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A Story of Success
All children face challenges in life, but children with disabilities have even greater challenges. This fall UCP was introduced to twins with cerebral palsy from California. They were visiting their grandmother in the Springfield area, who contacted UCP about involving the twins in UCP’s therapeutic horseback riding program, Saddle Up! The twins’ mother had looked into therapeutic horseback riding in California, where she reported there to be years of waiting to get into therapeutic horseback riding programs.
The twins had never been around horses and were even afraid of dogs. Their mother and grandmother accompanied them out to the farm. Though the girls’ were scared to be away from their mother, they adapted well to the horses. By the second session the girls were riding the horses with the assistance of two volunteer side walkers and a volunteer horse leader. It was not soon after that, the twins started to giggle and smile on the horses. They loved receiving cheers and praise from the volunteers. Towards the end of the sessions, one of the twins actually felt comfortable enough that she took a nap on the horse in her 30-minute session. The twins’ mother and grandmother were amazed at how relaxed the twins were on the horses at Saddle Up! and how they were able to cooperate with other adults.
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