Horseback riding 2009

This article is about my daughter Kelli who was born with Down syndrome.
http://linkyy.com/6VE

If the link no longer works, here is the article cut and pasted:

More Than a Riding Lesson

November 9, 2009

Horses can often have healing powers.

Kelli Hudgens demonstrates her riding abilities with a smile on one of her favorite mounts, Jessie's Scotch Bar.

By Julie Preble, AQHA Publications intern

A little girl runs through the playground playing tag with her friends. Eight years ago, Melanie Hudgens of Papillion, Nebraska, was only able to imagine that scene for her daughter.

Melanie’s daughter, Kelli, was born with Down syndrome. When Kelli was 4 years old, her physical therapists decided she no longer needed therapy because she was able to walk and move around her classroom.

Melanie disagreed.

“She could not run,” Melanie said. “She didn’t need to run in the school, but it would have been nice if she could have been outside running so that she could keep up with some of the other kids or at least participate in some of the activities that they were doing.”

Melanie’s mother had been volunteering at a therapeutic riding organization, and she suggested that Kelli try a horseback riding program. After finding a local program, Magic In Motion, Kelli found herself on a horse.

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“Within like three sessions of riding, she learned how to run,” Melanie said. “It was very exciting for us that she was able to do that.”

Since that first ride eight years ago, Kelli has continued her lessons and is now an independent rider at Heartland Equine Therapeutic Riding Academy. She has participated in several shows and events sponsored by HETRA.

Riding and showing horses isn’t just physical therapy for Kelli; it’s emotional therapy as well.

“She definitely has a kinship with horses,” Melanie said. “Younger children play with her really well and seek her friendship, but as children grow, they realize that Kelli has social limitations. The horses are not judgmental in that sense; therefore, Kelli has no social limitations with horses. It makes her really, really happy. It gives her something to look forward to every day of the week until we go to the next horseback riding lesson.”

Emotionally, the horses provide Kelli with something that no friend can give her, Melanie said. Horses will always be there for her to ride. Kelli truly believes in her heart that every horse she works with belongs to her.

Horseback riding also provides Kelli with the exercise she needs to stay strong. Children with Down syndrome tend to have less muscle tone than other kids, Melanie said. But riding has really helped develop and strengthen her trunk muscles.

Kelly is now 12 years old, and she is a six-year veteran of the HETRA program.

“There’s relief. There’s happiness. There’s joy,” Melanie said. “When you don’t know that you’re having a child with a disability – and then they’re born – their whole life flashes before your eyes, and it’s scary. So this gives us a sense of relief that there are therapeutic programs that provide wonderful activities. Therapeutic programs can be expensive but well worth it, and families must weigh the benefits and look for scholarships.”

Find out how you can help children like Kelli achieve their goals and dreams by donating toAmerica’s Horse Cares, a program of the American Quarter Horse Foundation.

Cinnamon Rolls

Yesterday many of my techie friends attended the NETA 2011 conference.  One of the posts tweeted during the day was about writing a postcard to a “headache” student over the summer.  I asked my good friend Ann what would she write as an example to one of these students. She in turn sent me a link to her blog about how she worked with some tough students.  It wasn’t exactly the answer I was looking for, but it did give me an idea.

Let me start by saying that I am not a big fan of feeding kids.  Most students at my current school are well provided for and since obesity is prevalant around us, and kids don’t make good food choices at lunch (I’ll have a double order of fries with my pizza please) I can’t deal well with bringing in donuts or other bad foods to school.

However, I have been tutoring several kids lately in the mornings. This morning I had some extra time, so I scrounged through my cupboard and found a chocolate chip muffin mix and in the fridge there was a tube of cinnamon rolls.  I had some extra time this morning (that’s a different blog) so I baked both items. When I got to school earlier than normal, the muffins and rolls were still deliciously warm.

To my disappointment, only one student showed up. But, it was the one student I was hoping that would show up because I had been a little tough on him the previous day.  We had made amends before leaving school yesterday, but I felt that I needed to do something out of the ordinary.  When he showed up, I pulled out the warm baked goods, and explained that these were for the students that showed up for tutoring.  His eyes got real big and he smiled; but the next question from him was “what are you going to do with the leftovers since I am the only one here?” I told him there might not be leftovers because these were all for him today.  He helped himself to a second helping and was perfectly content.  He completed his math assignment with ease.

I enjoy baking because I think it allows a person to express emotion, whether it be love for a family member or kindness to a student. Something about the scent of warm cinnamon rolls can also change an environment and in my case, from being the math classroom to an inviting place to work and enjoy.  I’m still working on my postcard not to this student but to the student that didn’t come in for the cinnamon rolls.  But maybe the word will spread even though we are in our last weeks of school.  And who knows, maybe that will be a tradition that these students talk about with incoming students as well.

Wednesday Night Beach Parties

The count down of the final days of school has begun - at least by my students.  Meanwhile, I am bogged down by the final papers that need to be graded, the final unit that needs to be completed, and reaching my students in the 9th hour so that they don't fail. Trying to explain to them that we only have about 7 block classes left, and not much time, all they can think about is summer.  I don't blame them.

When I was a little girl, we went to the beach every Wednesday. We loaded up the camper with our hamburgers and a side dish to share. We always made s'mores after sundown, and enjoyed a bonfire for hours. Four to eight families always joined us and we would get there early enough to enjoy the last hours of warm sunshine, salty waves, with time to build sand castles, play volleyball or softball or even bury one another in the sand. There were lots of kids and lots of great times. We kept this tradition in our family even after we sold the "big red camper," and although peoples lives got busy and fewer families attended, we still talk about our great times at Silver Strand on Wednesday nights.  If only Nebraska had those sandy beaches.

It's great to think about these summer memories and why I look forward to returning "home" each summer. So while I am in the midst of finishing up the math units, grading papers, and having students retake tests, I often find myself daydreaming about how soon it will be before I am back on the beach again.  Because life is really good every day on the beach, not just on Wednesdays.