Here are some photos I was given of my son at one of his equestrian therapy sessions. I am a director at the facility, so I thought I would give it a plug. The horse Francis is riding is named Luke. He is a 14 year old Norwegian Fjord-Arabian gelding and is one of my favorites of the 19 horses we have at the centre. Our website www.vtea.ca has all the information on what we do. The car connection is that this week two organizations in the local hot rod community contributed a combined total of almost $15,000 to help us continue to deliver our program to disabled kids and adults. I will provide a link to them after our official press release.
Great shots, kk! Love those Norwegians, they always look like colts, no matter their age; but they're seriously calm by nature - which is obviously a great thing for this horse's purpose in life My four-footed sidekick, Dutch is also 14 and a full (Registered) Arab; but he can be a little "flighty" every once in a while. Even a mildly experienced healthy rider can collect him back up; but I'd not want to put somebody very young or disabled on him, for fear they might not be able to get his attention back if something spooked him. The best horse we have for this application would be Mrs StDr's 28-yr-old QH, Rascal; a well-traveled roping horse that's also taken many awards in Western Trail and Western Pleasure shows. He can be a spirited ride for the accomplished rider; but quiets right down (on his own initiative) for the novice or very little kids. We have a local organization quite the same as yours, named "Saddles of Joy"; which specializes in gentle "senior citizen" horses (Rascal would fit right in if he didn't live with us) giving Therepeutic Rides to children with varying degrees (mild to very severe) of physical or mental incapacity. They operate on donations as well; from elderly horses through feed and tack and on to plain old money. Annually, various "horsey" groups hold 6-12 benefit drives to support Saddles of Joy; Trish and I and quite a few others have stripped tons of ropes off steers, just because we can. My hat's off to you and your group.
My son Scott, who is Autistic, has been on a few horses as well. Once he is settled, he loves it. He has also done pet therapy with dogs too. The animal connection seems to be stronger with our "special" kids.
Dan, it's simple - animals "read" humans (and other animals) better than the average human can. With the lack of a common "language"; animals -especially those that are manifestly domesticated- have a keen sense of other's body language, stress levels and even the pheromones being secreted. Rascal-horse senses when Mrs StDr's back is bothering her (in the way she mounts and sits in the saddle) and won't break into a trot even when asked. Our son Matt gets up on him and he'll work up to a slow lope, because he knows Matt doesn't like to go too fast horseback. He'll go any speed for me because he's seen me sticking in the saddle when Chance (Tink's horse) tries to break into Mach 6. My horse Dutch, on the other hand, will start "pulling s***" when I climb aboard and start acting cocky; or he'll start acting all spooky if we're in an area that neither he nor I is familiar with. We humans, on the other hand, have developed languages, print media, radio, TV, the Internet; and we've let all those forms of communication become our primary sources of information, forgetting how to read "body language". People who are lacking in any of those forms of communication - or are scared - are better at giving off those cues, and better at reading the cues of the horse, dog, elephant, whatever. So who's suffering from the "disability" here?
I usually don't speak of Scott too much here, while Deanna is well known. Scott will be 14 in March, and has been both a challenge and a blessing to raise, the last 5 years by myself. He has forced me to look at many things many of us take for granted, such as communication, abilities, even the simple gesture of pointing is different with him. Cooperation, patience, and the need to understand/adjust to situations has been a huge lesson learned. SD - Good words! I remember my second dog, a Golden/Collie Mix had that sense. He was really good at knowing how people close to him felt.
Cowgirl Tink At the Keyboard for the moment, Dad snuck away to get food and I stole the comp. Anyway... On the subject of the thread, great pics! And on a personal note, working in the vet clinic at polk is okay cuz I get to work with all kinds of animals, but its kinda nice to have my own "knowing" animals here in AZ, even if Chance does require a good butt whooping followed by me reaching for my vicodin out on the trail earlier today. After he acted up and I helped him reach the understanding that "listening to mom was a very good idea and in his best interest" He got a good rub down and some super antibiotic ointment on a cut on his lip, and a couple of handfuls of apple treats. Just exactly like real kids, he may irritate the bejesus outta me some times, hes still my four legged spoiled baby. And I love him and he knows it. And tommorow we'll see if he'll be better with his pal Artoppotomus (horse belonging to a good friend of mine) when Lori and I go out trailriding after opening gifts with our families. Hopefully it will go more smoothly then today. Tink
Back at the keyboard again- the Artist formerly known (and still known)as StangDreamin' All I can add is :"Artopottumus"?????? Just because he's known for his ability to eat three times his own (considerable) weight in one day; one should not refer to Mr Arctic Fox (Ranked #3 in World Paint Horse standings) as "Artopottumus"! I personally prefer to call him "Doofus", myself. Ya gotta know him to know how this name fits his personality.
Hippotherapy is great. My classmate did a little case study in PT school looking at the effects of hippotherapy on children with down syndrome (or CP, can't remember). As for horses--mine is giving me fits right now. WHen I got her she was a good deal underweight, but now that she has made friends at the stable and gained some weight--she thinks she owns the ring when we ride. First couple of times we rode, she was great. Now, if she spies the door to the ring--she races to it like her life depended on it. I let her do it for a day (trying some new training stuff), but the 2nd day I kept her up at the other end of the ring and slowly allowed her to get near the door. When she was able to walk around the ring and not charge for the door, I took her for a good run. She's a handful of **** and vinegar --loves to run (TB/QH mix) and is 5 years old. Couple that with the fact that I have had her for only 2 mos and you can see the "fun" I am having. She's a good horse, though.
Yeah, Tink's horse, Chance, is a 26-yr-old TB; former track horse. 5 gens back on the dam side is War Relic, same generation on the sire side is War Admiral; so go back one more gen and you find Man o' War himself - somehow, Chance knows this and you can figure out his 'tude. My horse, Dutch, is a registered Ay-rab (I found this out after I paid the man 500 clams and loaded him on the trailer) of both Egyption and Polish bloodlines. 14 years old, intelligent; but an absolute airhead and literally afraid of his shadow. He tried to jump out of his own skin once as we walked past an east-facing concrete wall that we had passed about 200 times on previous rides - It was 630 AM, and the sun was just barely over the horizon and shining on the wall and us; so I'm not kidding about his being afraid of his own shadow. Put the 27-yr-old (Chance) and the 14-yr-old (Dutch) in turnout together; and they kick up rooster-tails of dirt for about an hour, or 50 miles, whichever comes first.
