Props....

In Faith's therapeutic riding lessons, her instructor uses all kinds of random props...

clothes pins on the horse's mane to encourage Faith's fine(r) motor skills.

Egg and spoon game... to work on Faith's ability to follow instructions and delayed gratification and counting.
This game is now her favorite one. I don't know where they found that spoon and egg but I want one! She is supposed to hold the spoon with the egg in it for 3 seconds (which she rarely does) but they hold her hand and count to three then let go. She will fling the egg back over her head and laugh like a maniac!

Sometimes she gets it done by herself!

I really think she could play this game all day! The funny thing is I would have NEVER picked this as something Faith would want to do! NEVER! But something about Miss Caroline and the horse and all makes it the most fun game ever!

They also use pinwheels, balls, pool diving rings and fake flowers to encourage different movements from her.

Faith has made so much progress in the 9 weeks since she started riding that I encourage every parent who reads this to get their kids on a horse! It will be some of the best medicine you can find, I promise! Good for your kiddos and really good for you!
She can now almost completely turn around on the horse with just support when she is turning. She can get her leg over the horse's neck and back end with no help at all!
She is beginning to use the reigns, a little. She can ride front or backwards with no hands and stay on by herself (with people on each side for protection, of course). She can transfer rings across mid line to hang them on a pole. She can follow several new instructions like put something in a bag or kick a ring off her foot.
All of these things are new since she has been riding. We have tried lots of different therapies and different things to get results for her in her life but the horse riding has been the quickest and best results we have seen. I have been able to tell a big difference in the tightness of her interior thigh muscles. This was something that was quite bad before we started. I was having a lot of difficulty changing diapers or dressing her in pants because she was so tight. But she is much more relaxed and actually will lay her legs out for me to do those things now.
We are now on lesson 3 of our 6 lesson scholarship. I don't know what we will do when she uses up her lessons. It will be running into summer and I don't know if we should take a break during the hot summer or if we should try to make it work for a while longer. It gets so hot here and she is so sensitive to the sun that I worry about her. I certainly don't want to give up what we have worked so hard for and have regression so maybe we can make something work. I think we may be able to reapply for another scholarship if she has good progress, which she has.
Hmmmm, decisions.....
We are off today for lesson 9 this morning. The weather man is calling for showers so I hope that we beat them and can get her full hour in before the bottom falls out!