My Nonprofit Reviews

A success story: Nadia is a beautiful 3 ½ year old girl who was born in Russia. Born without arms and with her right leg two inches shorter than her left. She was adopted by an American couple who had that special love that is so important in adopting a child with special needs. Nadia started equine-assisted therapy at SpiritHorse in the Fall 2005 session. She has learned to walk at SpiritHorse, leading her pony Snowflake independently. Imagine the difficulty of leaning to walk without arms and with one short leg! We place Snowflake’s lead rope over Nadia’s shoulder and she holds it with her chin. Since she has extreme difficulty walking, she must take one step and regain her balance. Without any training from us, Snowflake takes a single step and waits for Nadia to take another. Nadia brushes Snowflake by having the brush strapped to her foot. We also attached Snowflake’s reins to a safety vest and Nadia has learned to turn her by twisting her shoulders and stop her by leaning back. You should see the sparkle in Nadia’s eyes as she controls her pony! We believe in our children.

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