Therapeutic Riding

Mallory's horse. They moved her to this one for a couple reasons:

1. He doesn't get the shakes.

2. With a smaller frame, Mallory has to work a lot harder on balance.

3. He's not cranky.

Mallory graduated to leading her horse this year!

Every session starts with putting on our helmet.

Getting ready to ride. Notice that Mallory's horse does not have a saddle!

Mallory also does various activities while riding her horse. She has a favorite baby that she feeds, diapers, and dresses.

Working on leading.

The volunteers work so hard to make every session successful.

We even ride backwards. This helps to improve balance.

The weather has been so nice that Mallory has been able to ride her horse outside.

If you want to know more about therapeutic riding check out the Independence Farms website at www.independencefarms.org

Off to a GREAT start!

We chose to hold Mallory back a year, so she is repeating 3rd grade. This has proven multiple times already to be the right decision. Mallory has the same special ed teacher and paras. Her gen ed teacher is new but not to the school. Mallory has had almost no outbursts or behaviors since starting school. She was rewarded with a trip to La Fiesta with her case manager today.

Tunes.

Long car rides. Mowing the lawn. Funerals. Basically anytime we need to keep Mallory occupied. The I-Pod Shuffle has been a blessing. I have loaded some of Mallory's favorite tunes and she will sit and shift between songs just long enough for me to get something done. Brilliant! Now if we could just find some indestructible ear buds!

Still Waiting.....

We are still awaiting the results of Mallory's Holter Monitor. It has been 4 weeks now and we are anxious to hear the news. Our hopes are that we can make a few changes in Mallory's ADHD meds.