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Hi there,
I have donated two of my fjords for about 5 years now to a handicapped
program north of spokane. I guess to be exact..it's a hippotherapy program.
The horses stay here and are picked up two times a week for about 11 weeks in
the summer for this program. They are brought back after each days session.
There are able bodied riders who warm up each of the horses involved. Instead
of saddles, they have a thick pad with a handicapped harness and brace w/
handles that the horses wear. One person leads the horse, one follows behind
and
a physical therapist is on each side of the horse. Before selecting my horses
we had a child on then and had to see how they reacted to funnoodles against
them, balls thrown at their side , and many people around them. These
handicapped children and adults don't "ride" the horse but instead go through a
series of exercises on the horses specific to the person's need. This is a
very
controlled situation and each horse gets a rest after each rider's session and
they get rotated around. They love the fjords because they are easy to reach
up to the rider, calm, easy to load rider from ramp w/ wheel-chair individuals,
and they love the kids. The only activity that my gelding wasn't good at was
when they had a plastic bucket full of animals that the students were suppose
to bend and reach for...he got too excited about the bucket shaking..thinking
of food! The therapists that work in this program all have horses of their
own and all work as therapists in the local school districts. Some of you may
know Robyn Pearson and her gelding Toby from the Libby show. He is the third
fjord in the program and well loved as well. Robyn is one of the therapists
and is the one who picks up my mare Budiea for the program. Duffy, our
gelding, also used to go until we sold him. He now lives in San Diego with a
wonderful family.
One of my thoughts regarding souring at therapy and pummeling would be
to rotate the horses more, use them for more than therapy so it's an adventure
when they are used. They have an active mind.:) A special side pannel system
could also be made to cover the horses sides enough to buffer uncontrollable
legs from irritating the horse and still allow for some leg aides to be used.
Just an idea. If you have a fjord with the right kind of temperment I
encourage you to consider a loan system with a local program, what a wonderful
way
to share our fjords with others and show all their wonderful qualities. Nice
to hear what everyone is up to. Take care, Kathy Rollins, Cornerstone Fjords,
Deer Park, Wa.
