Dina,
    May I ask how old you were when you took up horseback riding? I took a
few lessons in my teens, but then I fell off one day. I wasn't hurt and it
happened so fast that I didn't have time to get scared, but my mother did
and from that day on she was always "too busy" to take me back for more
lessons. She was very supportive of most  of my activities, but had been
completely horse phobic since her own childhood.  I'm nearly 40 now, have
always regretted that I stopped my lessons and have often wondered whether I
could go back to it as an adult. Susan
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, July 01, 2001 4:25 AM
Subject: Re: Adults and CP


> Linda,
>
> I would definitely think about horseback riding then for getting back to
> pre-surgery stuff. I have increased a lot in ROM and flexibility since I
> started riding almost 5 years ago. I couldn't get on the horse the normal
> way. I had to sit sideways and then get my leg over. Six months later, I
was
> able to do it. I am no longer walking in a "crouched position." I am still
> getting "taller" all the time as my knees straighten out more and more. My
> balance has improved as well. There's lots more that riding has done for
me
> but won't get into all here.
>
> One chiro that I used to go to thinks the reason riding works so well is
that
> it seems to affect the Cerebral Spinal Fluid and rebalances the body. The
> horse's pelvis is very similar to a human's pelvis and his walking gait is
> very similar to that of a human's as well. So it does some sort of
> "patterning" as we ride and changes our body's patterns to make it more
> "correct" over time. So look up a therapeutic riding center near you and
try
> it.
>
> Dina