Nah, I was the one who was blindfolded, but I didn't have a camera with me today so just plucked this illustration from the net. On Thursday mornings I help out at Lis Hartel in Doorn, a riding school for disabled people. A lot of the clients there are (partially) blind and some time ago I said I'd like to know how that feels to sit on a horse and not be able to see anything. So today Corrie put me on Daniel with a blindfold on and I joined in on one of the 40 minute rides through the woods. I also got on the horse using the special lift we use for people who can't walk so easily themselves. It felt a bit like a mini rollercoaster. It's really difficult to have to totally trust others in this way. Once on the horse I felt as if I was in a tiny 'known' bubble in a huge 'unknown' world. Out on the paths I could sense the difference between lighter and darker bits of the route and feel the few 'hilly' bits. Another volunteer was walking beside me and could tell me to go left or right occasionally but most of the time the horses follow one another on the familiar trails so 'steering' wasn't really the problem. It actully felt quite relaxed and I noticed I was using my ears more to work out where we were. There's a lot of building going on in one area so that I knew when we were passing that bit and the occasional paved crossing areas of the paths make a different noise underfoot. So it was less frightening than I thought it might be. Until we were back in the indoor school... as soon as we were inside I felt all light disappear and it felt truly scary for the first time. The blackness felt thick and I felt I had no way to know where I was. (Odd, as with my eyes open the indoor school, with its skylights, seems just as light as outside, but I could feel a huge difference in intensity of light getting through my blindfold.) We did a short circuit of trotting but it definitely felt worrying. Daft really, the horse knew where he was, he wasn't going to run into a wall but I didn't feel very comfortable. It was certainly an insight (ha!) into how it must feel for some of the riders. A few of them are deaf as well as blind. And they don't have the advantage of having seen the route a thousand times before, and of having learnt to ride with all senses working.
donderdag 27 mei 2010
Blindfold Horseriding
Nah, I was the one who was blindfolded, but I didn't have a camera with me today so just plucked this illustration from the net. On Thursday mornings I help out at Lis Hartel in Doorn, a riding school for disabled people. A lot of the clients there are (partially) blind and some time ago I said I'd like to know how that feels to sit on a horse and not be able to see anything. So today Corrie put me on Daniel with a blindfold on and I joined in on one of the 40 minute rides through the woods. I also got on the horse using the special lift we use for people who can't walk so easily themselves. It felt a bit like a mini rollercoaster. It's really difficult to have to totally trust others in this way. Once on the horse I felt as if I was in a tiny 'known' bubble in a huge 'unknown' world. Out on the paths I could sense the difference between lighter and darker bits of the route and feel the few 'hilly' bits. Another volunteer was walking beside me and could tell me to go left or right occasionally but most of the time the horses follow one another on the familiar trails so 'steering' wasn't really the problem. It actully felt quite relaxed and I noticed I was using my ears more to work out where we were. There's a lot of building going on in one area so that I knew when we were passing that bit and the occasional paved crossing areas of the paths make a different noise underfoot. So it was less frightening than I thought it might be. Until we were back in the indoor school... as soon as we were inside I felt all light disappear and it felt truly scary for the first time. The blackness felt thick and I felt I had no way to know where I was. (Odd, as with my eyes open the indoor school, with its skylights, seems just as light as outside, but I could feel a huge difference in intensity of light getting through my blindfold.) We did a short circuit of trotting but it definitely felt worrying. Daft really, the horse knew where he was, he wasn't going to run into a wall but I didn't feel very comfortable. It was certainly an insight (ha!) into how it must feel for some of the riders. A few of them are deaf as well as blind. And they don't have the advantage of having seen the route a thousand times before, and of having learnt to ride with all senses working.
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