Meet Grayson!

“Grayson has been learning to ride horses at Hope Horses since February 2024, with the goal of improving his articulation and motor planning. Despite his diagnosis of sensory processing difficulty, mixed receptive-expressive language disorder, and developmental verbal apraxia in January 2021, Grayson's confidence has grown through horse riding. He enjoys grooming and naming each brush, and as a parent, it's amazing to see his confidence grow and take on something bigger than himself. Loud noises can still upset Grayson, but Hope provides a safe and comfortable environment for all riders. Horse riding has also improved his ability to ride a bike at home and strengthened his core and body.” - Grayson’s mom

Grayson has been riding at Hope Horses for 5 months. Grayson starts his lesson by grooming and tacking his horse that is also named Grayson! He is so gentle while grooming and loves getting to care for his horse. His instructor Mrs. Allison has him repeat back to her all the names of the brushes and the tack. He has learned all his brushes and tack and has them memorized! 

Next, Grayson mounts from the block. He was nervous about mounting and riding when he first began lessons but now he gets right on and has built up a lot of confidence! He now is able to ride independently with out a horse handler and has built up a lot of strength in his legs and core muscles which allows him to effectively communicate with his horse! Each lesson Ms. Allison will have him call out the horsemanship skills he is working on and he has most of them completely memorized and can tell Ms. Allison why those skills are important! 

During his lesson he completes an obstacle course and will play a game incorporating the riding skills he is currently learning. These obstacle courses and games help Grayson improve his balance, strength, fine and gross motor skills, and help to improve his communication with the horse by strengthening his aids! Ms. Allison has seen a huge improvement in all these areas in the short time he has been riding at Hope Horses! - Allison Curl