Published Friday, June, 17, 2005<\/p>\n
A recent winner of the Leisure and Recreation Award at the Municipal\u2019s Second Annual Accessibility Awards, the\u00a0 North Fraser Therapeutic Riding Association works with people who have disabilities to provide adaptive horseback riding.\u00a0 The NFTRA has one hundred riders between the ages of three and sixty-three and of varying degrees of disability.<\/p>\n
Tyson Aubin is a fourteen year old who has been going to the NFTRA for six years and is very enthusiastic when telling of the fun of his weekly practices.\u00a0 Tyson has Cerebral Palsy, a brain disorder which affects the motor neurons in the brain, which in turn affects coordination and muscle strength.\u00a0 Therapeutic riding is a great sport for those with cerebral palsy, and other disabilities, because it helps to improve muscle tone and strength, as well as balance, coordination, and posture.<\/p>\n
When Tyson first started riding, at the age of three, he had a back rider, a person who would sit behind him on the horse and hold him up.\u00a0 As his skills improved he started to use a saddle that had handle bars so that he could sit on the horse by himself, but still be stable and balanced.\u00a0 This saddle is just one of the many types of adaptive equipment that the NFTRA uses.\u00a0 Tyson now balances himself on the horse and has side walkers who will help if he begins to slip.<\/p>\n
Tyson\u2019s skills are now at the level where he is able to compete in the BC Disability Games this summer in Naniamo.\u00a0 He will be competing in two types of competition: the obstacle course and equitation.\u00a0 The obstacle course is a series of obstacles that the rider must successfully ride through.\u00a0 Equitation is\u00a0 a competitive sport that tests the rider\u2019s skills in controlling the\u00a0 the horse\u2019s paces, and maintaining ease of it\u2019s movements.\u00a0 The rider commands the horse to follow a variety of instructions, such as walking forwards, backwards, or turning in circles. Each competitor is classified and competes with individuals of comparable disabilities.<\/p>\n
This will be Tyson\u2019s first experience at the BC Disability Games.\u00a0 He has competed in several local competitions and is eager to travel to Naniamo to compete.\u00a0 Competing in the games in Naniamo is made even more exciting by the fact that a large part of his family lives there and will be able to watch him.\u00a0 Tyson loves having an audience and was happy to show me how he practices.\u00a0 He rode with pride and it was obvious that he was having a lot of fun.<\/p>\n
Therapeutic riding helps to improve the control of a rider\u2019s body through increased range of motion of joints, stretching of tight or spastic muscles, improved circulation and respiration, and increased hand-eye coordination.\u00a0 It also increases concentration, self confidence, motivation, patience, and empathy.\u00a0 The riders\u2019 connect with the horses and create a relationship of interdependence.<\/p>\n
Tyson does not appear to need increased self-confidence or motivation.\u00a0 He gives his all in whatever he happens to be doing.\u00a0 His enthusiasm is contagious and he encourages others to go beyond what they think they can do and try something new, such as therapeutic riding.<\/p>\n
The North Fraser Therapeutic Riding Association has twelve riders competing in this summer’s BC Disability Games.\u00a0 Their organization relies on donations, sponsors, and fundraising to exist.\u00a0 They also need volunteers to help the program continue. There are many ways that individuals and companies can help to keep this organization going.\u00a0 For more information contact them at 604.462.7786 or visit their web site at nftra@shaw.ca.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Published Friday, June, 17, 2005 A recent winner of the Leisure and Recreation Award at the Municipal\u2019s Second Annual Accessibility Awards, the\u00a0 North Fraser Therapeutic Riding Association works with people who have disabilities to provide adaptive horseback riding.\u00a0 The NFTRA has one hundred riders between the ages of three and sixty-three and of varying degrees\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":134,"menu_order":2,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-165","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P4glPx-2F","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=165"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167,"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/165\/revisions\/167"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canbc.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}