Ride a Little Horsey....

*** I was a bad mommy and forgot my camera, so no pictures. Sorry!***

I just wanted to write a quick post, mostly for myself so I can remember this day! Ava got to try Hippotherapy (Horseback Therapy) today for the first time, and she LOVED it! We had to leave home by 7:00 to get there for our session, but it was worth it! First, we met with the stable owner, Carol, and toured the indoor therapy room. Then we headed outside to meet the horses and let Ava get used to them. Well, Ava being Ava, she was not scared AT ALL of the horses, and was trying to jump into the stalls with the them! Thankfully, these horses are used to children with special needs and were either totally disinterested in her, or were very sweet and let her pet them. One was already out for grooming, so we let Ava check her out. Ava wanted to climb on her right then! She would pet her, then just squeal with excitement! It was so cute!

So we decided to let her try a ride. Getting the helmet on her, and making her keep the helmet on, was a challenge. She did NOT like the helmet at all! But as soon as they put her on the horse, she forgot all about the helmet and started laughing and clapping! She thought it was wonderful! I know horses are tough, but I was really scared for the horse because I knew Ava would be pulling her mane the whole time. But she did really well at being gentle with the horse! Her therapist, Autumn was on one side, and Carol, the stable owner was on the other. A volunteer was there to lead the horse around, and they went on a pretty good walk (I thought they would just do a small little circle). As soon as they took Ava off of the horse, she started screaming! I think she was mad because her time was up! We have a little cowgirl for sure!!!

It was so fun! This was just a trial session. We have some paperwork to do and our doctor has to do some paperwork as well, but we should be starting our sessions after Labor Day. Hopefully it will have cooled off by then and will be not as miserable! I promise to take pictures next time we go!!!