He Shoulda Been a Cowboy....

Ben after getting his lucky numbers.

So as you may or may not know, it's difficult finding activities that children on the spectrum enjoy Before his diagnosis, we tried soccer...talk about EPIC FAIL.  It was a disaster.  Screaming, crying and down right meltdowns on the field...during a game.  I wasn't embarrassed for me, I was sad for him.  Sad that no matter how much we discussed it and practiced it, he doesn't understand the concept of a "team".  He doesn't understand the socialization part of being part of a "team".  Before that we tried indoor t-ball, but he was only 4 and it was chaotic for everyone, so I didn't think much of it, until we tried soccer.  Having soccer under our belt, I opted not to put him through that again and started looking for individual sports in our area.  Although we live in a city, it's difficult to find individual sports with a coach that has patience for Ben.  So he hasn't done anything until August of 2010.  I found a group on Facebook that claimed to be just starting up and used horses for therapy.  I had heard of therapy dogs and a little about using horses as therapy, but didn't know much about it.  So I did a little research (ok, a little "googling") and discovered that it was actually pretty effective for disabled children to utilize hippotherapy.  So I contacted Sunset Therapeutic Riding Center, and had all the paperwork sent, filled out and returned.  We had to go out and visit with the horses because Ben was deathly afraid of getting up on a horse.  So we went out and the director took us around and let us help her feed one of them and let Ben pet her.  He agreed to try it for a month (4 sessions) and go from there.  Needless to say we have ended our first school year with it and Ben LOVES it.  Even days he doesn't want to go, I  make him go and "tell" his horse he doesn't want to ride, at that point, Miss Velinda (the director) doesn't take no for an answer, she mounts him up and sends him off to the ring.  When Ben is done he loves it and forgot that he didn't want to go.  As many of you know he just finished his first horse show and did an excellent job. I am proud that he won his ribbons and performed in front of a crowd of strangers, but I am mostly proud that he did it with ease and without the anxiety that has consumed him with sports in the past.  We have recently found a special needs karate class, we found one and Ben loved it, so I'm excited to try that and we also have swim lessons for him.  Wish him luck on his summer activities.  I have no doubts he can master them all!!

Here are Ben's videos if you haven't seen them yet...Enjoy!

On a side note, I wanted to add that from the moment Ben heard that there were ribbons being given out, all he wanted was a red one. He didn't care what place it was - his first ribbon is a red 2nd place ribbon.  :)

Ben with sweet Tule and his ribbons.