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 MICHAEL'S ( MICKEY ) STORY - Mickey is a 14 year old boy who was born 9 weeks prematurely and weighed 3 pounds 4 ounces. The diagnoses at birth were: Down’s Syndrome; Ventricular Septal Defect (a hole in his heart the size of a quarter); and Pancreatic Atresia (a blocked intestine). Three days after he was born he had abdominal surgery for the blocked intestine.
When Mickey was 4 months old, he had temporary heart surgery - a Pulmonary Artery Banding. From that surgery until he was two years old, and only 14 pounds, he did not thrive. Growth was very slow.
On March 29, 1990, Mickey had a stroke with continuous seizures and was in a coma for four days. The stroke affected the right side of the brain in the area that controls movement on the left side. The seizures did most of the damage by causing the loss of all of the voluntary muscle control. He was back almost to the newborn stage. However, memory and mental ability were intact. Mickey progressed very slowly. A special diet was implemented to aid in growth.
Then on March 14, 1991, when Mickey was 3 years old, and weighed only 18-1/2 pounds, Open Heart Surgery was performed to close the quarter-sized hole between the lower chambers of his heart. Mickey went home four days later. Within three weeks, he was crawling (military style) on his belly all over the house. This was the first time he had enough strength to get around. But in April of 1991, Mickey had a small stroke. The stroke caused temporary weakness. He was back to normal in one day because of the increase in dosage of his seizure medication.
Mickey now started growing faster than this muscle development could keep up with. He gained six pounds in eight weeks, and gained 2 inches in height. The special diet was discontinued on his third birthday, but he was / is still unable to eat most foods because he lacks the necessary tongue control to eat or speak. And when he was four, Mickey began to suffer from chronic hip dislocations. They were so severe that his brace could not support his hips. Yet blessings happen - in 1995 the hip dislocations halted
In September 1995, Mickey was seven. He started swimming in school therapy. The water helped him start waling in the parallel bars. His legs and hips are not strong enough to enable waling on dry land. And he can now talk, and spell. He was given an opportunity to participate in therapeutic horseback riding through the sponsorship of the Western Chapter of the New York State Horse Council.
Mickey learned to love horses, and riding. The mere movement of the horse’s back at a walk stimulates in a passive rider (as from a wheelchair), the same muscles and joints we use when walking. He went from one horseback riding program to another because mounting from a wheelchair was no longer being offered.
Then Mickey could not ride anywhere because his thyroid had caused massive weight gain. At fourteen years old, Mickey tips the scale at about 200 pounds. There are horses that can carry him - but lifting him from the wheelchair parked on a mounting ramp is difficult and dangerous to perform. There are more women than men who volunteer in horseback riding programs - women’s bodies are not designed to lift 200 pounds with just their arms - which is what is necessary to reach and place a rider like Mickey over the horse’s back.
Rivendell believes in the joy of life and horses. Mickey should be able to ride. We have the horses that can carry him. His parent’s bought him his own saddle - a size not normally carried in a riding program. We have the volunteers ready to work with Mickey.
Would you join that special group of volunteers? Would you help put pleasure in Mickey’s life? Call
716-457-3365, or E-mail Trish at trishdu@earthlink.net Rivendell’s volunteers are very, very special people.
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BRIAN'S STORY - In order to make room for the donations of three Arabian horses from Fabian Arabians, Trish sold her "large (2 stalls worth!) driving mare. That meant one or more of the Haflingers needed a refresher course of "driver training". Rivendell felt it was important to include Brian in the retraining, right back to the basics of ground driving! Brian did the work at the walk. Trish took over at the trot. And look how the "back to basics" paid off......
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JAMES' STORY - James had a stroke back in February 2000. He joined our program during the summer of 2001. After an evaluation by our PT, Bev Stewart, James began riding twice a week. Mounting for James was very difficult; he was not a rider. Even the sequence of steps to mount from the mounting ramps to the horse took patience and practice on his part.
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RICKY'S STORY - Ricky is 4 years old with Cerebral Palsy, as well as other conditions. He is non-verbal, but uses signing to communicate. The volunteer team who work with Ricky enjoy learning new signs as Ricky's vocabulary increases.
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VOLUNTEER'S TRAINING - The training session for new volunteers is intense. A great deal of information is presented during a three hour class. The theory of what to do is applied during the practice time. New volunteers "handicap" each other (using
Velcro, cotton rope, cotton scarves, hat twine, etc.) in order to experience what their riders feel. Learning through shared laughter makes the entire learning experience extremely rich.
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