horse therapy (hippotherapy)

On 3/27/12, Melanie and I went to visit Newey Ranch to inquire about horse therapy. There we meet Rachel and she showed us the horses and the cows. Rachel put a chair next to a saddle to see if Melanie would climb on it. When we tried to put her on it she said no. Then Rachel and I started talking about the program before we knew it, Melanie had climbed on the saddle by herself. I've noticed that she likes to do things when she wants to do them :) We then went to pet a horse and melanie loved it she actually touched the horse. As we were leaving there was a calf and she was not interested in it, instead she looked around and said "wheres the roosters" Rachel said we have no roosters. Then melanie said "wheres the butterflies", Rachel said said we have no butterflies. We laughed and then went on our way.

On 3/31/12, Melanie received her first session. One of the therapist Lori came up to us and introduce herself, then she asked Melanie, Whats your name? and Melanie said "I'm Melanie then she looked at Adam and said "this is my daddy" and then turned to me and said "this is my mommy."  We were shocked, that was the first time that Melanie had introduced us. Lori was also surprised and said that Melanie was the first child to do that. At first she wore her helmet and was anxious to get on the horse.  The Therapist said the horses name is Spider and Melanie said Spider Man. We all laughed. When she got on the horse she did great. Then it was time for her to hold on to the rope and melanie let go and wanted to get down. So they took her down and let her walk on the dirt. As she walked the horse followed behing her. Then they asked if she wanted to walk the horse and she said yes. Finally after a few laps. The therapist put melanie on the horse. Ofcourse she took her helment off and crib but once the horse started walking she relaxed.  Before we left we asked her what the horses name was and she said Itsy Bitsy Spider, we laughed some more. I was worried that she was not going to like it but those therapist know what they are doing. Now Melanie cant stop talking about the horse and she can't wait to go see him.