We got a new horse

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mydaddysjag

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Most people probably remember seeing my beloved Domingo for sale on the sales forum, but most probably didnt know why.

My two year old son was diagnosed with Autism earlier this year, and has appointments monday-friday with various developemental therapists, speech therapists, and occupational therapists. We had been working with them for months, but not seeing any improvements. This summer, we tried therapeutic riding with Colton, and it was like a miracle, he became more social, stopped biting himself, had a drastic reduction in the amount of meltdowns he has, AND he started talking.

At $40 a pop, I couldnt honestly afford him to be riding every other day, or every day like I want him to. We sat down and thought about it, and decided that the best thing we could do for my son was to buy a small horse/large pony for him to use for therapeutic riding, but big enough I could trail ride it, or hop on it for tune ups if needed. We needed to sell a horse for it to be financially feasable, but everything worked out.

In september, we picked our new quarter horse (hes a small QH, 14.2 hands) for my son. He needed to finish up show season with his old owner, she had qualified for the state horse show on him. After winning a State Championship, "Dan" came home with us last weekend.

Dan is a 19 year old Quarter Horse gelding who has done a little bit of everything in his life. He was a ranch horse and used for cutting, cow work, penning, and barrels his first 9 year. Then my friend bought him, and they used him as a show horse, Hunter under saddle, over fences, trail, showmanship. Hes also been used for a therapeutic horse for a child in a wheel chair. The perfect fit for our family.

Here are a few pictures, some with his old rider who allowed me to show the pictures, and one or two with my son on their first ride together since he came home.

Colton Dan 11-3-12.jpg

Dan 2010.jpg

Dan and Cheyanne Trail.jpg

Dan braided.jpg

Dan over fence.jpg

Dan and Cheyanne Trail.jpg

English Showmanship.jpg

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Sounds like he is the perfect horse for your son and your family.You can't beat a Quarter Horse for an all round mount for a kid.Keep us posted on your son's progress.Lots more photos too.
 
Ive never ridden anything but quarter horses, so when it was time to start looking, thats what we searched for. Wanted a big pony, without the pony attitude lol So far hes been a dream
 
He is lovely!! What a pleasure these "war horses" can be, I hope he is all you and your family need.

Jacki Loomis
 
I think he is perfect
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Very handsome guy. I'm so glad you found something to help with your son's autism, it can be an endless search for some people to find the right thing to spark a real interest for these special kids. Keep us updated on their new partnership.
 
That is wonderful. There is nothing like finding such a useful proactive way to breath new life into a senior horse than to give him such a meaningful purpose. I must say that I think you chose wisely looking at a senior horse, not only for the been there done that reason, but for matching up your needs and his, as well as the life expectancy aspect of it all (a factor that many do not consider, but should). I hope you have many many great memories to be made.
 
WOW, sounds like a match made in Heaven. I am so happy for your family to have found the perfect horse for your needs, in Dan. Maybe you all enjoy many happy years together, and may your son continue to thrive in his development.
 
As the mother of an now adult daughter with one of the autism spectrum disorders I have to say that animals, any animal big or small, seem to offer real comfort and joy to our special kids. My daughter rode when she was your son's age then refused when we replaced her favourite horse (we had no idea that was a possibility and could not change back) but she continued to crave the companionship of animals and is the reason we started with minis. She has been the one to teach our foals to lead reliably and tolerate nearly anything in being touched and she trains our dogs (in spite of being non verbal) to lead, sit, lay down and stay when she wants them too. When she sees an animal, be it horse or dog or cat she lights up and her day is not complete with out some fur time. If you can you may want to consider having a second horse as back up so that if Dan must take time off for any reason your son will not be affected too much, change can be so difficult for these children to accept. Just a thought. Congratulations on Dan, he is a gorgeous guy for sure.
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That is wonderful!!!!! I have several Quarter horses, and they are the best. And a 19 year old gelding? What could be better!!!!

Congratulations!!!

Liz N.
 
Congratulations! He is gorgeous! I have always been a huge believer in equine therapy, but have also had a chance to witness it first-hand. We have always had horses, and my daughters show the minis and have casually ridden our QH gelding. I wanted to get my youngest daughter, Maddy, involved more with the riding as she won't be able to participate in all of the sports our oldest daughter does as she gets older due to her heart defect.

Maddy started riding lessons two months ago and the changes in her are remarkable! Due to her repeated surgeries and being on heart/lung bypass, she has some deficiencies in executive functioning skills. She also has poor hand strength and limited flexibility and weakness in her trunk and core due to all of the scar tissue in her chest. That said, her instructor has her do exercises on the horse to strengthen her core and help with posture and we have seen a huge difference! Her hand strength is improving from having to do all of the buckles on the English tack (we ride western with a lot less buckles and I always had to due the girth because she couldn't reach it). So that is helping her school work. Having to plan and organize her thoughts is helping with her executive functioning.

I didn't mean to make this post about her - sorry! I just wanted to share our excitement, too. I hadn't even realized how much it had helped until I met with her teachers yesterday.

I wish you the best of luck! As a special education teacher I work with many children on the autism spectrum and I wish they had the access to what you are doing with your son. I think it is going to be a very special partnership indeed!
 

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