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Guess what Nikki has for you? Today marks the end of our 21-Day Challenge.
Yay! First we have Caleb. Caleb you've done so
awesome. Then we have Frankie. Yeah Frankie!
Then we have our last winner, Emily who has won for riding as well. Yeah!
So sad it's over. Yes. Who wants ice cream?
Well deserved -- give it to her right now. We have red, white and blue and fudge bars
and vanilla ice cream. Frankie and Emma have grown to have a very
close friendship. It's pretty cool. ARISE at its heart is a disability rights
organization that's promoting the interests and the values of people who have disabilities
and who have tremendous skills. The 21-Day Challenge was an opportunity for
these select individuals. I picked three riders to ride every day for
21 days. Based on our understanding of a theory that
the brain can develop new pathways to acquiring a skill if the same activity is undertaken
for 21 days in a row. I chose Caleb, Frankie and Emma based on knowing
their families and their desire to have physical gains for each of the kids in their everyday
lives. Caleb was born with Spina Bifida and he has
a VP shunt that goes into the right ventricle of his brain.
Like my mom's spine and your spine and everybody else's spine is straight like this but my
spine and other kids that were born with Spina Bifida or something have spines that are like
this, like curved. Caleb is in a wheelchair, he does not walk
and that's hard because as a parent, you know, what do you say? I told him that "God made
you special Caleb and there is a purpose and there is a plan for your life."
Emma is 9 years old. She was diagnosed with Spastic Quad Cerebral Palsy which means it
affects all four of her limbs. She is totally aware and knows everything that is going on.
She is capable of learning. We're hoping that maybe doing this for 21 days will see her
gain even more strength, especially in her core. I think things are just going to fall
in place. Things that I worried about when she was a baby, you know, have worked all
of itself out. He is 7 but mentally he is under about 15
months old so he is still learning how to bear weight and roll and sit up and things
that we take for granted. He also can't see so everything he sees is light shadows and
movement. So I am waiting, I am excited. I cannot wait to see the end result.
My name is Nikki Cook and I am a therapeutic horseback riding instructor. I started here
as a volunteer when I was 15 so I have been here for about 12 years and I have been in
charge of the therapeutic riding program for the past 4 years.
Can I? I don't know, ask Morgan. Can I? I don't know. You should ask Nikki. Nikki can
we? I don't know, ask Laura. Laura? Ask Clyde. Clyde, can we? Can I say the word? Sure. Trot!
Woo-Hoo! Good job buddy. Caleb, yeah! C'mon Clyde.
No, hands up. Just the movement of the horse helps with
balance and muscle strength so to be able to do it for 21 days, I had a feeling that
it would have a really great impact on the kids in a positive way.
So, if you find that you need a ride on those days at all just let me know because you can
just go with me. Frankie is not able to sit up on his own or
walk and when the 21-Day Challenge started he wasn't really even able to hold up his
head very well by himself. For Emma I'm hoping that she can gain more
strength in her core as well to help with sitting up and for everyday care for her as
well. Emma, you're like a little rag doll. Pick
your head up, all the way, all the way. Keep going. Morgan is wearing purple like you.
Okay, ready? Push up again. C'mon, push up again. Let's go. How high can
you go? That's all you have left is your head. That's
pretty good. Good job. That's pretty high. Well, at least you can prove you are flexible.
That's for sure. There is something about that 20 minutes too
because after 20 minutes that's when she sits up better. Yeah. It was a slow start but I
think she did pretty good there. Yeah. All right, see you tomorrow. Okay, bye. Bye Emma.
Ready? Here we go. Where we gonna go? We're going to walk around the circle.
Here, do it with this arm. No. Yeah. It's never gonna happen. Put that hand up please.
After like, two steps. One, two. No, five. No. C'mon. That was more like four steps.
Put your hand up there. One, two, three. Okay, here, hold on.
Do you think Clyde wants ice cream? Moose Tracks. I think Moose likes Moose Tracks.
I like Moose Tracks. Oh my goodness. Wow Emma. Say thanks Stinky
Pete. I get to see you on Saturday. Well, today is Day 7 of riding and Caleb actually
looks really good today. He is sitting up nice and straight. Ride 'em cowboy!
They are playing tag today. This is something new. They have not done this yet.
I noticed that they are trying to get him to raise one hand at a time for increased
balance which he is doing and actually sitting up.
Yeah, there's a cool smile. Are you ready to see Gypsy? Yes, he is. You know what I
noticed? He is doing a lot less froggy position. Look, here's your horse.
Oh, Clyde licked you. Yes, he did. Look at you mister; you're looking good.
He's laughing. He hears you doing it and he is laughing.
I definitely do see an improvement; big time. You are a horse rider, that's what you are.
Oh, my gosh! You're not going to fall because I'll catch
you if you fall so don't worry about that. Ready? Ready Jack? Is your name Jack?
Say Emma, yes, Emma. What's this chicken wing doing over here?
Putting your hands on the outside of your legs helps your balance. No, it doesn't. Yes,
it does and it's working your core. So when you go outside there are uneven surfaces
and the horses generally walk a little faster. There is more stimulation so it depends on
what you're looking for. I like splitting it up so you have a little bit of both.
Good job! Look at you sitting up so nice and tall.
There were days when I didn't feel like going either. You know, it was a long day but by
the end of it, no matter what my day is like, by the end of their sessions you can't be
sad because the kids bring so much to us. They help us as much as we help them.
Nate, don't pick on the goat! Good job, good job. There you go. Just like
that. Perfect. I've got the hand of the steering part.
Get away from the camera! No more chicken wings.
Hi Frankie. I like your beads. Frankie, pick your head up. There you go.
We're going to go down the hill. Tell Gypsy to go.
Good girl. That is her stretch right there. She does so well. The other thing I've noticed
is that she's looking around more and she's actually paying attention to what's going
on around her. C'mon, push up. C'mon, up, up, up, up.
There you go. You did it. Good job! He's sitting up nice and straight. Thank you.
Wow Caleb, impressive. Good job Caleb. Thanks. That looks like it's a lot of work for you.
I just can't get over how easily he sits up and talks to everyone while he's riding.
Will I see you anytime after today? Well, what I've heard about during the 3 weeks
is the confidence the kids have built and their ability to do new things. I know Caleb
has loved playing tag. Frankie is a big tall guy on Gypsy on March
22nd, 2012. I'm so glad to see you today. Look at you
riding! So now we get to see Emma's pretty face when
she is riding the horse because she's holding her head up when she rides.
People are still celebrating because to see each of the kids make that progress and to
hear their parents talking about how much stronger they've gotten and they are seeing
it in their everyday activities. The most progress he made is sitting. His
back is much stronger. Some significant change I've seen in Caleb
is the increase in his confidence level. Emily did amazing with this. I saw much better
trunk control with her and much better head control.
When he was finally able to sit almost the entire time on the horse that was amazing
because he's never done it before. He seems much happier.
The very first day she really kind of struggled with the whole thing, her head was down; her
arms were sort of non-supported. By the end of 21 days she was basically up through the
whole ride. When she would go forward she was pushing herself back up as opposed to
Nikki kind of having to force her back up. I went with Caleb just about every day, as
did Erin and it was interesting to see him improve in strength and straighten up.
I'm so glad I'm straight because when I am at school and I'm doing my work I'm like this,
like hunching over. Now I can just write the normal way, just be like straight.
We've gained too much to lose it so if we can maintain what he got from that, that's
all we could ask for. I think ARISE is fantastic. They have a great,
wonderful volunteer staff that really cares about the people that are there and they put
a lot of effort into it. I hope that ARISE can build this into their
program. It's something that I would definitely do again. I think it would also be so wonderful
for other children to have an opportunity to try this out.
Thank you. That's all I have to say is Thank You So Much!