Her Second Forever by Joanna Sims

Author:Joanna Sims
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2020-02-13T03:57:15+00:00

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On Sunday, Lee, Boot and Gilda took Colt through the training given to volunteers. Gilda taught him how to take the lead position with the horse. Even though he had a lifetime of experience leading horses, he’d never done it with a child with a disability on board. The responsibility to ensure the safety of the horse and the rider felt heavy to Colt.

“Because our horses are led by so many different people,” Gilda told him, “we want them to be led in exactly the same way across hands so it’s easier on them. They thrive on consistency and knowing what the expectation is. The signals we are giving them should be the same.”

“Watch how Gilda is synchronizing her pace with Apollo. She’s walking at his shoulder and when his hoof drops, her foot drops. Perfect control,” Lee explained.

On his other side, Boot added, “What’s most important to remember is that the therapist is in charge. Listen for the therapist’s instruction. If she wants you to go left, you go left. If she wants you to stop, you stop.”

“Gilda!” Lee called out and waved her hand. “Bring Apollo back this way, please.”

“We’ll always have two side-walkers,” Lee told him. “The therapist will take one side of the horse and you will be on the other, if you aren’t leading. It can be really tiring to side-walk a rider who isn’t independent, so we might have you side-walk more than you lead.”

Lee had Gilda lead Apollo, a palomino draft horse, over to the mounting ramp to show Colt how to assist riders onto the back of the horse. Some of the riders were in wheelchairs, which required a specific method of transferring safely onto the horse.

“Once the rider is on the back of the horse,” Lee said from Apollo’s back, “The side-walkers need to be in place and the leader needs to be ready to walk-off immediately. Any adjustments to the equipment or the rider must be done away from the ramp.”

With Boot leading Apollo, Lee pretended to be a rider while Gilda and Colt side-walked. They taught him the proper hand placement on the rider’s leg or foot and then they showed him several dismounts, including an emergency dismount. Boot and Gilda performed that maneuver while Lee held the lead rope and explained what Colt was watching.

Boot lifted Gilda off the horse, under the armpits, and then dragged her quickly across the ground and safely away from Apollo.

“How often do you have an emergency dismount?” Colt asked, not liking the idea of having to do that with any of the riders he had met.

“Not too often,” she explained. “Usually once or twice during a summer session. It could be due to a rider’s behavior or the horse’s behavior. Either way, the rider must be safely removed from the horse and the leader will remove the horse from the rider’s parameter.”

Colt nodded his understanding. While Lee was deep in her explanation, Colt could see Boot and Gilda over Apollo’s back.

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