PIPE CREEK, Texas -- For nearly as long as Cheryl Lankford has known her son Jonathon, she had never shared a conversation with him.

Jonathon suffers from autism, a condition that makes communicating difficult in its mildest form.

A child with severe autism is nearly uncontrollable in behavior and movement.

But Jonathon is now taking part in a unique form of therapy known as equitherapy, at the Triple H Equitherapy Center in Pipe Creek.

The thousand-pound horses are saddled up with special equipment that allows a rider with nearly any form of disability to ride with ease. Some children who cannot move or speak, can even use musical cues from small toys to tell their animal what to do. And throughout it all, volunteers are at the ready on either side of the horse to assist.

“It’s meant so much for him," Lankford said of Jonathon. "It’s really allowed him to come out of his shell, speak more and interact more with the other children.”

Lankford said minutes after Jonathon's first ride on an equitherapy horse named Charlie, Jonathon did an amazing thing.

“He said, 'Momma, can we take Charlie home with us?' I said, 'No baby, Charlie is too big, we can’t take him home.' Then he said, 'Charlie can have my room.'”

It marked the first time in Jonathon’s young life that he had carried on a conversation with anyone.

The mother of Randy Joe, a child with a more severe form of autism can attest to remarkable results as well.

“If you’ve ever had an 'aha’ moment with the hair on the back of your neck, the hair on your arms stand-up, because this is the calmest I have ever seen my daughter,” said Melody Long.

She said once on horseback, her daughter and the other autistic children stop most of their “stem and flap,” described as uncontrolled moments often associated with the condition.

“It is a miracle,” she said, showing the sort of relief and sense of hope that many parents experience at the Triple H Equitherapy Center.

Dr. Roberta Jones, a psychiatrist who works autistic children, likens horseback riding to the best anti-depressant available.

Jones said the horses reach us in an unspoken way, and that is why children who have trouble communicating enjoy and improve with each ride.

“Horses communicate without words. Autistic children often communicate without words,” Jones said. “So it touches something much deeper than just their brain”.

The theory is that all the quiet discussions between horse and rider become so exciting, eventually the autistic child feels the need to express in words.

Jones continued, “The kids well gets so full, it starts to overflow. It has to find some type of expression and they burst out with."

The Triple H Equitherapy Center in Pipe Creek also offers therapy horses to wounded veterans, troubled youth and those with other types of mental and physical disabilities.

The nonprofit organization has been in operation since 1995 and is nationally accredited for equine assisted activities and therapy.