Lessons Learned

Today, we finally met our coordinator from GALLOP, Alicia, at Kensington Stable, Brooklyn. Kensington Stable is very different from Lynne’s Riding School. It required more cleaning up. Hence, we spent the morning clearing scrap wood and planks at the back of the stable.
In the afternoon, we went back to Lynne’s Riding School. We met a rider who was different from the other autistic children we met yesterday – he had cerebral palsy. Despite being wheelchair-bound, he was able to sit up straight on the horse with minimal assistance after a year of therapeutic riding. Because of his condition, we couldn’t help much during the lesson. We spoke to his mom and she was very proud of her son and said that his posture and coordination improved tremendously after taking up therapeutic riding.
We also helped Mr. Ben to record his lessons. The objectives of a typical therapeutic riding class are to improve a rider’s riding, physical, social, and psychological skills. Unfortunately, it was our last day with Instructor Ben at Lynne’s Riding School. But we definitely learned a lot from him!
Do you know that … horses grow a thicker coat of fur in winter and shed them when the weather gets warmer!