Today.....Another beautiful day.....
Perfect for horseback riding....
Today, they worked Faith pretty hard. They had her ride, holding pool rings instead of the handles so she could work on her balance.
When she would ride past the stakes they would stop and have her hang the rings on the stakes...
She did pretty good, although she accidentally dropped one and everyone laughed so she decided she needed to do it again "accidentally"!
Then Faith decided that Hannah the Horse needed some earrings...
Then.....Faith got to go on her first little trail ride...
Up into the woods, behind the barn....
Up a steep trail with log steps that the horse had to negotiate, all while Faith did not hold on!
She looked so big out there, riding her horse out on the trail.
I had a ball, watching her. And of course, she talked her head off the whole time! Two new ladies helped today and they kept commenting how chatty she was!
Good things, for this mom's ears and eyes...
8 comments:
Oh I LOVE that she's doing that! How neat! Thanks for sharing those precious pics!
I bet she looks good going downhill, too! This is fab-u-lous, Candace!
Barbara
She looks good on that horse!
Great photos:) That sounds like a lot of hard work, I don't think I would be able to do all of that without holding on!!
We have a place like this near our house, I am hoping Jude's neck muscle will work when he is older so he can attend. Great pics.
I have seen many children with no head control or sitting ability sit atop horses - they have a rider sit right behind the child.
For those of you considering hippotherapy, ask if there are minimum physical requirements for a child to receive the service. Like Katy said on Candace's first post on hippotherapy, there may also be an age minimum - likely due to the width of the horse vs. very small children.
Barbara
Yes, what Katy and Dr. Boucher commented about are both true. Faith is participating in Therapeutid Riding which is different that HippoTherapy...HippoTherapy involves Physical/Occupational Therapists who set goals and make written plans for progress on the hores. A little more intensive. Therapeutic riding uses instructors licensed to work with disabled people and are certified but do NOT write goals or follow specific therapy protocols they are NOT therapists. That said...They often DO use therapy protocols like position changes or specific tools (like they use in therapy) to work the body. Therapeutic riding can be provided to disabled kids, victims of violence or abuse or difficult living situations. It works the body and the "soul/mind". In Faith's case since she can sit independantly and has good truck control she does not need intensive intervention to ride the horse. Some programs especially in Hippotherapy use assistive devices like seats that children actually sit in for more support or more involved tools for kids who need more help. In SC Medicaid will pay for Hippotherapy since it is provided by a licensed therapist but NOT therapeutic riding.
how wonderful. we have taken Noah a few times. I can not wait till he gets a grant or something that will cover it for him to do it all the time.
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