This message is from: "hskane" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Hello Fjord Friends,
I've been too busy to communicate on the digest, but I read it most
every day. Thought some of you might remember me and my Redford from long
ago. We just finished a very succesful therapeutic driving season with the
Reins Therapeutic Riding Program. We even made the front page of the local
newspaper, The Sheboygan Press. Red is only 4 1/2 years old but doing very
well overall. With therapeutic driving the instructor (me) must stay in th
cart throughout the intire lesson. Instructor and special needs client both
have a separate set of reins. In most cases the clients reins are attached
to the halter, not the bit. We worked our lessons outside in a large
private, dirt parking lot. We used a driving board before entering the cart
as a reins refresher for the client. After lots of stops and starts on the
straight away, we added barrels for turns. We did some trotting and then off
to the trails alongside the cornfields, with a header of course. All in all
it was totally fun and exciting to see the special needs folks enjoy the
freedom of driving. My Red even learned to listen to the voices of the
clients and follow their instruction while I sat in the cart trying to say
and do very little.
I bought this red Fjord 2 1/2 years ago with hopes of doing trails,
driving and therapeutic work with him. I am a NARHA certified instructor and
I know how far and few good sound horses are that are available to this type
of work. We usually get the old and lame horses. We only offer classes
during the summer months at this point and all horses are loaned to the
program just for the season. I sure enjoyed having my horse to work with. We
are both real glad to be back to our old stables though.
I really enjoy reading the digest each night.
Sheri and Red
