Hello from England!

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I don't normally do this, by this I mean tell people I have AS! So.....

My name is Stephii. I'm twenty years old and live in England.
I got diagnosed with AS when I was 14(?ish) and I also got diagnosed with PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) at the same time.

I currently volunteer at Rainbow Horses which is a yard that does Equine Assisted Learning and Equine Interaction for Children on the Autism Spectrum. I mainly work with the horses but also talk to the parents and help out with the kids occasionally.
I also do photography occasionally and did have a site set up but haven't had chance to update it in a while. As well as that I am studying my Think Like A Pony awards in a hope of eventually becoming a TLAP Instructor.
I've also done some BHS Stages, NVQ in Horse care and some Parelli Natural Horsemanship Levels. I also did a diploma in Performing Arts.

I currently own 3 horses and then share 2 with my auntie.
Rhia and Sophie (the two at my aunties) than Jimbo, Berry and Cheesecake are my 3.
Cheesecake pony is eventually going to be a therapy horse at Rainbow Horses and I just got her for Christmas.
I also have a Bedlington Terrier called Pudding. 2 cats, Pixie and Mia and then a Tortoise called Squirtle (Squirt for short)
Then my mum has a Parsons Terrier called Millie

Aside from horses and animals.
I go to a lot of gigs to see bands and comedians.
I love music and also love Photography, Reading, Writing, Shopping and plenty more things.

I think I have rambled enough.
Hoping to meet some people who understand and won't judge me on here It's nice to finally not have to keep it all a secret.

I was going to post some videos of my ponies for you but I can't till I have 5 posts, so you'll all have to wait.

Last edited by stephiibean on 29 Dec 2011, 5:29 am, edited 1 time in total.

Welcome to WP!

Thank you

Hello and welcome.

I would be very interested to hear more about your work with horses. I have an interest in animal based therapies in general, and have been rather curious what it is precisely about horses that puts them right alongside dogs(and by some accounts, above them) in usefulness for therapy.

I'd be happy to answer any questions you have. Send me a message if you would like, or an e-mail.

I mainly work with what people refer to as "natural horsemanship" to me it's just another form of horsemanship. So my main job is to work on the horses confidence etc.

I think with horses, for me anyway, is that they are very easy to understand. Horses don't use words they use body language to communicate. Horses can't lie to you. If they aren't happy they will make that clear. They won't say one thing and their body tell you another thing.
It's also the sense of freedom I think some of the kids get. When your on the back of a horse your finally free of everything on the ground. If I'm working with a horse I know people aren't looking and judging me. They are watching the horse and me.
When your on the back of a horse you feel safe, like nothing and no-one can say or do anything to you. It's just you and the horse, you can do things that you wouldn't otherwise be able to do on your own.
Horses taught me to speak. I wouldn't speak to people as a child but I would sit in a stable chatting away to a horse for hours.
They also taught me how to act around people and how to understand people better.

Dogs are great but you can't ever feel at one with a dog like you can a horse.
Dogs connect to people really quickly, whereas horses you have to work hard to earn their trust. When a horse finally trusts you it's a great sense of achievement.

Each one of our horses has a different lesson to teach the children, depending on what they need to learn.
Horses are the best teachers.

It's really hard to explain but if you have any specific questions than feel free to ask them I'll answer as best I can.

Hopefully this will finally post.
Here are my ponies for anyone interested.

Cheesecake: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxwkDMnxTAI
Jimbo: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5M3XVtPkr4
Jimbo and Berry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SNw-3k5d-dQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iS9Ep6COUQ

Enjoy

Those are some very pretty horses.

I have some experience with them(my grandparents owned a few and my father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all were bronc-riders), but never in a therapy setting.

If you don't mind, I'd like to take a bit of time to organize my questions a bit before messaging you or posting them here.

Thank you
Ooh, Bronc riding. Can't ever say i've fancied that. It's bad enough when my horses decide to do an impression of a bronc horse! hehe.

Yes that is fine. Message me whenever you would like.

Hi, welcome to WP, I use to live at a college that did Equine, so enjoyed going down to the yard with the girls and watch the showjumping

Hope you enjoy it here

Mike

Hi, I'm new as well.

As I'm also from the UK this seemed an appropriate thread to say hello in - hope you don't mind.

I am also very much looking forward to meeting some new people who are like me and am also very relieved not to have to keep my Asperger's a secret any longer (apart from some close friends who pretty much worked it out by themselves).

Your horses look very nice. I'm afraid I don't know a great deal about horses although did do some horse riding when I was a teenager.

Anyway, welcome!

Hey everyone
Thank you for the replies.

contango that is no problem. I'm not here to meet horsey people. I'm here to meet fellow Aspies
Great to know there are other people in the UK on here too. Hopefully it'll mean meeting lots of new friends who understand.

That's one of the reasons why I am here, to meet fellow aspies in the UK

Yay Glad i'm not the only one.

Welcome to Wrong Planet!

Yay, I think there are a few more of us out there somewhere in the UK, It would be good if we could all meet up sometime

It sure would.

I just noticed your in wales. Don't know wales well but my brother lives in Cardiff, I go down there a lot.