{"id":2957,"date":"2017-06-15T12:05:24","date_gmt":"2017-06-15T10:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.iwheeltravel.com\/?p=2957\/"},"modified":"2017-06-15T12:05:24","modified_gmt":"2017-06-15T10:05:24","slug":"wheelchair-horse-riding-new-zealand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iwheeltravel.com\/en\/wheelchair-horse-riding-new-zealand\/","title":{"rendered":"I swapped my wheelchair for a horse!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like many children when I was a kid I wanted to try a lot of different sports and at one point I wanted to go horse-riding. It is a very expensive hobby and I was already doing modern-jazz dancing. So I decided to put horse-riding aside and focus on dancing. I kept  thinking about it from time to time but the handicap progressed and became more and more present. Because of this, I finally drop this horse-riding idea. I though I was not able to do it. As it was already difficult for me just to stay balance while standing I could not figure how I would have been able to stay balance while riding a horse.<\/p>\n

In last July I met Anne during our first helpX in New Zealand<\/a>. She is passionate about horse-riding and asked me if I would like to go for a ride. At first I was quite surprised but then she told me she didn’t think my handicap would be an issue. In addition she knows people working in a riding school who are used to teach disabled people. I could not miss on the opportunity! After all I was about to do horse-riding! We called Lorraine, a woman working at Whakatane riding school, and she offered us to come the following day for a free ride. I just couldn’t wait!<\/p>\n

So the next day we went to Whakatane. Anne lend me her riding gears and introduced me to Lorraine. She is a really kind person. She was gentle to me and took the necessary time to explain me everything I needed to know. The most important was for me to let my body follows the horse movements.<\/p>\n