Trainers for physically disabled riders

[Wayside]

@Invite;4307113

I am so sorry you have been treated that way. I just simplify my disease by saying I have a nerve issue, because if I ever got into the entire thing, people would fall asleep

People who treat you so poorly have never dealt with chronic illness, chronic pain or serious injury. If they spent one day in your shoes, they would be in awe at all you accomplish. Many folks lack empathy and tact. Do your best to ignore them and just keep on riding.

My snotty, uber rich horse owning neighbors always slow down and stare at me while I’m riding. It’s totally obvious, too. My ring is rather far from the road, so they slow to a complete crawl. I kind of hope they just think they always catch me during walk breaks!

This is so true. I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which is not something I’m going to try and explain to every passerby either. And I look normal, so people do have a hard time understanding why I can’t do all the things that they do sometimes. I love the letter to Ann Landers written by someone who’d had back and knee surgeries, but looked to be healthy. One day when she used her parking placard in a handicapped space, a man approached her and said, “You certainly don’t look handicapped to me. You should not be parking in that space.” She replied, “And you, sir, look intelligent, but I guess looks can be deceiving.” :lol:

“The Spoon Theory” by Christine Miserandino is a good short story that’s worth reading, if you haven’t already. http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/the_spoon_theory/

Thankfully my co-boarders are really nice people, and they pretty much just accept my weird habits. Like all the walking. I do that, too. Both for me and my horse. Since I’m usually achey, and she’s a little sensitive and tense, we always walk around in hand for a while before I get on. And then we have an incredibly long walk warm-up. There have been times that people have come in and completed their whole ride within my walk warm-up :lol:

And I fall off my horse more than anyone else I know. My joints are very flexible, but unstable, and I have decreased proprioception. Luckily, I can feel where my appendages are, it’s just sort of sloppy and imprecise. Fortunately the people at my stable who have seen me fall have always been very kind, and not insulting.

[Invite]

[QUOTE=Wayside;4309599]
This is so true. I have Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which is not something I’m going to try and explain to every passerby either. And I look normal, so people do have a hard time understanding why I can’t do all the things that they do sometimes. I love the letter to Ann Landers written by someone who’d had back and knee surgeries, but looked to be healthy. One day when she used her parking placard in a handicapped space, a man approached her and said, “You certainly don’t look handicapped to me. You should not be parking in that space.” She replied, “And you, sir, look intelligent, but I guess looks can be deceiving.” :lol:

“The Spoon Theory” by Christine Miserandino is a good short story that’s worth reading, if you haven’t already. http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/the_spoon_theory/

Thankfully my co-boarders are really nice people, and they pretty much just accept my weird habits. Like all the walking. I do that, too. Both for me and my horse. Since I’m usually achey, and she’s a little sensitive and tense, we always walk around in hand for a while before I get on. And then we have an incredibly long walk warm-up. There have been times that people have come in and completed their whole ride within my walk warm-up :lol:

And I fall off my horse more than anyone else I know. My joints are very flexible, but unstable, and I have decreased proprioception. Luckily, I can feel where my appendages are, it’s just sort of sloppy and imprecise. Fortunately the people at my stable who have seen me fall have always been very kind, and not insulting.[/QUOTE]

You are lucky to have such great barn mates. I love the Ann Landers thing. That totally cracks me up!!! I have to have my cell phone with me at all times, as I sometimes fall and can’t get up. It is funny at times. I’ve decided I have to have a sense of humor about my disability. It’s one of those laugh or cry situation and darn it, I am going to laugh.

[DressageGeek_Ribbon]

@Wayside;4309599

T
Since I’m usually achey, and she’s a little sensitive and tense, we always walk around in hand for a while before I get on. And then we have an incredibly long walk warm-up. There have been times that people have come in and completed their whole ride within my walk warm-up :lol:

Wayside, at my barn, this is the way that we often do warm ups! It is a terrific way to start to connect and “feel” your horse. And you can do a phenomenal amount of great work at the walk.

[Piaffing]

[QUOTE=whicker;4309144]
Piaffing,

Please will you tell us more? what is a syrinx? How do you use the loop on the rein? I was thinking about putting both reins in one hand. Anyone tried it? The spanish riding school has that solo ride of the head rider where he holds all the reins in one hand and a willow branch straight up like a sword in the other hand.

How do you change your cues? How do you keep your feet in the stirrups?You can pass on whatever has worked for you and we will be sooo grateful!

how did you find your instructor? What special training makes a difference? we would like to find whoever is considered among the best and then ask them to clinic or symposium.

Thanks for sharing with us![/QUOTE]

I’m more than happy to share. A syrinx is a fluid filled cyst that is in the spinal cord putting pressure on the nerves. It usually effects the arms and then the legs etc…

The loop on the rein is attached using a Conway buckle on plain reins with holes punched at even intervals. I feel my contact with the reins in my elbow and shoulder. So far my feet aren’t too bad. I feel that my feet are in the stirrups by the amount of pressure I can feel with my knees.

I use my wieght more as an aid now especially for lateral movements. I try to be as light and direct as possible with my aid.

My ground person I have known and worked with for over 25 years. Sometimes Terry forgets that I have to do things differently, like I can only carry my whip in my right hand. My coach Karin Davis, I heard great things about her so I gave her a try. I didn’t know when I started with her if she was willing to work with a disabled rider. She has been wonderful. Orginally from Australia she had lent her Grand Prix horse Mighty Heights to a rider in the Sydney 2000 Paralympics. Last year she lent me this horse for a competition.

You don’t have to have a coach that has worked with disabled riders, but one that is open minded to coming up with new ideas.

[DressageGeek_Ribbon]

Piaffing - I checked out your website - fabulous.
And look everyone - she sells Piaffing Ponies to help support her efforts to represent Canada at the ParaOlympics.

I think these would make awesome holiday gifts…like for Secret Santa…

What’s the current exchange rate for Canada-US?

[Piaffing]

Thanks DressageGeek. I love making these ponies. I’m currently updating my website and will be using PayPal, so the conversion into US funds will be easier.

I have to add in my new horse Zoey and change my last horse Curzon as I have sold him.

[DressageGeek_Ribbon]

Well, let me know, because otherwise I would send a check! And given the volatile economy…!

[whicker]

Piaffing,

The ponies are adorable! They will make super gifts or prizes.

On your website, you talk a bit about your paralympic efforts. What classification do you ride? What is an Equine Canada Certified level 1 coach? I don’t know your system, please explain. At what competitions are you planning to ride? We would like to follow you to cheer for you! Do you come to the US for competitions?

I will send you an email, too.

[Invite]

Way to go Piaffing!!!

What a fantastic idea to sell those adorable ponies!!! I hope you are able to represent Canada. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for you.

You are certainly an inspiration

[NeverTime]

@TikiSoo;4309470

Almost all the cues I have taught my horse are “unique” to us based on my ability or lack of.
Teaching voice cues by lunging has helped tremendously. Once I’m “on board” I reinforce the voice cue with a particular leg position or movement and most times she’s understood.

I have very little strength with my legs, so many cues are shifting weight or leg position: right leg forward, left leg behind to circle to the left…normal. But if I want to canter, I jiggle my left foot.

My last pony, the “canter” cue was taking up a little strand of mane at the wither. The problem with “custom cues” is that you can never sell your horse!

Becca Hart, the reigning US Para champion, has a condition called familial spastic paraplegia and, like you, has very little strength in her legs. With her horses, she too developed a whole voice cue system to help teach her horses more advanced dressage – one type of cluck to change the gait, another type of cluck to add more oomph within it, that sort of thing. There was an article about her in Practical Horseman earlier this year that went into some of that.
She’s now competing at 4th/PSG and found along the way that the movements were getting too complicated to have a whole second “vocabulary” for every one of them, but says she still relies on that system of clucks and taps with the whip when her legs quit on her and she temporarily goes “full paralyzed.” Pretty dang cool.

[Piaffing]

Thanks everyone.

EC stands for Equine Canada. The exams consist of a written, practical, riding incuding jumping and teaching a lesson. Level 1 is for teaching novices, Level 2 is geared more towards competing and Level 3 is speacialized in Hunter/Jumper, Eventing or Dressage.

I want to be able to compete soon with my horse Zoey, but I need to find a job. I’m so seriously considering coaching full time. I love teaching.

Anyone that wants a Pony email me at cariba@sympatico.ca

[myvanya]

OK…so two different subjects for my post…first…I sympathize with those who get the “but you don’t look sick”- I have Rheumatoid Arthritis and since I am still pretty athletic as much as I can possibly drag out of myself and I am only 24 but look younger, most people give me a blank stare and then, “but you’re too young to have arthritis and you don’t look sick” when it comes up. It sidelined me from riding almost entirely for 2 years though before it was diagnosed. Now I am getting back into riding though with the 2 most wonderful horses in the world. I do both jumping and dressage though I doubt I am considered para really…I am for the most part pretty able bodied still…just deal with a lot of pain and am starting to get some nodules and such. I have to say that I struggle with not being frustrated at how much not riding and just the pain and stifness had pushed me back in my riding from where I was before it really started. Does anyone have any tips on that? I do my best to be happy with what I can do, but maybe its because other people don’t see the disease and they expect me to be at the same level I used to be- but I used to jump over 4’9" on my 14.3 hand horse…now I struggle with 3’6". I should be happy I can still do it at all…I guess a lot of it may just come with maturity.

The other part is a bit more of a question I guess. My sister was recently injured in a firearms accident. After the accident there was a clot in her spinal column that wasn’t caught quickly and worsened the damage caused by the bullet (it had lodged in a lower cervical vertebrae but she had been regaining feeling until the clot hit). Now she is paralyzed from about the bottom of her ribcage down…does anyone on here know how feasible riding again would be for her? She rode before the accident and still has her horse who is super well trained (all our horses have been used in therapy situations); she is able to sit up unassisted, but has no feeling in her legs. I know she could probably drive, but she really likes riding more but I wasn’t sure if having no feeling at all in her legs made it impossible. I know certain things wouldn’t work…but don’t know if someone more experienced with that level of injury might have some insight.

[DressageGeek_Ribbon]

This is exactly why this thread is so useful!

This is the kind of networking that we need. We’ll get there!

[myvanya]

I should probably add…my sister is in Idaho…near Boise so if there are any good programs near there that could help her I would love to know about them…I am in Colorado so it is harder for me to do research on things like that aside from google and a phonebook…I am hoping she will come out here but that is a work in progress.

[Invite]

Myvanya,
Don not feel as though you aren’t disabled enough to belong here. I have a friend who suffers from RA. Some days she can do a ton, but other days she can barely get out of bed. When I did not realize she had RA, a person who knew she had RA actually had the nerve to say to me,“If Miss X wasn’t so lazy and rode more often she could be a really good rider.” I was floored by the comment at the time, but the person who said this to me lost any and all respect I had for her once I found out “Miss X” suffered from RA.

I rode jumpers, but I couldn’t even ride in a close contact or jump a cross rail now. I resent that. It is 100% normal to resent the fact that you are unable to ride at the level you once did. I’m happy that I can still ride, but that does not mean I don’t resent the obstacles that have been put in my path. Being resentful is normal, but I think you eventually become more accepting of your disability and your limitations.

As far as people saying you look fine and you don’t look sick, forget about them. You know how you feel and that is all that matters. I get so aggrivated when people tell me I look like I’m moving around better. It’s as though they don’t understand the pain. Just because I look like I’m doing better does not mean I feel better.

I’m not sure about your sister, but I am sure there is a place that can help her ride again!
Best of luck to both of you

[myvanya]

[QUOTE=Invite;4314332]
Myvanya,
Don not feel as though you aren’t disabled enough to belong here. I have a friend who suffers from RA. Some days she can do a ton, but other days she can barely get out of bed. When I did not realize she had RA, a person who knew she had RA actually had the nerve to say to me,“If Miss X wasn’t so lazy and rode more often she could be a really good rider.” I was floored by the comment at the time, but the person who said this to me lost any and all respect I had for her once I found out “Miss X” suffered from RA.

I rode jumpers, but I couldn’t even ride in a close contact or jump a cross rail now. I resent that. It is 100% normal to resent the fact that you are unable to ride at the level you once did. I’m happy that I can still ride, but that does not mean I don’t resent the obstacles that have been put in my path. Being resentful is normal, but I think you eventually become more accepting of your disability and your limitations.

As far as people saying you look fine and you don’t look sick, forget about them. You know how you feel and that is all that matters. I get so aggrivated when people tell me I look like I’m moving around better. It’s as though they don’t understand the pain. Just because I look like I’m doing better does not mean I feel better.

I’m not sure about your sister, but I am sure there is a place that can help her ride again!
Best of luck to both of you :)[/QUOTE]

Thanks…I actually just switched from a pancake saddle to a really cushy saddle partially becauseit fit me better and partially because of the RA. I am definitely in the some days I can do everything and other days I have to drag myself to the barn and can barely hold the reins crowd…and trying to be somewhat accepting of it but still push past it. I think I have gotten to the point where I am happy to be back to riding at all, but I do still resent the obstacles- some days more than others. If it weren’t for my faith, my family, and my horses I am sure I would be far more of a mess right now! I do wish I could educate people a little more but I have to admit I just don’t have the time and energy most of the time.

Its helpful to know there are others out there struggling against these things too…(even if it woudl be nice if it weren’t the case) I think even in my own head sometimes I expect the same things of myself I could do 5 years ago, but it is comforting to know there are other people out there in different and similar situations who are trying to keep going too. Very encouraging. So thanks for the thread

[Piaffing]

With work and the right coach there is no reason she can’t ride. Lauren Barwick who won gold at the Paralympics is paralyzed from the waist down.

If there is a will there is a way.

[IdahoRider]

[QUOTE=myvanya;4314281]
I should probably add…my sister is in Idaho…near Boise so if there are any good programs near there that could help her I would love to know about them…I am in Colorado so it is harder for me to do research on things like that aside from google and a phonebook…I am hoping she will come out here but that is a work in progress.[/QUOTE]
Myvanya,
I am just outside of Boise, in Eagle. There is a pretty active therapeutic riding program here called Ride For Joy. I don’t know if they are active year round, or if they only have a riding program during the summer months. I know they can handle some heavy duty disabilities, so maybe they would be a good resource for your sister.
Let me know if I can help.
Sheilah

[myvanya]

Thanks! I’ll check into it and see what we can find. My other sister is out there right now (she is usually here in CO too but is out visiting) so I will see if they might be able to visit/check into it together.

[whicker]

Myvana, Piaffing and IdahoRider,

This is so awesomely wonderful! Exchanging the support and information is why this thread was started. Hurrah for all of us who care!

now perhaps Myvana’s sister will have an opportunity to get back on and ride.

Thank you for joining us!