Andrew's Story

One of the great things about being a human being is that we are born to MOVE; we have an innate drive to get from one place to another. But if something happens that stops a toddler from toddling, that drive can help him or her find another way to get around. Even though our rider Andrew was born with spina bifida, which keeps his legs from working like most little boys, he showed us how motivated he was to MOVE the first time we met him. This fun-loving, always- happy dynamo made the staff run to keep up with him as he planted his crutches then swung his legs through together, over and over as he explored the environs of ROSL. He wanted to see everything, visit all the horses, and check us out in general. Now while Andrew was satisfied with his way of getting around, his mom and dad had another idea. They heard about how riding a horse mimicked the movement of human walking. When someone is sitting on top of a walking horse, the backand- forth, up-and-down, side-to-side movement from the horse is transmitted to the rider, and it matches the way a normally-developed person walks. The rider feels what walking should feel like: a rhythmic back-and-forth, up-and-down, side-to-side pattern.

Andrew started riding on a quilt pad in therapy class. The warmth of the horse gave him a chance to gently stretch his legs apart as he straddled it. In the therapy class he did so many activities that strengthened his trunk muscles to improve his posture: he rose astride, in a side sit, and backwards to stimulate every muscle group in his truck and legs and even his arms. He came back session after session and moved into a therapeutic riding class with other children. There he learned how to control those legs so he could stand in stirrups, further stimulating his walking ability. As Andrew got older, we could see that he had the desire to learn to control his horse, so his latest class is the sport of riding class. He mounts his horse from the ramp, putting his foot into the stirrup and lifting his body into his saddle. He has leg control to bump the horse for go and is learning how reins can turn or stop his horse, and on the ground no one has to remind him to stop hopping through his crutches like when he was 6. Now he still MOVES fast across the parking lot and paddock area, but his gait is a rhythmic, one-leg-at-atime movement that looks oh so nice. Good job, rising rider Andrew, the human dynamo!