Saplings

Saplings is a school for Children with Special Needs from the ages of 7-18 years old located in Rathfarnham. Each year these students participate in therapeutic horse riding in Rathfarnham Equestrian Centre. Every year 18 students from Transition Year in St.Colmcilles C.S assist all the students from Saplings while they are on the horses.

We all made our way up to Rathfarnham Equestrian Centre and began our training day on the 7th of October. Orlagh and Gráinne were helping us out in the stables. They began by explaining how to tack up and lead a horse. We were insured that they would check the saddle on the horse once we had finished tacking up for the student’s safety.

We were put into groups of three, as a student needs one person to lead the horse and two on either side of the horse. This was followed by a lesson on how to grip a student once they are up on the horse and a short riding lesson.

For the following few weeks we made sure the child was happy on their horse and comfortable. We chatted to the children who wanted to chat and overall it was a really good experience.

This first group finished up on the 11th of November after 5 weeks. We hope to return to Rathfarnham equestrian centre after Christmas.