Fun at SMILE

Today was my last day at SMILE. I'm glad to not make the long drive anymore, but I think I'm gonna miss working up there. SMILE Inc. is a horse therapy program where children and adults with physical and mental disabilities come ride horses. My last volunteer job was at a nursing home...I think this one was more me. =) I've been riding horses for the past ten years, so I was excited to put what I have learned to work helping other people.

I heard about SMILE through some friends who have an autistic boy. Turns out, Grant went up to SMILE the same day as I, so I got to work with him all summer! The first couple of weeks he sat up on JR, his horse, without interacting much. But by the end of the summer, he was very busy with "whoa, JR!" and asking me if he could give JR the cue to go. Grant loved trotting. I would say "do you want to trot?" and he would immediately reply: "trot? trot?" After we took off he would start laughing and wouldn't quit until well after we had gone back down to a walk.

Grant was probably my favorite person to work with, but I really enjoyed some of the other clients. Karla came right after I got there in the morning, and we always had fun conversation. After getting her up on Lacey, I would stand beside her while another volunteer led Lacey. After Karla left, Larson came, followed by LeAnn, Grant, and Kennedy. All the people I worked with were vastly different, so it made the day interesting!

Kennedy was the one rider I worked with who did not have a disability. Although I loved helping the handicapped people do something so cool, it was also fun to have Kennedy thrown in there. =) I taught her how to get her horse all ready to ride, and then we would head for the arena. After she got comfortable riding Ranger, we started doing more challenging riding. We always had fun chatting about her family, my family, her school, my school, and other random conversation topics we thought of together while she rode. I remember when I was like Kennedy...eleven years old and learning how to ride a horse. It was fun to be on the other side of that spectrum! I hope Kennedy had as much fun learning with me as I did with my 4-H leaders.

So! Although SMILE had its challenges and draw backs (the looong drive!), I am thankful that I got the opportunity to volunteer there this summer. I learned a lot and had a blast!