Riding and children with ASD - any experience?

[WinterIsComing]

DS (aged 4) did six weeks of lessons with his school (for children with MLDs) and seemed to like it so we took him for a lesson at the same place with a view to doing it every week.

It was interesting.

I know nothing about riding. Or horses. It was a lead-rein class and the children were walking, stopping and trotting with them.

The trouble was, AFAIK the others were all NT and a couple of years older and he just couldn't cope with the starting and stopping or the waiting or the fact that he really really wanted to "jump" with his horse. He was very upset about that in particular. Not all the time but three or four times in the half hour and while he didn't get aggressive or do anything dangerous, he was very loudly upset.

Judgey looks all round as usual. I thought I was used to them but when the other people all know each other and consider themselves a cut above due to the nature of the activity it really took the shine off the afternoon.

But he enjoyed and seemed really good at it. DH was walking around with him and said he seemed familiar with all the techniques they were doing.

I'm really torn now about whether to send him again

WWYD?

Try and find out if there is a Riding for the Disabled group in your area and take him there.

Ds2 (epilepsy, SLI and ASD traits) is 4 and has been going to our local group for just over a year - he loves it. He is in a class with 3 other boys, all of whom are on the ASD spectrum. The leaders are great with them and understand what they might have to deal with - always asking if anything has changed or if they have anything specific to work on - in ds's case they are re-inforcing his language use - before when he first started he only used signing and they all learnt some Makaton so they could understand him. Ds is still with 2 helpers on the lead-rein but 2 of the others are now off the lead and working the pony independently (all be it with a leader there "just in case")

tbh if your ds enjoys it and responds to the horses, riding etc I would keep him going but would look for a more suitable place where he will be able to blossom ( and you can relax and enjoy watching him )

Wow - thank you. There is one four miles away although I may have to sleuth a bit because there was no website or email address listed.

They sound wonderful and how lovely for your DS

I did have a chuckle when the groom told DH that she was up very early to do the horses and he said, "DS could do that for a job - he regularly starts his day at 3 a.m and would have everything ready by five"

Riding for the disabled usually costs more - so it might be worth looking into what the price difference is between that and having a bog standard lesson alone rather than a group one

My ds likes horse-riding and goes with the unit. However, he also has private lessons that are tailored to his needs with the view to him joining another person in the near future. He really enjoys it and it has increased his self-esteem and confidence.

If your ds enjoys it, what about changing to another smaller class or private lessons?

Cerebra does vouchers for hippotherapy. Sometimes the LA has a pot of money somewhere for extra-curricular activities too.

It would be a shame for your ds to give it up.

We must be lucky then - our RDA lesson is about a third of the price of a normal group lesson at the same stables otherwise ds wouldn't be able to do it

It costs more here, anyway, lol

I looked into it a while ago, as, the stables I was using were really badly organized...I couldn't book a regular lesson, I had to phone every week and see if they had room for the DC then a couple of times they did things like give DS a different pony (it didn't go down well, lol) with no warning, so I started looking around, unfortunately our finances changed anyway, so we can't afford it at all at the moment.

Long waiting-list for RDA in our area due to lack of volunteers but the lady I just spoke to was utterly lovely and encouraging.

I might have DS do a private lesson every two / three weeks instead of a group one every week.

Would he need any special expensive kit of his own any time soon?

God, tabulahrasa, that sounds far from ideal!

T'was a bit of a nightmare, but they're literally 5 minutes away which was why we were using them...I've found a fantastic stable about 25 miles away, I'm just waiting till we can afford to let them start again, lol

He's be better with his own hat really, riding stable ones get bumped about a lot, even if no-one falls off with them on and buckles and things can go on them without anyone noticing and boots are always a good idea - anything else isn't really worth him having as a beginner.

We have been going for a year and haven't bought any special kit yet. The stables have a huge supply of hats, we were told to use wellies and gloves with some grip on.

RDA is alot more here too.
My dds go to riding therapy. Everything is done at their pace and they even let you have same horse every week. We are in herts. There are a few about so might be worth a lookie.

i'm the president of our local therapeutic riding association. we have quite a few children with asd that ride with us, and in some cases it is amazing. we have one little boy who is usually non verbal, but from the minute he walks down the hill to the arena, he's vocalising. he talks the whole time he is on the horse.
rda does depend a lot on where you live, so do contact the association and find out where else you could go. when we were in the uk we were on a waiting list for two years.
some of our children have boots and hats, but we have them to borrow as well, so you don't need anything. we keep costs down as far as poss.

That sounds so fantastic outofbody

Thank you all for your responses x

Another possibility is places that offer horse care opportunities for children rather than horse riding. For a lot of us, just befriending horses and looking after them can be as valuable as the riding skills, and sometimes less scary. Try researching "Equine Therapy" online and having a look at www.specialhorsesforspecialchildren.com/ for example (though I don't know them personally)

We have a family horse and he's wonderful to be around for me, as someone who's on the autism spectrum.

Our RDA is free (for up to age 5 anyway)! I hadn't realised how lucky we were.
There is also short breaks money locally which children who for eg need a 1:1 based activity rather than the general class can access.
We also have a donkey sanctuary near us which apparently offers free / cheap rides

Our RDA is £2 per 30 minute session. There's a waiting list for weekend times, but during the week there are openings available. DS2 goes on a weekday morning and just goes in to school late one day per week. The school is absolutely fine with it, and marks him down for "educational opportunity off premises" or something like that.

DS2 has recently fussed beforehand, saying he doesn't want to ride, but then he is fine once he's on the horse. After talking to the director, we suspect that one of the helpers accidentally made a comment to him about "if you don't hang on you may fall off" as he's been overly concerned suddenly about falling off. We're slowly getting past that, just takes time.

Winter, have you tried EST/Donkey Sanctuary? I think there are a few around the country. Where we go has great toys and facilities to entertain the children while they wait their turn (or afterwards). We have been so impressed. Physio suggested it. We sponsor a donkey, gift aid etc.

That sounds great! Will look into it, thank you.