• Replies 3 replies
  • Subscribers 26 subscribers
  • Views 865 views
  • Users 0 members are here
Options
Hints and tips
  • To quote someone's message, first select/highlight the relevant text, and then use the Quote button that appears
  • To "mention" someone, type @ followed by the start of the forum name, and choose from the list; that person will get a notification of being mentioned

Grrr - so cross

mymum

Hi everybody - I'm new to this so am not sure i'm posting on the right topic.  I just needed to get some anger out and I thought this was a good way to do it - sorry!

My son takes part in RDA via the school.  He is severely autistic and like lots of autistic children some of his behaviour is challenging - usually around his lack of danger.  Anyway, he had a lesson with the local RDA and the school yesterday.  His home/school book says he had a great time so yesterday we spent time telling how good he'd been etc.  This morning, my husband was stopped at the school gates and told that the RDA are refusing to let him take part again as he tried to throw himself off the horse.

I'm not sure who I am most angry with - the RDA for refusing him - aren't they there for all disabilities? or the school for misleading us.

I'm sure in the great scheme of things this is fairly trivial but I could cry with the lack of support we get from his school.

Moan over - sorry. 

  • mymum said:
    ...they are concerned that any sudden excitement by my son could upset them!

    The horses, or the 'mature' ladies?!

    :-P

  • Thanks for your comments.  I am contacting the RDA HQ to get their views on this.  Message coming from the school class teacher is that the local RDA is run by 'mature' ladies and that the horses are all on their last legs and they are concerned that any sudden excitement by my son could upset them!

    I will not give up the fight easily! 

  • I've heard a great deal about the benefits of horse riding for people on the spectrum, but I'm surprised that this would be deemed an unusual problem, and have led to such a response. Surely if it is properly supervised by experienced instructors an incident such as this wouldn't lead to exclusion?

    If I may venture to ask, was he trying to do something rashly show-offy like suppose he could leap off a moving horse? Or was it a sensory distress driven reaction. If the former, well young people of all backgrounds do silly things and surely the instructors are capable of handling it without melodrama. If the latter, well horses/ponies are not dumb, placid obedient animals they have personalities.

    They can tell if a rider is unsure. They can also react badly if a rider's posture and management doesn't feel right. And some horses just know when they've got an unsure human rider and play up.

    I think you are entitled to some clarification. The behaviour and motion of a horse, especially when there are numbers of horses together, the sounds and the smells could really have sensory impact on someone on the spectrum. You also have to consider whether he has been told things by other more able riders in jest, or has misunderstood the instructor's comments, which is what you might expect to happen.

    It would be good to get this clarified because horse riding might well be beneficial and the exclusion a loss. Unfortunately I tried horse-riding in my teens, and being very tall was given a mature mare rather than a pony, one that knew when she had an "idiot" in the saddle. Also my poor coordination meant I couldn't get the hang of posting, I went up when the horse went down, and down when the horse went up - quite incapable of getting into rhythm.