RDA Second Rotation: Sixth Session

After six weeks of working with Spencer, and George, the three of us have become quite good friends. Spencer is still able to recognise us by our voices and can now determine who is who by the feel of our shirts and interestingly, hai. He seems to become increasingly relaxed around us as the weeks pass and now almost instantly walks in the correct direction of the stables without too much prompting from George and me, even without the use of eyesight. He has also developed a strong bond with the horse, Connie and now calls out for her while she is warming up.

Spencer has also become more physically independent on the horse. Although George and I never really had to help him whilst on the horse, he now carries out exercises such as stirrup standing and passing a small ball from one side to another with relative ease. He also now holds long conversations with us, sometimes starting them and asking us questions instead of the original ‘we ask he answers’ format. I have also realised that Spencer is a bit of a joker, making subtle jokes referring to things that George and I say. For example, around the 4th session, Spencer began saying, ‘bye-bye’, ‘me go home’ and ‘bed-time’ at random stages through the session. My partner always responded to this with ‘no no no buddy, we’ve got to take Connie for a walk first’. After this Spencer began to respond to requests with the exact same line, later shortening it to just ‘no no no’ then laughing hysterically. He also tells jokes about how bad the horses smell and about how my hair feels like a cat’s. I feel that LO5 is strongly represented here, not only for me but Spencer as well. We began to work together more fluidly after this point and achieved much more in the time frame of the session. Additionally, my partner and I worked more efficiently together, coming up with different activities and stretch for Spencer to try out. It is clear that communication and collaboration is important when working with someone who relies on you to describe the surrounding, once we established that base level of familiarity, it was much easier to work together.

Despite the relationship that has developed between us over the weeks, I believe that Spencer may be getting bored now. He often asks to go home and get off halfway through the sessions. However, once he does dismount he often wants to stay with me and George as well as pat Connie.  He doesn’t seem interested by just walking around the area now, only censing his constant asking to go home or have dinner when we either leave the arena so he can feel the breeze and listen to new sounds or give him some new exercise to do. 

His horse skills have also improved, now possessing the ability to stand in his stirrups for over 15 seconds, far surpassing his initial record of 5. He has become far more confident with his ability to ride and was even able to dismount in the area for the first time, granted with some help from my partner and me.

 

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