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SEPTEMBER 2006 • VOLUME 13 • © Copyright HORSES For LIFE™ Publications
Her parents, determined to help, searched and tried everything. They went to their physiotherapist and asked, "What can we do?", anguish making their voices break up. Not knowing if it would help, almost sure that it wouldn't (but truly, what could it hurt?), the physiotherapist suggested they check out the possibilities of therapeutic riding. Stunned at the thought of their precious daughter, only two years old, on the back of a horse, they hesitated. But, they were eager to try anything that might even have a chance of helping. The first day we saw Lily for her initial assessment, we were hesitant - we were hesitant about whether we should even accept her into the program. If not for the encouragement of both the physiotherapist and her parents, I doubt that we would have considered it. While riding can be healing at all levels - physically, emotially and spiritually - there are very real risks involved and, when dealing with a young child, so much more so. Their bodies are not yet set. Muscles stretch sometimes too easily and heads are much heavier in ratio to the rest of the bodies than when they become older. A heavy head on a weak neck, along with a weak back, requires very careful precautions. We decided to put Lily up on Molly. Molly was old by any standard; just how old we never were quite sure. She was caught and brought in to work at ten years of age. No taller than my waist, Molly had shown all who dared to mount her that, while the body was small, her heart and spirit weren't. And she was determined that nobody but nobody was going to ride on her back! It became a bit of a game to see who could ride her, a challenge to the cowboys that they just couldn't win. Personally, I think she was just showing how smart she really was.
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