Thursday, August 18, 2011

Hippotherapy

Oh man I am so so so behind on blogging, as usual! I have SO many pictures from this spring/summer that I want to share, including from the National Down Syndrome Conference (which was a blast!!) But, I think I will start with pictures of the kids on horses because I know my family, those who don't have Facebook (gasp!) will love them!!

Ella did Hippotherapy this summer and the instructor allowed Hunter to participate too! Both of the kids absolutely LOVED it! I liked it because Ella was working hard without knowing it : ) Hunter did so well that by the end of the session he was taken off the lead rope and doing it all on his own, including going around poles!

Here are pics from their first day!



Ella before we left the house....so excited!

and who wouldn't be...especially if you got to wear boots like these!

The kids all had to learn how to groom the horses and did this at the begining of each day.




Cleaning out the hoofs.


Ella riding on Sugar the therapy horse!


Hunter on top of Buddy!




Ella yelling "I DID IT!!" This picture by the way was selected for the NY Buddy Walk and will be shown on the big screen in Times Square in September!


Sitting up nice and tall, working out those tummy muscles!

They all kept saying that Hunter is such "a natural!"







This night as I was putting them to bed Hunter informed me that he wants a "real horse" and it can live in our backyard and he will take care of it and ride it everyday. Ha!

Ella loved it every time they rode next to Bubba! And Hunter was of course so sweet to her : )


We are done now for the summer session, waiting to hear the day and time for the fall decision before we decide if we will be able to go!

8 comments:

Kristen said...

I absolutely love reading experiences with Hippotherapy. Cayman is so darn afraid of every stinkin' kind of animals I would imagine hippotherapy would traumatize her. Such a pity that is because it's such a wonderful ad fascinating thing.

Lori said...

I saw your pics on Facebook. Soooo cute!
Question -- were you able to get insurance to cover the hippo therapy? If so -- what did you have to do?

Kat said...

they are both so cute! are you able to help with the hippotherapy?

http://breatheandhush.blogspot.com/

Runningmama said...

Those are adorable pictures! I hope I can get Emily into hippotherapy! Funny that Hunter now wants a horse...Ethan asked if we could have a giraffe come live in our backyard and he would take care of it!

Jess said...

Hiya :-)
What exactly is Hippo Therapy?I've heard horse riding is good for children and my little guy has poor coordination,I sometimes wonder about horse riding but realise it would have to be specialised.To be fair though unless it was a gentle horse he probably wouldn't do it anyway!
I love the photos of Ella and Hunter,they both look very happy and confident :-)

Anne and Whitney: Up, Down and All Around said...

love the pictures of the kids with the horses! isn't hippotherapy the best? we started with whitney last september and it is awesome!!! :)

i also loved your post with ella's "funnies" she cracks me up!!!

Tiffany said...

I'm so glad to hear this! Olivia has LOVED hippotherapy and it has been so good for her!

Following our Arrow said...

How adorable! That looks like great fun and great exercise!!! :)