Dada has been energized by the whole fiasco with LMU. She and Kate and some others are almost ready to start a new riding program. I will be working on a website for it soon. It will be an inclusive program. Able-bodied riders will be welcome, so will therapeutic riders and para-equestrian riders (yeah!). We all have much to learn from one another and from horses.
Here is how I think a para-equestrian program can benefit everyone:
As the rider, I experienced joy I have rarely felt as I learned that I could compete in a physical competition and win it.
Other riders at Lift Me Up also benefited. One day during a lesson, Georgia asked if one of her rider could follow my dressage patterns. He likes that, she said. It seems that I was someone to look up to, a successful, independent rider, even though I was disabled. I sure never felt like a star; maybe I should have become a prima donna and demanded cinnamon pop-tarts and a private mounting stall? Probably not.
Finally parents also benefited. At the first Lift Me Up function I attended, the mother of a young girl with cerebral palsy seemed shocked and delighted to learn I held a job, lived on my own, was independent. I hold no illusions about my speaking, but I would like to think that I helped this woman realize that an independent and happy future for her daughter is achievable.
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