Angels on Horseback

While we lived in Pacifica, Mr. found a great place to take Monster horseback riding (http://www.halleckcreekranch.org/). I've posted a video from there. The folks there were awesome as were the horses. Monster enjoyed it and during his time there he learned how to wear a helmut and started wearing goggle while swimming. The price was perfect (free).

So one of the things we needed to find when we moved out here was a new place to take Monster riding. Mr hit one out of the ball park with this one.

He found a fantastic facility in Exeter called Angels on Horseback. This place was amazing.



It was a hot/humid day, and Monster was already a bit cranky. When we got there, there was a simulator (The call it an Equicizer, from their website: "The Equicizer, named Oreo, is a mechanical horse which perfectly simulates riding a live horse) That Monster got right on. While on this thing, we put a safety belt on Monster (this dohickey that went around his waist that the volunteers could hang on to to prevent him falling) which he had never worn before and which he wasn't very happy to wear. On top of that, we tried to put on his helmet. He hadn't been on a horse in a few weeks, but we had been taking him bike riding to keep him use to wearing a helmet. Even so, Monster wouldn't let me put the helmet on him for more than a few seconds (literally 2 seconds and then he would push it off). I was getting pretty apprehensive about things at this point; I mean, he has had a lot of changes in his life and he hasn't really gotten his sea legs, so to speak. However, this is when Mr. really shines, in my opinion. He has such a good feeling for how far we can push Monster. I'm a lot more skittish than he is and will back off faster.

If we had followed my instincts, we would have missed a fantastic experience today. I doubt I can fully describe what a wonderful place and experience this was for us. Both Mr and I were fighting back tears, the good kind.

But I'm getting ahead of myself, a bit. From the start, he was trying to take his helmet off. He really didn't want his helmet on. He really, really, REALLY didn't want his helmet on. He was crying, biting his hand, trying to take the thing off while we got him set up on the horse. The volunteers were absolutely fantastic about re-directing his hands back to the handles on his saddle. So his first ride began with him being lead tearfully off on Taz.



At Halleck Creek, a volunteer would lead Monster around the grounds a bit. A pleasant afternoon ride. Angels seems, to me, the next step. This ride is not around beautiful ranch grounds, but through a series of activities. First, they took Monster to a mailbox where he opened up the box and took out a magazine which he then carried to the next mail box, where he put it in (and raised the little flag thingie). Next, he got to play basketball from the horses back (see above), weave through poles, placing hula hoops around them, threw bean bags, etc. It was a complete therapy session! He had to reach, stretch, speak (answer questions), use different textured balls-OT, ST and hippotherapy all in one.

And this was all volunteers! Wonderful, knowledgeable, patient volunteers.

This will sound trite and cliched, but they really were Angels!