Hippotherapy

I have been thinking about the years that Haley rode horses lately. 

Not only was I reminded of them by her Yoga sessions and her superior core strength, but at Confirmation class this week we talked about horse riding.  Haley had with her two of her Schleich horses. 

No surprise there. 

Pastor asked Haley if her horses had special meaning, did they represent actual horses?  One of them she was carrying did.  She had Chelsea and Shire.  I told him about Chelsea, about how she had ridden a horse that looked just like her and that she was named after that horse.  That got us into a discussion about Haley's experiences with Hippotherapy. 

Kids asked questions, they were interested.

We also talked about the Shire horse and the fact that Pastor had experience with big draft horses when he was a kid.  We found out that his grandpa had a tree farm too.  It was kind of neat, Haley shares something with everyone in the class.  They had all ridden horses at some point in there young lives, but none of them had ridden as much as Haley.

Haley's physical therapist had suggested to me that I try Hippotherapy for Haley to increase her core strength when she was about three.  I started taking Haley to a stable that was just getting started in Hippotherapy, they had several clients and they were building their business.  During the time that we took Haley there they improved the stable and built a ramp so that kids could get on the horses easier. 

Haley was very small when she started and the horses were very big.  I was a bit worried that she might fall off of the horses or get bucked off.  I didn't need to worry, that never happened in all the years that she rode. 

I have decided that the next several blogs will be about Haley's Hippotherapy.