“Michelle’s life was changed forever at the tender age of twelve when she had a car accident hitting her head on a door. This head injury resulted in a host of struggles that were frightening and seemed insurmountable not only to Michelle but her family as well. Her hope of recovery seemed very daunting. Michelle shared that due to the injury, she had difficulties with getting up in the morning and getting ready for the day. Noises bothered her and she suffered with fatigue and headaches. This included constant pain and being plagued by fears and depression. Michelle had lost her spontaneity in life and her symptoms kept her isolated from interacting with her loving family and caring friends.
One day a friend (Stephanie, a volunteer with FREC) invited her to Freedom Reins Equine Connections and encouraged her to give it a try; this opportunity took her and her family by surprise—-actually her mom says, “it was a miracle” as it opened doors that led Michelle on a new path towards hope and a new measure of healing. She has learned the importance of communicating with the horses and that she needs to communicate where she wants to go. She is able to translate that into her relationships as well. Michelle explained it like this, “I need to know where I am going before I can tell others where to go and what to do.” She is learning to tell her family what she needs.
Michelle’s equine experience has given her many things including hope and strength to try more things in her life. She feels totally accepted by the horses and has overcome fears.
Michelle’s equine journey and recovery is bringing her to the place where ‘in the between times she has more self-confidence, she laughs, she gets up in the morning about 6:30am, gets dressed and comes to have coffee with the family’ ~ she is connecting more.”

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“Horseback riding with “Freedom Reins” has definitely been Gabriel’s favourite form of therapy! When Gabriel started horseback riding therapy, he had extremely poor core strength. So much so, that on his first lesson, he kept trying to “W” sit on the horse because it was so much effort to hold himself upright. Of course, you can’t “W” sit on a horse! His legs kept sliding down the saddle. Now, just a few months later, his core is so much stronger that he can sit up on the horse with much less difficulty. Riding has also improved his posture, stamina and over all strength.

Gabriel needs more sensory input than a typical child in order for his brain to be alert, organized and focused. Riding Takaia has provided him with the extra sensory input he needs. When he feels the horse walking, it provides proprioceptive input (which is input that helps you know where your body is in space and how to move it) to all the muscles that he needs to use in order to balance himself on Takaia. This understanding of where his body is lets him look up at where he is going instead of down at his feet for that input (which he often does when he is walking). In addition, riding a horse mimics the feel of walking and so it gives Gabriel’s legs a chance to get the feel of walking while they are in a regular position instead of pointing inward like they normally do. As his mom, I have noticed that horseback riding has helped Gabe develop physically, socially, emotionally and spiritually.”

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“Each time with a horse
seems a time the
spirit is set free.”

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