6/30/11 Thursday
So much to share and so little time. Where to start, well I was leaving our home to take Makena to work and there was our friend Buck, he had a brown paper bag in hand. We have been swapping dvds, he shared his Temple Grandin and I shared some of our dvds like Rory o Shea was here and including Samuel. I figured the movies were in the paper bag and they were but upon opening the bag lay two small treasures carefully nestled in the bottom. Buck had read about the plastic cut out cups that I would not use due to the lack of labeling. He had taken it upon himself to make a cut out cup out of plastic, (with the safe labels on bottom) and one out of glass for Jewel! I am speechless, how did he do it, he did not even have the cup to copy. What a thoughtful, useful and amazing gift! Jewel says, "thank you." There was also some bubbles for blowing and the Recovered Autism dvd by Doreen Granpeesheh, which I have yet to watch. From our house hold to you Buck we say Mahalo Nui Loa!
Cookie Dough is sick and slowly looking better. Yesterday I had decided to let go and let God. Today the events and communications unfolded slowly about what our team for the parade was going to do. By mid afternoon the word was for our horse team to meet at a different location and try another horse. Flash is a paint horse, Jewel calls him Blue, (bl-ooo) because he has blue eyes. I do not know why Jewel likes to re-name some people and some animals but this is what she does. Blue has watched Cookie Dough work with Jewel, he used to pasture out with Cookie Dough. Jewel has ridden Blue on numerous occasions until Cookie Dough became too jealous. We arrived at the new area around 5:30 and our team signed wavers, and all put on helmets. The owner Kandi has been so generous to Jewel it is all above what words could say. Cindy who had been working all day met us there and Carrie came down with her beautiful daughters. All of us there for Jewel to help her achieve one of her dreams, her wish to ride in the rodeo parade. These women are amazing people with great big hearts. Kandi had her full sized American Flag out, for they need to check how the horse will handle with the flag blowing. He has been in parades before, Blue is about 14 years old but we still have to desensitize, and condition him before the parade. There will be many flags flying at that event. Cindy likes for the horse to smell Jewel before mounting and Jewel loves this. She loves their noses and how they fell, maybe it is the point of view as well. Raven rode with Jewel, then Jewel rode with Aunty Cindy, then back with Raven. Carrie led Blue then Cindy then Kandi. I stayed in my usual position of side walker. Jewel's butt got real sensitive, I must remember to put on a diaper and sheepskin for her, she is skinny and sitting for so long hurts her bottom. It was a very intense session to say the least, ironing out the last minute details and trying to eliminate possible problems. We also came up with an emergency safety plan. These Aunties have sacrificed a lot, each in their own way to help Jewel ride safely and to be able to reach out of her comfort zone for more. I am sure that if we had a proper riding pad that they use in hippo-therapy for children with cerebral palsy, Jewel would be much more comfortable, this is something that I will look into. Each time we would stop the horse, we would require Jewel to give the command for the horse to commence. Each time I would remind Jewel to, " relax, plan what she had to say, take a deep breath and say it." Each time she would do this and the words would come out with great effort, "go bl-ooo" and it would be at a whisper but enough for us to hear and off we would go. When she does this with Cookie Dough you can see his ears move to hear her, he is so in tune with her. At some point while we were stopping Aunty Kandi picked Blue's nose and Jewel was facinated with this, such a simple thing to clean your horse's nose but for Jewel it was fun. Could it be that we clean her nose like this as well, hmm. We were all encouraging her and helping with her posture. Jewel can take the back rider down with her high tone and her back hand reflex, plus her helmet can hurt the back rider and at times seems to be choking her. So many details to be aware of all at once my brain is tightly wound in a fight or flight mode. I did not realize how tense I was until I got home and felt my tight body. I gave Jewel a nice hot bath after, she was famished and gobbled down her food. Hippo-therapy helps with elimination as well, so this evening there was no constipation pain for her, thank you Blue! The therapeutic benefits of riding for Jewel are endless. Can you imagine how it would feel if you could not walk or scratch your itchy nose and now you were mounted high upon a horse, who waited for your verbal command and upon your words your world would change. Now you were moving through space and time, your view of the world so vast and endless, you would not be thinking about therapeutic benefits, that is for those on the ground, instead seated up high you feel such joy, dreams of being a mermaid are laid aside for now you are princess, a pirate, a savage, a 10 year old girl named Jewel on her horse,.... I often wonder what Jewel is thinking when she is riding. She likes it when the horse goes faster, I think their gait's change of speed must feel good. Sometimes Jewel breaks out in a giggle, like there is some private joke she knows about but the joy and ecstasy we see for certain. I guess the show must go on and we will be at the rodeo parade on the 2nd of July :)
No comments:
Post a Comment