Last summer when I was trying to find out about going horse back riding, I spent two and a half months calling around to see if any place was open for people with handicaps at any of the local riding academies. Basically I was looking for a place to go trail riding since I went a few times as a kid and loved it. I had no idea what you really could learn hanging around riding academies. In any event, I finally found two places, STRIDES and Ride to Fly. It's been a lot of fun learning to ride and there's never enough time on the horse !!! Right now at STRIDES, I'm trying to learn how to trot again on a different horse. My balance has gotten a lot better and my shoes are lasting longer than they ever have which is really great considering that I have mild CP. The fun part is seeing how much more flexible my body is getting and coming up with new challenges all the time. It's also teaching me how to be more relaxed in general, and gets me away from a lot of the stress in in my life. It's the best part of my week aside from the Sabbath !!!!! I only wish there was more time available to go...

When I first started, I got on by sitting sideways and then got my leg over because my musclese so tight that it hurt too much to get on any other way. Now I'm mounting the normal way and getting off the normal way too. It's great working with people who really underwtand what you're going through and know how to challenge you without going overboard. Everyone acts like "kids" around the ranch so everything is a lot of fun and at the same time people are working together as a team and it's great! Supposedly it's therapy but I don't think of it as that! It's a great place to hang out, learn a lot of new skills and become friends with everyone. Therapy for me as a kid growing up with CP was "torture time" because there was no communication between my physical therapist and me about what was going on and what I was "supposed to achieve" at doing it. It's totally the opposite handing around STRIDES and I'm really glad I've gotten involved with it. I'ts a place where you learn how to trust other people and overcome physical and psychological limitations at the same time.

One of the neat ways to learn how to relax for me was when Nora told me to let go of the reins while she and the other volunteers took control of the horse and had me close my eyes and tense up one part of my body at a time and then eventually she claims you end up by relaxing because your body can only tense up for so long. It didn't quite work that way because I can tense up for a long time since I've been doing that forever. It did teach me to trust her and I love using that technique when we need it because it gi me a chance to try and "let go" and feel what the horse is doing and to "go with the flow of it."

Dena has Spastic Cerebral Palsy, and is hard of hearing. Her wonderful sense of humor has made her lessons enjoyable for all of us. It took a minute for us to figure out why her shoes were lasting longer, but then we realized that Dena did not lift her feet up off the ground when she walked. Obviously, now she does.