When Hamish Met Shadow.
Below are photo’s of the first day Hamish spent with his self appointed therapy horse ‘Shadow’ owned by our dear friend & Equine Artist Jan Henderson also pictured below.
The Adventures of Hamish and Shadow – Episode 1
I had a dream….
The above painting is how I had envisioned my boys childhood before they were diagnosed with Adsl deficiency. I imagined they’d be playing outdoors on their bikes, riding their dapple grey pony, playing cowboy’s and indian’s wearing their dads cowboy boots. We imagined they’d be running and playing footy and getting into also sorts of mischief… This is still the essence of who they are and how I’ll remember them.
As a little girl I was absolutely obsessed with horses, I came from a family of horse lovers, my grandfather was a stockman, my dad trained racehorses, my sisters all had horses and I dreamed of owning my very own dapple grey pony, like the one in the painting above.
Obviously Santa didn’t receive any of my letter’s of what I really wanted for Christmas; so for the most part of my early child hood, you’d find me galloping around the backyard on my hobby horse pretending I was riding a horse or pretending I was actually the horse. Oh and by the way that’s apparently very normal. ( insert laughing emoji here 😉
“A great horse will change your life, a truly special one will define it.”
From the moment these two connected we knew we were about to witness something very special. Shadow was so intrigued with Hamish from first sight, whinnying at him as I wheeled Hamish over to him. Hamish was in oare of meeting such a gentle creature like shadow.
“You had me at hello!”
Jerry Maguire
What is it about the horse? The Hippo-therapist.
Hippo-therapy is a form of physical, occupational and speech therapy in which a therapist uses the characteristic movements of a horse to provide carefully graded motor and sensory input for people with special needs. see more https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equine-assisted_therapy
They truly are the most wonderful therapy assistant, as are dogs. They create a physiological response in the body – Fear- Excitement – Love – my heart rate increases at just the image of this beautiful animal, they truly do take your breathe away and awaken your spirit with in.
I liken the experience of being in the company of horses as like the first kiss … your heart races, you’re kinda not sure how to approach them, and then once you connect wow the energy between you is like fireworks!! well for you anyway; the horse probably thinks, “oh alright girly calm down, haven’t you seen horse before?” Meanwhile, you’re either petrified or… congratulations you are now in love, and you will love them forever and ever and never want to let them go; you’ll become obsessed and want to be with them all day long. The beauty of the horse is forever imprinted into your soul and thats why they make great therapist and teachers because they challenge all of our emotions; you can tell a lot about your relationships with others through a guided mirroring experience with the horse.
Having the ability to be indoors out of the weather and other sensory distractions really helps create a peaceful aliment to the pony experience for Hamish.
Letting Hamish take his time in exploring Shadow at his own pace. There was no pressure on either of them to do anything, we just followed hamish’s lead as we enjoyed being in the moment.
It was such a precious rewarding moment, for Jan and I to support the process of two souls connecting like this, it truly melted our hearts. Taking the time to capture these memories with Hamish will last a life time.
I know why I love being with horses, it’s because they open my heart and help me feel again; when I had previously shut down emotionally for my own self preservation. Horse’s stir my soul and fill me with compassion and empathy which helps me heal and process my ongoing grief more than I ever had imagined.
As Hamish is non verbal and has complex communication issues, I can only hope by reading his ever so subtle cues, that he enjoys the experience he has when he connects with Shadow however, I accept I’ll never really know…. I can only imagine.
Proud Mumma bear
Although Hamish has really good core strength, I had no expectation of Hamish sitting completely up right on Shadow, so this moment was beautiful, I was so proud of him, he might as well have just won the Melbourne cup in my eyes… so proud!
“Two feet can move your body, four feet will move your soul”
unknown
One of the items only bucket list is to ride with Hamish attached to me in a special harness.
Earlier this year we trialled the harness and the experience without the horse with his session with his Occupational Therapist (OT) Playing out different scenarios we now have a plan , our dream is becoming a reality.
We will have a specially modified overhead hoist to lift hamish up onto Shadow as he now weighs 24kgs…
Take note this should only ever be done with a horse as well trained as Shadow. I trust Shadow and Jan’s experience as a horsewoman explicitly.
Once we have practised the process in the various stages with Shadow and we are all comfortable we’ll schedule the big day for us to ride together. We’ll definitely need an army of support people, at least a few other experienced horsey friends, one to lead shadow and one to walk either side of shadow at least in the beginning anyway. We’ll also need a great photographer and videographer as this moment will be truly so special it needs to be captured on film, although I’m sure it will etched in mine and Hamish’s hearts forever.
Dear Santa….
So this Christmas, I’m also asking Santa to help make Hamish well again and strong enough to use the new harness I’ve bought for us to wear so we can fulfil our dream of riding Shadow together one day in the new year.
AND could everyone please read and share my post – “Insights into Adsl deficiency and please make a donation to help support my AdsL deficiency research and awareness fundraiser.
And make Covid19 go away! forever! please.
Pictured left –
17th October 2020 – Another Covid home schooling day. Hamish’s flat out staying awake in class these days.
Love's state of mind 
What a beautiful video❤️
Sent from my iPhone
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