Hugo and Horseback Riding

Hugo has been taking horseback riding during school and recently received his certificate of completion for the spring session at Gallop.  This was no easy task for Hugo as he spent many early sessions refusing to participate, overcoming his discomfort or fear of riding.  Jen and I can't be there for these sessions, but luckily one of his teachers was there to take these photos and write this wonderful letter about this particular session.

"Today I went to the last session of Gallop/horseback riding.  Hugo did AMAZING!  There are so many positive things that happened that I needed to email you all.  When we first got to there a student was crying and did not want to go on the horse. Hugo walked over to her rubbed her back and said "it's ok".  He did this completely independently!  Myself and Ms. Soher saw the whole thing and were almost in tears. Then when Hugo got inside he got on the horse with no problem at all.  He followed the instructor's directions very well the whole time.  They practiced walking to the left and right, walking to certain letters in the rink, and walking to certain colored cones.  Hugo independently said "Come on Popcorn let's go!" during one of the exercises. Throughout the last few weeks, Hugo has learned a few commands to give the horse, such as:  "walk on" (to start walking), "whoa back" (to stop), and "trot on" to trot.  While I was inside Hugo was able to give these commands.  At the end of his session he was awarded a certificate and he said "yay first place!".  It was truly great to see how far Hugo has come.  Not only was he great with the horse, but he followed directions extremely well and he commented appropriately throughout the day.  We are all so proud of Hugo!  I also included a Gallop newsletter that I put in his folder.  I will also separately email the pictures :)  Have a great night!"  -Cindy