Therapeutic Riding

Sophie had been on a waitlist for a local therapeutic riding place nearby for well over a year.  We had waited three + years before that for her seizures to stabilize so that we could even apply.  We finally got a call in October that they had a spot open up for her.  I used to ride competitively when I was a teenager so I was over the moon that my girl was going to ride horses!  When we arrived Sophie was visibly excited and didn't want to take her eyes off the horses.

Lucas gettting in on the horsey action. lol.

We took her out for an assessment and we were sooooo excited.  Unfortunately that excitement was blown to smitherines pretty quickly.  We got her up on a horse and they expected her to hold her trunk up mostly by herself.  Sophie doesn't have that muscle tone needed to keep herself upright and she was a rag doll without any support.  It went downhill really fast and before I knew it we were being told that she wasn't a candidate for the institute.

I was devastated, we had been excited for this for so very long and it was gone just like that.  I was a mess, crying right there.  Sophie had a cut on her nose from the helmet when they let her head smash on the neck of the horse.  They were obviously not prepared at this facility for someone with such severe CP and it showed right away.

I have a number of friends who have successfully enrolled their children in therapeutic riding/hippotherapy with kids as severe as Sophie or more so.  Once we lick our wounds we will start looking for a new place to try.  In the meantime I have these adorable photos of Sophie in her riding helmet.

This photo was when the OT finally went in to help.  They took her off the horse shortly after as they thought she was in distress.