Adaptations and Teaching Techniques for Riders with Severe Disabilities, Part 2: Physical Challenges For all riders, posture is the first thing you address because only when you have good relaxed position on the horse are you able to use the aids separately to correctly cue the horse. For riders with severe disabilities we do the … Continue reading
Adaptations and Teaching Techniques for Riders with Severe Disabilities, Part 1: Introduction
Introduction I am excited to share with you this huge compilation of notes on teaching riders with moderate to severe disabilities. While the therapeutic riding instructor is to focus on teaching riding skills, the truth is that sometimes you will get students who cannot balance on their own and may never understand the connection between … Continue reading
Sensory Boards
A “Sensory Boards” is basically a board on which you attach tactile and visual objects to be explored. Sensory boards are often used for babies and young children to encourage stimulation of the senses and exploration through sensory play, a natural part of child development. They are also used in Occupational Therapy for helping children with Sensory Processing Disorders … Continue reading
Fun Video Friday: “Imagine What It’s Like to Have High Functioning Autism”
Trying to put yourself in the place of your students is valuable. I think lots of us have struggled with similar things, but maybe not to such an extreme, and finding those little places of contact help you relate to and understand what your students are going through. This is the first time I’ve accurately … Continue reading
Holiday Game: Over the River
This is my favorite Holiday activity to date. Today I sat down with our volunteers and said, “Okay team what activity shall we do today? I need ideas!” After a minute of blank deer-in-the-headlight stares, someone said, “We should do something to a Christmas song!” So we made an activity to “Over the River and Through the … Continue reading
The 6 Stations Activity – Holiday Version!
This is the activity I did with my students last week, based on the The 6 Stations Activity activity by Susie Bjorkland of Freedom Farm. The 6 Stations Activity – Holiday Version Supplies/Prep/Arena Setup 4 barrels down one quarter line one has 2 large dice another has the sign “4. Deliver candy canes to FOUR stockings!” and a gift back … Continue reading
Fun Foto Friday
Switchin’ it up…it’s Fun Foto Friday! How good are you at identifying what’s been going on in your arena? Can you guess what’s been going on in ours? Name Those Tracks Tracks #1 Answer: Horse backing up. Someone owns a reiner. Tracks #2 Answer: Cat. Note prints appear normal while sauntering into the arena, then spread apart while … Continue reading
Game: The Barn and The Hut
Here is another great game idea from Susie Bjorkland of Freedom Farm in Minnesota!!! I am going to show you pictures of the props first, so you can try to guess what she uses them for, and think up all the possibilities! These were made by a rider’s parents, with “The Barn” written across the top of … Continue reading
Thankful Quote
This is one of my favorite thankful quotes, about the first ride: “We have been on and off the horse many times now. He knows we can get on. And off. So this time we are going to stay on him for a little ride, and with our foot in the stirrup. I am only a … Continue reading
Your motivation for teaching
I think all instructors should ask themselves: “Why do I teach? What is my motivation?” Your reasons affect the type of instructor you are, your understanding of your role, the quality of your instruction, the focus of your lessons, your knowledge of skills, the types of students you work best with, how you interact with students, and your resiliency in hard times. … Continue reading