A Horse and His Boy

Last spring, I reluctantly took Riley to a friend's birthday party at the Pony Farm. "All kids with Autism LOVE to ride horses-It's therapeutic!" How many times had I heard that? So, it turns out that Riley was the ONLY one there that was deathly afraid of being anywhere near the ponies. I left that party really low. If Riley stood out from the kids with Autism and the typically developing kids- How bad was our situation?? I remember that weekend and I don't care to ever revisit it again. :(

So, when we moved up here and into a new school district, they were very excited to announce to us that Riley would be taking part in the Horses For Healing Program. Check out the link to learn more about how horses are used for therapeutic healing.

So, on the day of the first field trip to the horse barn, Riley's teachers told me to include gloves and a tobaggan for under the required helmet for Riley to wear. Since he won't wear either, I told them, "Good luck with getting him to wear the tobaggan, there is NO way he will wear the helmet, and by the way, he won't get CLOSE to any horse!" They smiled and said they would take good care of him and they would see me after school.

I met them in the car pool line and said, "Was today awful?" to which they smiled and said, "Riley had a ball. He put the tobaggan right on, wore the helmet with ease, and loved every minute of being on the back of that horse. He even threw a fit and didn't want to leave at the end of the trip!" They even showed me pics of him on the horse- that was the only way that I would believe them!

We are all amazed that Riley took to the horses and he gets so excited on the day of the trip. They go once a week for 6-weeks and the pictures above are from his second week. The second picture looks a little funny because his teachers cut it and put it in a heart frame for me for Valentine's Day. Look at how cute he is on that horse? I guess we will have to start saving for one. After all, we do have an empty lot next to our house! :)