Kendall is a rambunctious nine-year-old who loves softball, freestyle dance, and swimming, but life wasn’t always simple for Kendall and her family. “Life was challenging before therapy,” said Kendall’s mom, Stephanie. “Kendall had trouble controlling her emotions and focusing on learning. She was diagnosed with ADHD, anxiety, sensory processing disorder, and dyslexia. She really struggled in school.”

Stephanie and her husband tried many things, but found that equine therapy, combined with the behavioral therapy she was receiving at school and a medication adjustment, was a great combination for Kendall.

Kendall’s family chose equine therapy because of her love for horses and because the family needed to learn how to control their emotions in a better way. They learned to talk more and fight less, and Kendall improved her active listening skills.

“Kendall also struggled this past school year with a classmate who was giving her a hard time,” said Stephanie. “We had many conversations with her Rawhide therapist about this friend. Her therapist brought in different horses to demonstrate and talk through friendship principles and dynamics.” Kendall and her therapist also talked about the different traits of the horses and observed how they got along to discuss the topic of friendships further.

“The biggest takeaway that Kendall has learned is ‘unicorn breathing’,” said Stephanie. “To this day, if she’s frustrated, she will use that technique to calm down.” Kendall also worked on being more polite, following directions, and completing tasks with fewer redirections and interruptions.

School has been Kendall’s largest area of growth. “This past school year has been the most successful of her academic career,” said Stephanie. “I attribute that to her medication changes, equine therapy at Rawhide, behavioral therapy, and her core IEP team at school. With this winning combination, her reading and math scores increased substantially, as well as her writing skills. Kendall’s positive progress did not go unnoticed by those around her. Everyone continued to support and challenge Kendall to show her how successful she can be.”

“My biggest takeaway as a parent was that I needed to stand there and watch her struggle, so she could figure it out,” said Stephanie. “I had to ask her if she needed help and learn how to step back when she said no, and that was challenging.”

Kendall now has confidence that she can read, the tools to calm herself down when frustrated, and the resiliency to not give up. “I plan to enroll her in a riding class after equine therapy to keep the skills we learned fresh, to continue building on them, and to foster her love for horses,” said Stephanie.

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