Equestrian Special Olympics …
I’ve introduced you to this pretty girl before. She is my 13 year old granddaughter Faye who participated in a full day Special Olympics horse event two weekends ago. She was thrilled to have come in First Place in her division and here she is with the two other winners accepting their medals and ribbons.
Actually this was my first time visiting a Special Olympics and I was surprised, and pleased, to see that the participants were of all ages. For some reason I had envisioned them being just children. In the equestrian competition each division consisted of 6 or 8 persons with like intellectual disabilities. Faye has asperger’s syndrome so her group included high functioning autistic boys and girls approximately her age.
Faye loves the many hours of preparation it takes to get
to these events. It is not just good
physical activity for her, she also gains emotional and psychological
benefits. I have watched as her
self-confidence has grown and it is a joy to see that and how it has affected
her relationships in general.
The other thing that greatly impressed me was seeing how
everyone… (the audience, the participants, the volunteers and judges)… pulled
for each other. There wasn’t that sense
of deadly competition that you get with most sports events. The whole bottom line here was: “do your best and enjoy yourself while doing
it”. What a novel idea in this day and age.
posted by Ginnie at 5:00 PM
7 Comments:
Dang! I forget what they are called, but there are horse groups locally for those with special needs. I don't know whether they go so far as Olympics or not, but there seems to be a thing about horses and those who have these needs.
Very nice and your granddaughter looks so professional. Congratulations to her.
Good for her! So glad that she is finding fulfillment through working with horses. They are amazing animals.
Oh, Ginny, how lovely and affirming for that beautiful grand child of yours..and of course, for all of the other participants. It makes your heart smile, does it not? This is a gift in this world where we experience or hear so much awful and painful news.
Thank you, Ellen.
Congratulations to your granddaughter on her win which was obviously the result of hard work and she and you have every reason to be boastful.
What a wonderful event. And congratulations to your granddaughter.
This is great! It is wonderful that she has found her niche.
Our grandson's achievements in archery seem to be helping him, too. And I know what you mean - everyone cheers for everyone else. It IS a competition, they DO get valid scores, but everyone cheers for even the kid with the lowest score from the other team just because it is the right thing to do. It is wonderful to see the kids beam with pride.
Faye is a lucky girl. And you are lucky to have her!
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