Through an Intern's Eye: September 7th

This Sunday was my first Fidelis experience.  We had two different groups of riders, Peggy’s Kids and Celebrate Kids.  These two groups of children are our youngest participants and have overcome some difficult circumstances in their lives.  I was amazed by the number of people we hosted at the barn, in total we had 11 riders and 19 volunteers! 

19 volunteers, 11 riders and 5 horses!  It was a full barn!

With so many riders we broke into three small groups and rotated everyone between two different activities and riding in the ring. Everyone came together at the beginning and brushed and tacked up our five Fidelis horses. Each horse had 2 – 3 riders grooming them along with two volunteers each. While Maya, Yokum, Tee, and Buddy were being ridden in the ring, Lexington was very happy to be groomed and walked around by participants who weren't riding.  

The participants who were riding worked with trained volunteers to develop balance, confidence, and communication with their horses.  The volunteers were amazing at sharing the skills they knew as well as making each participant feel comfortable.  For several riders it was their first time on a horse and in no time they were steering, halting and even trotting!

When one group was in the arena riding, the other two groups were split up between two activities.  One activity was playing horseshoes on the front lawn; this gave me a good opportunity to meet some of the riders individually.  In my past internship experiences I had worked planning and running events to benefit the American Cancer Society.  For my 290 hour internship I wanted to make sure I had a hands on experience working with those who were benefiting from the organization. 

The other group was inside the kitchen working on a self-esteem building activity.  The participants traced their hands and were then asked to share five nice things about themselves on each of their fingers.  In the palm of their hand they drew something that represented themselves.  I enjoyed working with one rider who had a difficult time thinking of nice things about himself.  It made it worth it to me when I could talk with him and find out things he liked about himself and helped him write them on his "hand."  Throughout the two hours at the barn each rider was able to groom, ride, play horseshoes and discover some things they like about themselves. 

My first experience with Fidelis brought many eye-opening moments.  However, there is one particularly that sticks out to me.  One of the counselors from Celebrate Kids shared with us that she was concerned about one of the riders.  This particular participant had a lot of tactile and sensory issues and while she thought this experience would be great for him, she wasn't quite sure how he would adjust.  I asked her to take a walk into the barn with me and introduce me to him so I could spend extra time with him.  When we walked up to Tee we were shocked to see that he was busy picking up brushes and practicing his grooming skills on his horse!  It is amazing what horses can do!  This same rider hadn't even been on the horse for 2 minutes when he was asking when he could come back again!

I want to give a big thank you to the 19 volunteers, old and new that showed up to help us this past Sunday with a large group of enthusiastic young riders!  I am glad to be a part of this great group of people!

So long, until next week. - Jamie