How much does Equine Therapy In Adelaide cost in 2024?

Horse and money bag, representing the question How Much Does Equine Therapy Cost

(updated 23/02/2024 to reflect changes which are enacted from April 1st, 2o24)

There’s a mountain of info on Equine therapy, on our site and others, but the really simple question that you want to know is… How much does Equine Therapy In Adelaide cost?

Here at Heartfelt Support, we offer a range of options, so we’re going to answer each and every option for you. We pride ourselves on hiring the best team members we can find, and paying them well,  so we can tell you the exact cost here, and tell you why those costs are probably the same in many places. In fact, our prices have not changed in three years.

We’ll start by discussing the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), because that is a great place to start – as it affects a lot of non-NDIS prices as well.

If you are on the NDIS, the NDIS has a therapy rate that covers all therapists except physiotherapists. And in the 2023/2024 prices published by the NDIS, that price is $193.99per hour.

Why that price? Because the NDIS has worked out that for someone to do many years of study and provide all the materials for an art therapist, occupational therapist, speech therapist, equine therapist, etc to do their job, and to make sure they are paid a fair rate with superannuation, etc, that $193.99 is a fair price.

Our equine therapy also has a safety officer, that is, a support worker who is there to support you in safely accessing your therapy- for you, your therapist and the horses. This person is charged at $65.47 for the hour, again, that is the published NDIS price.

This means your total is $193.99 + $65.47 = $259.46

Many places that offer equine therapy no doubt do exactly what we do, and charge that rate for our therapists.

Why would someone charge more for Equine Therapy?Astro, a horse used for Equine Therapy, poses with an actor playing the part of a client of Heartfelt Support

It’s a free country and providers can charge whatever they feel appropriate. However, if your provider charges, for example, $20 more than the NDIS price, you will have to pay that $20 separately, and that’s messy.

  • We do not charge any hidden or out-of-pocket expenses. Heck, we’ll even make you a cup of tea during the session if that’s your thing. Occasionally biscuits. Never a per-biscuit extra fee!

Someone might not meet the standards of the NDIS and therefore only be providing to Non-NDIS clients and therefore can set whatever price they wish.

  • And that’s OK. Provided they do it safely. But it’s not the part of the market we hang out in.

Why would someone charge less for Equine Therapy?

For starters, if a provider does not have suitably qualified staff, then it isn’t therapy. So they can’t charge the therapy rate, even if they call it that. So you might get charged a counselling rate or a support work rate. If people don’t have the right insurance and haven’t got all the things they should have to properly run a  business, they might indeed charge a bit less.

  • Some providers may also have therapeutic and non-therapeutic equine offerings (we are one of them), and therefore your particular program may costs less.

And what about if I’m not on the NDIS?

Well, we have a principle that having a disability doesn’t mean someone should be charged more or less for the same thing. So our price for non-NDIS is exactly the same, but with GST, that is $ 259.46 plus 10% or $285.41 . We believe that most places that provide services to NDIS and non-NDIS clients would charge the same, unless they are not registered for the GST in which case they may not be able to help you.

What if I am on a concession and/or have a low income?

Heartfelt Support assists those with a  Centrelink or DVA concession card by contributing the value of the GST of your behalf, reducing the price to effectively $193.99 out of pocket. We also have a partial scholarship scheme for low-income working families.

More Information?

If you’d like more information, use the form on our contact page.