Our Featured Horse of the Month is Ben
In these times, we are all hearing how important it is to keep some normalcy and routine in our lives. What better way than to continue to show gratitude for our community through our Friday features. As it is the first Friday of the month, we feature a horse. Our featured horse for April is Ben!
Yesterday was World Autism Day, so we feel it is time to feature Ben for a second time to celebrate more specifically his involvement with our Therapeutic Riding Program. Lancers has a number of riders with autism. Riding has been shown to have particularly valuable therapeutic benefits for children with autism. It is said: “horses don’t see a child with autism; they see a child.” Not all of our riders with autism require the specialized nature of our therapeutic programming, but regardless, you can be sure they have had some special encounters with Ben.
Amongst our therapeutic riders, Ben has rightfully earned the nick-name “Gentle Ben”. Horses have a way of intuiting their rider's thoughts and feelings, and they communicate through body language. They seek comfort from their riders while providing the same. Riding can open up lines of communication that might never have existed without horses. Ben’s gentle nature has an instant calming effect, and his patience and willingness seem to never end.
Earlier this year, Ben joined us on an outing to Ronald McDonald house as one of our community outreach initiatives. The whole city seemed to take delight in seeing Ben make his way through the streets of Halifax accompanied by dozens of children wearing their Lancer Red.
We are so thankful to have Ben as one of #YourHorsesofHalifax. As his show name suggests, his heart is "Purely Gold".
To learn more about Ben, see his feature from 2 years ago
