Signs of Progress

Vale is making progress with the Equine Therapy. Tad, his therapist, emailed me today about a recent therapy session involving Vale and two other High Top Ranch Students being asked to calm a two year old Philly. Apparently, She is known to be quite nervous and will run around her corral for sometimes hours before calming herself.

According to Tad, Vale was able to gain success in this exercise because he is learning to get his emotions in check and to confront fears using proper breathing exercises and by taking better control of his negative thought processes. These exercises are difficult to make the therapy effective in an office environment because there is nothing for the student to fear. However, in a corral setting, a horse will bring out the fear mainly due to their large size.

Tad explained that the new picture of Vale petting the Philly represents the first time any student at High Top has been able to pet her for an extended period of time. Getting her to successfully quiet down took the efforts of all three students working together as a team.

Good Job Vale!!