A Baby Boomer Dreams of Arabian Horses Part 19

Part 1

In between horse shows, life at the hospital was getting pretty tough. Having to relearn how to walk and talk, dress herself etc were monumental tasks. Many times Lindsay had just had it.

She was tired and sick from the radiation and chemotherapy and frustrated. I can only imagine how frustrated she must have felt being trapped in a body that no longer served her well. Each little thing she tried took all the concentration she could muster. I don't know about you but when I feel sick, concentrating is the last thing I want to do.

Lindsay has always been a strong willed child. While her body may have been weakened nothing was tempering her strong will. Sometimes feeling tortured, she just refused to co-operate. Can't say as I blame her but it sure wasn't helping her any.

It was those times that the horses really came into play. The only thing that could keep Lindsay working when she'd had enough was the promise of horses.Lindsay was no dummy about this. They couldn't just suggest that if she wanted to ride someday again she needed to do what they were asking. Lindsay wanted to know how this particular thing related to her being successful with horses.

Sometimes it was amusing watching her therapists trying to figure out how to keep Lindsay motivated. They all knew horses were the key but not really understanding horses they didn't have a clue how to use that key to open the door. So my job became translating each "lesson" into some thing she might do with her horse. So how would you relate rotating a big toe in a clockwise direction to horses? Or how about sitting on one of those big red balls? Or maybe puckering your lips into the form of an "O" ?

No matter how tired Lindsay was, she could muster up the strength to try if it meant she was going to get back on a horse and ride someday. I had a cute picture of her riding her pony framed and brought to the hospital to remind her what waited for her at home. Lindsay literally struggled one step at a time, one sound at a time and one controlled twitch at a time to get back into the saddle. She didn't care about anything else but riding her horse and the day she might get to show.

To be continued.........

Part 20

Arabian horse Arabian horses horses horse childhood cancer brain tumor