And, as with any other exercise, my muscles get stronger every week. My instructor wheeled me up a ramp to a platform, fitted me with a helmet and helped me out of the chair. At first I gripped, with all my might, the surcingle, an adaptive piece of equipment with a ring on a belt around Baby's shoulders. But I quickly realized I wasn't going to fall. There was an attendant on each side resting a hand on my knee, one person leading the horse and a fourth person instructing us all.
Therapeutic riding is nothing new.
The ancient Greeks put injured warriors on horseback to improve their health and well-being. I soldiers, and a Danish rider, paralyzed by polio, won a silver dressage medal in the 1952 Olympics. Yet the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association wasn't formed until 1969. Now there are more than 500 accredited U.S. riding centers. They work with adults and kids with cerebral palsy, autism, muscular dystrophy, polio, mental retardation and other disabilities.