4H Fair 2018

We brilliantly decided to have Daddy take the afternoon off work for a fair wristband day and invited along a friend for the Nugget so we'd have a peaceful foursome instead of our usual squabbling trio...but of course it was the day it felt like 104F...yikes!  

Best part of the day - finding this amazing giant moth!  Well, maybe the best part for me, Hubby was slightly horrified.  Worst part - witnessing a grown woman lose her lunch on the sidewalk (heat exhaustion, probably) which basically traumatized the Nugget.

A couple days later, Spork got to ride at the fair with his hippotherapy stable.  If you are considering hippotherapy for any reason, DO IT!  It has made such a positive change in Spork, and look how proud he is with his riding skills.   There are almost always scholarships to be had since accredited PATH stables draw a lot of grants and private donors.  Equine therapy is OT plus behavioral therapy rolled into one.  The horse is not only a motivating factor but also a controlling factor; you can't act wild around a horse, you have to listen and pay attention so you don't fall, you have to give the horse the right amount of personal space, you can grow empathy for a horse before you can for a human because the horse gives more and asks little.  The horse's loud heartbeat and breath also are soothing and regulating.  I can wax on about the magic of rider, horse, and volunteer, but it's science and it's magic.