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Hello, my name is Annick. I am the mother of Emy-Rose.
Emy-Rose has had a disability since before she was born.
Only half of her brain is functional.
Her entire right side is affected.
She is three and a half years old and is still not walking.
This is why we came to Goldie equestrian centre.
To give her more strength in her core.
And eventually to help her walk on two legs.
My name is Marie Sénécal.
I'm the mother of Jonathan Beaudoin,
who's been receiving treatments since 2001.
When he started here at the age of five, he wasn't walking.
Gradually, with other treatments
combined with his equitherapy sessions, Jonathan has made progress
and today, he is able to move about
without crutches, without a wheelchair... on his own.
Therapeutic riding has existed for over 150 years.
A doctor in Australia discovered that
a horse's movement is exactly the same
as a human's.
If you take a person with a movement disability
and sit them on a horse, it will give their body all the guidance it needs
either for rehabilitation or for learning
to accelerate the healing
or walking process.
This is why therapeutic riding exists.
Five years ago we acquired this equestrian centre,
which was in really bad shape.
In a state of disrepair in fact.
Everything was redone in a short period of time
because winter was coming.
And then we took the opportunity
to make all the modifications needed
to adapt the centre to our special children.
My name is Céline Bellerose.
I have been an equestrian therapist with Projet Goldie for almost six and a half years.
I am with Girouette, one of our equestrian therapy horses.
Progress can be enormous with disabled children.
A child can arrive unable to walk very well.
And then, maybe not after a few sessions of therapy,
but over several years sometimes,
we see progress. They are able to walk.
They start with a walker, with tripods
and then oops! After a few years, they are able to walk by themselves.
It's really satisfying for us. This is our pay-off.
And for them too.
My little girl has a fairly severe form of cerebral palsy.
She is a quadriplegic.
The centre was recommended to us by our neuropediatrician at The Children's.
She really stressed the value of equestrian therapy.
When she talks to her friends at daycare,
they are curious, they think she is lucky to do it.
Her big sister also finds her very lucky.
This is a special moment for her.
Because generally Mia looks at other children doing their activities.
Cycling, sports — anything.
She is often left on the sidelines.
Here she is the one in action, working with the horse.
Projet équestre Goldie has two missions:
the first is to deliver equestrian therapy
to a targeted clientele,
and the second mission is to make it accessible
to the greatest number of families possible.
At Goldie, it was decided that parents would pay 50% of the therapy's cost
and Goldie would cover the other 50% through donations.
There are not many treatments for children suffering
from cerebral palsy or a motor deficiency caused by an "X" syndrome.
There is no cure for it.
But when you have a baby or a child, you do not want to feel helpless.
You want to try and improve their development.
What this allows me to do as a parent is to have the feeling
I am taking part in a concrete and useful way.
Because I cannot be in her body.
I cannot go back and change what happened.
But I can affect what is coming.
I want to keep her with me for as long as possible
and this is one of the ways that I found.
Your support will help improve the quality of life of our special children.
Thanks to generous donors