So we have tried so many things with Riley but she never really showed any interest. Track was a total flop, I really hoped she would have like that because it was one of my favorite things especially high jump, but sad to say she hated it! Gymnastics was "okay" but still there were days she didn't want to go. So when she mentioned to me that she would really love to take horse lessons I thought "oh great something I know absolutely nothing about and we don't even have a horse?" I called around and found a stable that would start her off with the basics, I didn't want her to go into it without fully understanding the dangers and how powerful these animals are! They started her off just learning about the different names and breeds and how to measure and how horses saw and heard things and it was alot of her just watching and taking notes, I thought she would be bored because it wasn't actually riding yet, but she wasn't! she fully listened and was completely interested in it! After a couple of weeks of just literature learning she was able to move up to learning how to care, feed and groom horses, and after a couple more weeks of that she moved up to leading horses! Then FINALLY after a month and a half of learning all of that she was able to move up to riding! She LOVES it!!! her horses names is Val and he is a horse that belongs to the stables that she can use while taking lessons there. He has helped her in so many levels, he has taught her patience and focus. Riley has a hard time with focusing, she has been diagnosed with epilepsy and suffers from high temporal spikes in her Brain, which makes focusing for her difficult. Her neurologist has said that along with this he thinks she suffers from non hyperactive ADD. But Val has been very therapeutic for her in this case. I am very resistant to the idea of prescription drugs because I saw and still see how they affect my twin sister (who also suffers from epilepsy), so we (as in me and Corey) would like to try different focusing techniques and exercises along with diet before we resort to medication, but never did we think it would come in the form of horse lessons!! Her instructor makes her constantly have to think about where her hands are, to sit tall, to keep her heels down, which leg needs pressure on which side she is wanting Val to go and it really works her focus to a level that when she is done with a lesson she is mentally exhausted, which is great because it is working in the areas of focus and concentration! This weekend Gammi and Papa came to visit and see Riley at her lessons, she was very excited and proud that they came to watch her, she even got to give little brother a ride on Val! She loves Val dearly and gets very upset if we forget to bring him a treat of some sort!
