Title: Magic Happens with Horses
First published: September 26, 2005
Description: Kids love horses. In our neighborhood as soon as many of the kids are able to sit up, they are riding Midnight and Copper. These kids laugh, giggle, talk to the horses, talk to their parents, screech, and have a great time. They can walk around the arena, run around the park, say “horsie”, and feed the horses carrots. They can hold the lead rope and walk the horses around the neighborhood.

There are children who are not able to sit up well, even at an older age. There are children in wheelchairs who can’t run around the park, who can’t walk around in the arena, or take the horses for walks around the neighborhood. There are children who are not able to speak in words that we understand.

But, the two groups of children do have something huge in common. They love horses! They can all sit on the horses, some in a special saddle giving more support than others may need. They all giggle and laugh when they’re around the horses. They all chatter and talk endlessly, even though it may be in their own language that we may not understand. They all love putting their hand on the horses’ warm body. And, they all give us hugs, and do cry when they have to leave. They all feel safe, and for the time they’re on the horse, they can forget about not being able to walk, or forget about their wheelchair. Kids are all, just kids!
Magic Happens with Horses shows the reader the elation children have around the horses. As emotional benefits thrive, so do the physical benefits. Some of these children, after riding consistently for a few months and developing some upper body strength, are beginning to walk. Some parents only like “traditional” methods of therapy. But, some are willing to try very “untraditional” methods of therapy for their children. The parents of these kids in the book have smiles as big as their kids when they’re out in the sunshine in the arena, walking around with their child. The last thing most of these parents ever thought they would see their special-needs child do, would be sitting on top of a 1,000 pound horse! These children develop a satisfaction, self-esteem, and don’t have a disability in the world as they walk around on their trusted steed, laughing all the way.
Subjects: children, hippotherapy, horse therapy, therapeutic riding, handicapped riders
Places: Orinda, California
Time periods: current special-needs children, 2005