Benefits for the Disabled Horseback Rider

Video Transcript

"Hi my name is Connie and we're here at Hearts Adaptive Riding Center here in Santa Barbara, California. So this is the parent of one of my riders, Kris, this is Shelley. Shelley, what has riding at Hearts done for Kris? I think riding at Hearts for Kris has just been amazing. It's given her number one, the ability to have the love of an animal, which is incredible to have that kind of a bond with an animal and knowing that she's going to ride every week. I think she looks forward to it and from a physical standpoint, the body development that she's had has really progressed over the years with the riding. When we first started coming here many years ago, four or five I think, Kristen could not sit on the horse, and we had to lay her on the horse just to get her familiar with being on the animal and having movement and things like that. And over the years we've progressed to having her backwards on the horse, having her forwards on the horse, getting her into an upright position. And now she has the saddle, it makes it a lot easier for the assistants. They're not struggling to keep her on the horse. She's got her pelvis very well secure and you can just see that her body is experiencing the exercise that goes along with riding a horse, even though she can't really walk or do any of that stuff herself. And her posture has gotten better, her head control is getting better, her eyes and her ability to focus over the years. So it's been pretty amazing I think. I agree."