anyone take lo to riding for disabled.

[emandjules]

I was wondering if you need to be referred and what sort of sn children they take. DD has sensory processing probs and ot recommends horse riding.

My ds (6 with severe ASD) has been riding for the past year. In my area riding for the disabled only cater for teens and adults so we had a chat to a local stables and they have been brill. They have carefully chosen his pony and he always has the same instructor on a 1-1 basis.

we have had some "blips" - ds screaming down poor ponys ear! ds deciding he had finished his lesson and jumping off mid canter! but overall he has done really well and im sure he benifits from the experience.

Have written at length about this on MN in the past. Our nearby RDA centre takes children of all levels of (dis)ability, inc those who cannot sit indepently. They were not so good with ASD though! You might find it better to go for a one-to-one at a "normal" stable.

they do this locally here too. I was thinking about ds1 who has hypermobility and suspected of either asd or dyspraxia. I was jsut a bit shy of calling in case he wasn't consided needy enough.

I don't think you need to worry about that. The waiting lists for RDA are huge, we waited 2 years! So get on the list now! Other mums at our session had children with different disabilities and often talked about it being good for trunk strength and co-ordination etc.

I'm not sure who runs it here, but ds1 really needs help with co-ordination and strength - he has started dislocating limbs and we are still waiting for OT, so maybe I will call. Thank you.

Thanks for replying. I think i will try an 'ordinary' riding school first. I was thinking of volunteering at rda when lo starts school in sept so it may be a way of seeing what it is like anyway.

We are lucky as we are able to borrow my friend's gorgeous shetland. She is 23 years old and very steady. She and ds seem to have a special understanding which is lovely. I can vouch for the riding being good for coordination and balance as ds's walking and running have improved drastically since he started. He used to have a very awkward gait (sort of leaning forward) and tripped over a lot but now he looks much more 'normal', can manage rough ground and has more stamina. I put it down to the riding even though he only walks and trots on the lead rein because he refuses to hold the reins!

I can't see why an ordinary riding school shouldn't be able to cater for a disabled child just as well as the RDA. I helped out at our local RDA for a while and they didn't use any special equipment or anything although they did have helpers walking next to the ponies at all times.