15,000 jobs
Therapy professionals n.e.c. — UK: ONS ASHE 2025 (full-time)
🤖 AI & automation
Technology can't replace a living animal and a trainer who reads both the patient and the animal.
Who it suits
Interests: 🐾 Animals, 🤝 Helping and caring, 🏃 Sport and movement, 🧠 Psychology.
Key strengths: understanding people, strength and stamina.
Where to study
- Bachelor's Physiotherapy, Occupational Therapy or Psychology degree
- Course Hippotherapy certification (AHA, US) / Riding for the Disabled coaching (UK)
- Course Animal-assisted intervention / therapy dog handler courses
Key school subjects (A-level / IB / AP): Biology, Psychology, PE.
🧗 Usually a core profession first — physiotherapist, occupational therapist or psychologist (3–4-year degree) — then hippotherapy or dog-assisted courses. In the US hippotherapy is done by licensed therapists.
Universities
🇬🇧 United Kingdom
- King's College London London
Non-UK foundations not accepted, only King's IFP; nursing: interview, English Band B; medicine and dentistry: UCAT - University of Southampton Southampton · €39k/yr
IELTS 6.5 (6.0 each); Attestat + foundation; Earth Sciences £33.9k/yr - University of Nottingham Nottingham
Attestat (≥4.0) + foundation at UNIC (Kaplan) or 1–2 years of university → Year 1; CIS Undergraduate Excellence Award
🇺🇸 United States
- Boston University (Sargent College) Boston · €63.5k/yr
Common App; TOEFL/IELTS/DET for non-native speakers; PT, OT, nutrition; ≈ $95k/yr with housing - University of Southern California Los Angeles · €65.6k/yr
TOEFL 100 (new 5) / IELTS 7 / DET 130, no waivers; SAT/ACT optional; merit scholarships open to internationals - University of Pittsburgh Pittsburgh · €37.7k/yr
out-of-state tuition ≈ $43k; TOEFL/IELTS/DET for non-native speakers; rehab sciences and PT at SHRS
🇩🇪 Germany
- Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück · free
No tuition; German C1 (DSH-2/TestDaF 4x4); nursing is a dual programme with an employer * - Hochschule Fresenius Idstein · €7.5k/yr
Private: ≈ €625 a month + €695 registration fee (Physiotherapy); taught in German - Fulda University of Applied Sciences Fulda · free
No tuition; German C1 (DSH-2/TestDaF 4x4); Russian certificate: via Studienkolleg or a year at university *
🇳🇱 Netherlands
- Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen
HBO: Russian certificate equals HAVO, direct entry; nursing is Dutch-taught (NT2-II) * - Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences Amsterdam
HBO: Russian certificate equals HAVO, direct entry; most programmes (incl. Aviation) are Dutch-taught, NT2-II * - HAN University of Applied Sciences Nijmegen
HBO: Russian certificate equals HAVO, direct entry; health programmes mostly Dutch-taught (NT2-II) *
🇫🇷 France
- Claude Bernard University Lyon 1 (ISTR rehabilitation institute) Lyon
Physiotherapy/speech therapy: entry after year 1 of PASS/LAS/STAPS or by concours; in French * - Sorbonne University (speech therapy, psychomotor therapy) Paris
Speech therapy via national Parcoursup selection, psychomotor therapy by concours; near-native French * - Université Paris Cité Boulogne-Billancourt · €200–2.9k/yr
DAP, B2; 2026/27 moratorium — non-EU pay €178; medicine/pharmacy via PASS/LAS
🇮🇹 Italy
- University of Milan Milan · €1.1k–4.3k/yr
12 school years; Italian B2 (English B2 for English programmes); programme tests; income abroad: fixed fee by country group - University of Bologna Bologna · €1.2k/yr
English programmes: B2 (some B1), selection by SAT, TOLC-E or CEnT-S; 12 school years. Non-OECD citizens: €1,157 a year - Sapienza University of Rome Rome · €700/yr
12 school years; B2 in the language of study; pre-selection for English programmes, test for medicine. Russia is band B: €700 a year
🇪🇸 Spain
- University of Valencia Valencia · €1.5k–2.2k/yr
Homologation + UNEDasiss, PCE; non-EU non-residents pay double; some groups in Valencian - University of Granada Granada · €800/yr
No Spanish certificate required for admission; UNEDasiss + PCE (up to +4); local fee €12.62/ECTS - Complutense University of Madrid Madrid · €6.8k–8.2k/yr
Spanish B2 required (DELE/SIELE/CCEE); homologation + UNEDasiss, PCE; non-EU pay 4th-attempt rate
🇨🇿 Czech Republic
- Charles University Prague · free
Free in Czech (Czech ≈B2 + exams, ÚJOP course); English programmes €40–30,620/yr - Masaryk University Brno · €0–16k/yr
Free in Czech; English €2,700–7,500/yr (Informatics €4,500), Medicine CZK 380,000; Czech ≈B2 + entrance exams - Palacký University Olomouc Olomouc · €0–14k/yr
Free in Czech (Czech ≈B2 + exams); in English: Medicine €12,500, Dentistry €14,000/yr
Things to know
🧸 Being around kids all the time🛢️ Dirt, noise, smells
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