Riding Refinery
Re-Define The Way You Ride

 

From hospital bed to horseback
2024, was a very challenging year for us. My oldest daughter Kelly, a high functioning autistic teen, spent six weeks in the hospital. The diagnosis was malignant catatonia, a condition that fifty years ago had at best a 50% survival rate. Needless to say we were extremely worried and afraid we were going to loose her. 

Catatonia is a neuropsychiatric syndrome. People experiencing catatonia are disconnected from the physical world, and live in a state in which they are awake but do not to respond to other people and their environment. They may be nearly motionless for days on end or perform repetitive purposeless movements. Catatonia can affect someone's movement, speech and behaviour in many different ways. 



Horses became the road to recovery
Kelly had an excellent medical team, and it took even them a long time to find the right medical treatments that could help her. Before her hospitalization, we had just started some therapeutic horse riding at a nearby stable. When she was finally discharged from the hospital, we started the riding therapy again. It was very slow going, and progress was difficult. 

Because of the nature of her treatments, she struggle each week to even remember the her instructor. Each week we had to re-introduce her to the young lady teaching the lessons, and ask her if she remembered her. A series of scheduling difficulties make it impossible for us to continue. However, my friend, Liz, who runs a riding stable two hours away allowed Kelly to ride her horses. 

Since Kelly was basically unable to move or talk much, I helped her into the saddle and started going through the motions of teaching riding lessons. It had been over a decade since I taught any riding lessons, but I returned to my roots and began with simple lunge-line seat lessons. Next, I progressed to a work-in-hand method of working the horse while Kelly just sat in the saddle. 

Unlike the more traditional riding therapy, Kelly started to blossom. Usually the riding therapy was mildly helpful, and made her smile a little. But somehow the work I was doing made a greater impact. She started to become more verbal. She moved and talked better, and not just for the next thirty minutes, but for the next three days after a riding session. 

The more I combined my classical dressage training with my neuroscience training in designing exercises on horseback, the more Kelly gained strength and balance in the saddle that even traditional physical therapy had failed to facilitate. Her medical treatments started lasting longer and even gained additional benefits beyond what they had in the beginning. Liz's horses possessed a special magic. 

Liz has generously gifted us one of her magic horses -- Ruby. Now, we are able to work with Kelly almost every day in the saddle. We are hoping that Ruby can help Kelly recover and live a fully functional and independent life. Follow Kelly as she Recovers with Ruby.