More On Therapy

Yes, I have been missing in my blogging. We just have been so busy with field trips, horse riding lessons, finishing up school for this year, and just enjoying ourselves with park days, family time and playing with friends. I mentioned before we chose to go with a not so conventional therapy with Selena, horse therapy. There are so many types of therapy that are suggested, more conventional therapies, from one on one counseling to ABA therapy. Every child responds differently to therapies, keeping that in mind we chose to keep with Selena’s interest and go with horse therapy.

The down side is that this is not covered under our insurance and costs us $180.00 a month. Still not a bad price. Selena is learning so much about horses, the changes that take place in a pregnant horse, to why horses mouths are the way they are. She is now learning to communicate with the horse, this involves leading a horse with no lead rope, but instead having a tail whip. No, you don’t whip the horse, it just represents the tail which is representative to the tail of the horse. Horses do talk, they do whisper, they do express themselves with their tails.

This is not the best picture but it is a picture of Selena leading Faye without any lead rope. The other aspect to the therapy is learning to be in total charge, relaxed, in charge of herself, confidence and in charge of the horse. This comes through riding. Let me say the first few times it was hard for Selena to mount the horse, the first time she had to learn to let go and become one with the horse, using her arms like the horses wings, flying through the air. She is swiftly moving from following a ball around the arena to riding independently.

The idea behind following the ball is that it gives the child something to focus on, the child or rider has to guide the horse to the ball so the horse will kick the ball, then no matter what direction the ball goes in the child or rider has to follow it. Sometimes the ball gets jammed against the wall, so now comes the problem solving skills as to how do I get the ball out of this situation while on the horse?

She has now moved on to riding through the obstacle course. Which consists of many obstacles, even a balance beam for the horse to cross.

What have we seen from this therapy? More confidence in Selena. She is willing to go play with friends without me. She is willing and even suggests field trips for the homeschool group. She has a sense of pride for her accomplishments. She is learning more about relationships and how to be a friend as well as how to receive a friend.

This might not work for every child because not all children like horses like Selena does, but for us it is working. My suggestion is to do your research and find what will work for your child.