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 !