Teaching

Since we're finally back to riding lessons, Jakes wants to spend as much time at the Farm as possible. I don't blame him as its something he loves and is good at.  So imagine how happy he was when Jill texted to ask if he could stay until 1 on Saturday.

An old picture of Jakes on Pumpkin

She explained she had a new student starting, who was about Jakes age and supposedly has trouble making friends.  He loves horses (like Jakes) and Jill thought putting the two together would be a good thing.  And I would never say no to Jill with all she does for Jakes.

Jakes greeted the new kid (NK) and Jill got him up on Pumpkin.  Jakes led the horse to the practice ring they were using and followed Jill's instructions.  Jakes was encouraging to NK and yelled at me for bring Jaxon back to the ring.  Silly boy.

One of FOUR big doggies at Jill's and Jaxon
her dogs are SO gentle!

When the lesson was done, Jakes worked with NK to teach him to unsaddle pumpkin.  Jakes showed NK what needed to be done and allowed NK to do it.  He did help NK with the saddle, I don't think NK was ready for the weight.  They went together to put the saddle in the tack shack.  Then Jakes got the brushes out and showed NK how to brush the horse.  And the let NK do the brushing. 

I was SO proud of Jakes for teaching and not just doing.  While they were doing, they chatted about Pumpkin and his likes and dislikes; about horses and how they like to roll in the dirt. NK had lots of questions and wanted to learn.

My kid is doing so much lately to make his momma proud!  He's growing into a wonderful young man!

Meet Pumpkin

This is Jakes favorite horse at the farm.  This is Pumpkin.  Every chance Jakes gets, he's riding Pumpkin either with saddle or bareback.  Pumpkin is most gentlest of horses.  He moves smoothly and will stop when he feels his rider is uneasy or off balance.  Jakes really has to work to get him into a trot.  And since Jakes is not comfortable trotting, this makes Pumpkin the perfect pair for Jakes.

Jakes LOVES Pumpkin

On the Saturdays, I drop Jakes off at the farm for a few hours.  He does his lesson, then helps out with tacking up the other horses, cleaning stalls, and grooming horses.  Whatever Ms. Jill or Ms BobbieJo ask, Jakes does.  And he's also there to help the other people who are there for lessons or the other helpers. 

Jakes has friends there.  I think that's the only place he goes that we can say he has friends.  And these friends aren't all adults or other special needs kids, but normal, unclassified kids who consider Jakes a friend. 

I love that! 

I love the farm and Ms. Jill and the wonderful atmosphere she has created there.  She is truly a wonderful person and probably the second best thing to happen to Jakes within the realm of Autism and special needs.  The first being the Autism Center that connected us to Ms. Jill and her farm.

A couple weeks ago, I arrived to pick Jakes up and Ms. Jill told me a story about Jakes when he was on a trail ride that day.  She said he was amazing and the other kids agreed with her.  There were 3 or 4 kids riding various sized horses, with Jakes being on Pumpkin.  Someone was on Hershey, who is the biggest horse on the farm.  Hershey pulled a little ahead of Pumpkin and for some reason, Pumpkin decided that he didn't want Hershey in the lead so he matched his gait to Hershey's. 

Before Jakes knew what was going on, Pumpkin and Hershey were in a cantor.  Then Pumpkin switched gears to a gallop!  All Jakes could do was hang on and yell HO!  But Pumpkin thought Jakes was yelling GO!  So he did just that.  GO. GO. GO.

They finally came to the corner of the field where Ms. Jill was watching and Pumpkin came to an abrupt stop.  Had he not lifted his head, Jakes would have tumbled right on over! 

Ms. Jill said she was terrified when Pumpkin took off. But there was nothing she could do but say a quick prayer for Jakes protection.  And Pumpkin did just that by putting his head up to keep Jakes from flying over.

Ms. Jill tells of Jakes facial expression as being one of shocked disbelief.  She was amazed that he didn't get upset enough to cry, which I think I would have!  Jakes scrambled off Pumpkin and they headed back to the waiting area with Jakes walking.  Jakes did get back on Pumpkin that day and they have gotten along wonderfully since then.