No Boundaries

For much of the past six years, Ben has paid weekly visits to friends Blue, Rags, Bay, Snoopy and Terry each Saturday morning–and today was no exception. Terry is the Co-Founder and Director of Therapeutic Riding at BiNA Farm. The rest? Horses.

When Ben was 4, I realized he needed more than one physical or occupational therapy a week to keep his body limber and to fight the myotonia. With the help of his physical therapist at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital, I started to look into therapeutic riding lessons at local barns. I found Terry Snow, who at that time ran her own part-time riding program through sheer determination and a handful of dedicated volunteers. Terry suggested that Ben first observe a session before starting, but he ended up getting up on a horse (Bay) anyway, and the rest was history. Apart from longish recoveries from hip and knee surgeries and the occasional battle with pneumonia, Ben is usually on a horse once a week.

Groundbreaking research by Emmy Werner at the University of California, Davis, has found that there are two predictive factors for a child’s resilience in the face of adversity: 1) a supportive person who stands by you no matter what and 2) being really good at at least one thing. Ben is very fortunate in that he has been surrounded by supportive people (who can be parents, aunts, friends, teachers, and more)–but we had to work harder at “being really good at something”.

Horseback riding proved one thing he became known for being good at. In Kindergarten I’ll never forget his teacher telling me how each child in the class was explaining something they like to do. Ben told his classmates that he likes to ride horses. One child said “How do you get your wheelchair on a horse?”. Ben had a good chuckle and explained that he gets out of his wheelchair and then gets on a horse! It’s been a favorite story for a long time, but it showed the importance of explaining to others that just because he is in a wheelchair sometimes doesn’t mean he’s in it at all times.

Therapeutic riding is also fun, thanks to Terry and the 3 dedicated high school girls who are at the Dana Hall School barn every Saturday at 8 am to get Snoopy–the horse Ben now rides–ready with just the right gear for Ben. I know that those of you with teenagers will be impressed with these selfless, early-risers! Ben sits side saddle on Snoopy for the first 5-10 minutes to warm up, with two girls walking on either side of the horse supporting Ben’s body, and one girl leading Snoopy in the front. Ben’s body is at first too stiff to straddle the horse, but soon Snoopy’s slow, rocking movement and his warmth get through to Ben’s muscles and he is now ready to straddle the horse.

Once Ben is sitting forward, there are obstactle courses to travel–today it was a 7-step course involving walking over poles, picking up rings, throwing balls, identifying signs and more, and Ben does all the leading, turning and stopping. Sometimes Snoopy listens, sometimes not, but if not, Terry keeps Snoopy in shape. Terry also plans trivia games for Ben to play while on the horse, to keep his mind off the physical difficulty and concentrate on the fun (I’ve posted before about how Ben loves mental work). And no one greets you more warmly on a cold, Saturday morning than Terry, who has a million other things to do but acts like being in a barn with Ben is the only place she’d rather be.