More of Monte Remembered

If you read the last post -- you know all about Monte ... Here are photo's of the service held at the farm. Monte had many friends who loved him. Many of them had not met Monte's favorite mount Sudie Bee yet. This was a touching and beautiful way to honor Monte and we, at Dream On Curls Riding Center, were touched to be included in the ceremony.

The photo's will tell the story ~~

Monte's caregiver mounts for the final ride in Monte's memory.

Miss Me...But Let me Go.
When I come to the end of the road,

And the sun has set for me,
I want no rites in a gloom filled room,
Why cry for a soul set free?

Miss me a little but not too long.
And not with your head bowed low.
Remember the love we once shared,
Miss me but let me go.






For this is a journey that we all must take,
and each must go alone.





It's all a part of the Master's plan.
A step on the road to home.

When you are lonely and sick of heart,
Go to the friends we know,
And bury your sorrows in doing good deeds.
Miss me but let me go.

This is a poem that was found among Monte's things ~ 

Monte will be missed by all who were touched by him.

A Rider celebrated in memorium

Over the past year and a half, we, at Dream On Curls Riding Center INC,  have had the pleasure of working with Monte McCormick.

The first most obvious reason that set Monte as unique from most of our riders was his age -- Monte was an older gentleman in his mid to late 60's who was riding for the first time.  The goals for Monte  were to build core strength and balance. As with all our lesson riders, in his case so much more was gained in his time with us.

Due to the fact he was non verbal and could not hear created another challenge.  Different colored reins, easy sign language, and eventually obstacles that provided a visual cue to show when he was knocking into them were used to counter the communication issues. And~ our center's own special therapeutic mount Sudie Bee became Monte's teacher as well.  Sudie is a horse so safe, sweet as pie but just enough independence to create a bit of a challenge.

Each week Monte came all smiles and hugs letting us know he was happy to see us and his horse. He learned quickly how to do all the ground work independently including girthing up the horse.
At the start of his time with Dream On Curls Riding Center,  Monte was a bit unbalanced, leaning and his posture was slumped. He was unable to remain in the saddle for a long period of time and needed to support of  a leader and sidewalker.

As the weeks went by, Monte's strength increased  
and no longer needed to have a sidewalker only a leader.
 
Only a few more weeks later, the leader remained but was there merely as a precaution 
as he could not hear for loud noises and prepare for them if they should spook the horse.
Monte was steering the horse himself.
He was able to complete a multitude of tasks-  up over bridges,  through poles, over poles, figure 8's.  As long as Monte had a visual cue to learn something the first time,  he could do it. As we work hard to promote and build independence and increase self esteem for all of our riders we worked hard to find different visual aids to assist in Monte's growth and learning.

Monte at the start of his lessons with Dream On Curls

After 8 months of hard work and riding, Monte was able to trot around the arena maintaining his balance in the saddle.  He had also moved to riding on his own with no leader!!!! The smile on his face when he realized he was really doing without anyone else was priceless.

Bringing that amount of joy to a person is the reason we do what we are doing because we truly believe that with the right way of teaching anyone can do anything, as our motto states..
We focus on what our riders CAN do, NOT on what they can't !- Monte has been proof of that !

It is with great sadness to report that Monte will no longer be with us. He passed last week from a sudden heart attack but he leaves behind a treasured memory and legacy~  the many lessons he taught to all who spent time with him. 
Dream On Curls Riding Center INC feels blessed that we were able to share in his time and help to bring him and his family lasting memories filled with smiles and laughter.


Monte's family has requested that in lieu of flowers, etc - please make a donation to Dream On Curls Riding Center - as a tribute to the location of great happiness and accomplishment for Monte.  You can contact us by e-mail to find out how to contribute in Monte's memory.

Here's to Monte- a brave gentleman who rode and smiled to the end !

Start of the Year with the Start of a new Group

Despite the cold weather of January we still help the start of the first 8 week session of the Prism Ponies, an 8 week long session that is specifically designed for children on the Spectrum to help learn the many smaller social cues and interactions that happen in daily life and they miss. For the past two years we have run this group over the summer months for kids and beginning this year decided to expand it to be a year round offering.

Our Prism Pony Group  is getting off to a great start in 2011 --  this is a block of sessions specifically designed for children and young adults on the spectrum.   

Within the structure of the lesson will be both mounted and un-mounted activities 

with these goals in mind :

¨ engage in co-operative teamwork

¨ improve stamina

¨ encourage physical activity

¨ strengthening in the abilities to read social cues

Children will be introduced with a simple schedule and build from there to provide more involvement in independence and learning to cope with transitions.

The two boys who began in this first winter session are both elementary aged so it  seemed appropriate to assign some true ponies for them. 

OYY Arcus a 12.2hh pony made his debut as a lesson horse and just as we thought ~ he proved to be very capable in the therapeutic setting. 

OYY Pal’s Job a 13.3hh pony was the other choice. He has given lessons in the past including being a part of our summer Prism Ponies group. He has demonstrated time and time again what a safe, capable pony he is.

As a part of their first lesson they learned and worked on ground skills with the horses that emphasized using their body to communicate, respecting space of the horses and each other, making a plan in their head and carrying it out, and staying focused, while also working on basic horse skills such as how to stop, how to direct, how to move around a horse and so on.  

Both boys were happy and excited to be working with their mounts and the personalities seemed to be a perfect match between horse and handler. 

As the sessions continues we are going to continue to emphasize how to communicate with your body, how to read the body language of another,   a stronger understanding of personal space and what it means, and their ability to focus while also teaching basic horse and riding skills.

Just a short video of the first lesson ~

Each group is a block of 8 once a week sessions. If you are interested in signing up for one of our Prism Pony Groups -- call the instructor Zoe Lirakis at the Center - 802-885-4126 !