Stacey's Therapeutic Horseback Riding Journal

August 7, 2003

This week horseback riding was just plain strange. Over the past 4-6 weeks, the Chicago area has experienced more thunderstorms than in 40 something years. However, today's forecast was for a clear day. So, as usual we went to Plainfield to Ready, Set, Ride for Isaiah’s session. When we arrived Isaiah’s assigned horse, Schnapps, was saddled and waiting for him. Isaiah and Schnapps, along with 2 sidewalkers and a guide started walking slowly around the yard. They stopped at each game station and played with the colorful shapes. The sidewalkers asked Isaiah what color shape he wanted and playfully spoke to him, asking him probing questions to encourage him to speak or communicate through sign language.

By that time several clouds had formed and the skies looked menacing. It looked as if it was raining on the horizon. There were also a lot of dragonflies swirling in the air.

After about 10 minutes, a little girl arrived and started to ride a little pony. Like Isaiah, she was assigned to the same pony each week. The girl had been on the pony for less than 2 minutes when we heard someone yell “everyone stop!” I looked over and one of the volunteers was holding the little girl in her arms and her pony was moving around in a very agitated manner. Another volunteer was trying to calm the pony. After a few minutes, the other horses started to move again, marching around the yard, stopping at the game stations. Isaiah loves the games, so he was very happy.

Suddenly once again we heard someone yell “everyone stop!” Isaiah’s horse had fallen to its knees—with Isaiah still on it! The horse then started to fall over on its side—Isaiah still on it. One of Isaiah’s sidewalkers quickly grabbed him and tried to pull him off. Harold yelled, “Get him off! Get him off!” Another little girl sitting on a horse started to sob. Isaiah was safely off the horse, but it was unclear as to whether or not he was hurt. Isaiah was standing with the volunteer over him, but he was leaning over. It seemed as if he was pointing to something on his leg. After a few seconds, we noticed that he was just playing with the dirt and brushing off his leg. He was fine!

In the meantime, Schnapps had rolled from his side to his back, kicking his legs up in the air. Everyone stared at him. It was one of those surreal moments—dark skies, dragonflies, a sobbing child and a horse on his back!!

A few moments later Schnapps stood back up. The staff examined him, walked around with him for a bit. They determined that he was OK and put Isaiah back on the horse. I was a little nervous, but the rest of the session was uneventful.

The staff admitted that none of them had ever witnessed Schnapps or any of the other horses behave that way. They also speculated that the weather probably contributed to the horses’ strange behavior.

Stacey 8/7/03
editor@celebratingchildren.com