Straight from the Horse's Mouth December 2017 | Page 3

Jessie
“Everything was going so perfect until the age
of 18 months; everything changed with my
little girl,” Monica recalls. Monica has been
bringing her six-year-old daughter Jessie to
Ride On St. Louis for two years now. “She was
totally different, she would refuse to eat or drink
anything.” Jessie’s equine-assisted occupational
therapy and equine-assisted activities has largely
impacted her learning, speech and gait pattern,
as Monica shares that Jessie has been able to
communicate better and walk with even and
rhythmic strides. While Jessie does her work
with her horse Cruz, she is having fun and
challenging her physiological and cognitive
abilities. She works on her communication,
spelling, colors and directions, while adjusting
her body to Cruz’s movement. Cruz’s movement
provides up to 4,500 muscle repetitions to
Jessie’s body in a single visit, bolstering her
core muscles, improving her mobility, posture,
balance, cardiovascular health and overall
strength. Jessie executes a number of positions
on Cruz to work targeted areas of her body and
sits forwards, backwards, sideways and even does
hands-and-knees position while Cruz walks. But
perhaps more fascinating is the effect that Cruz’s
movement has on Jessie’s brain and cognitive
function. Continued on next page.
Some of the goals
Jessie has achieved are
knowing her address
and being able to
answer the question
"what is your mom's
phone number?"
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