What an AWESOME story!! ~Declan
Teen with cerebral palsy gets to ride horse of his dreams
Posted: Sunday, July 6, 2014 12:00 am | Updated: 10:35 am, Sun Jul 6, 2014.
Nicholas Thomas meets Shy Boy at Monty Robert's Flag Is Up Farms in Solvang, California. The meeting was a lifelong dream for Nicholas, 17, who has triplegic cerebral palsy and does not speak. He attends Severna Park High School.
Catherine Thomas speaks for her 17-year-old son.
Nicholas was born with triplegic cerebral palsy, which leaves him dependent on a communication device that says things out loud for him when he pushes buttons with pictures of objects.
So his mother is his voice. She’s vibrant and boisterous.
But Nicholas, who lives mostly in silence, has a hero who is another strong, silent type.
It’s a typical day at the Thomas household in Severna Park, and Nicholas is watching “Shy Boy,” a documentary made by the BBC in 1997. He has watched it every day for 13 years, when he first received the tape after seeing Shy Boy’s trainer, Monty Roberts, in person.
Catherine explains: Shy Boy is a wild horse that Monty Roberts tamed. Roberts, who wrote a book titled “The Man Who Listens to Horses,” doesn’t believe in using violent techniques to break horses.
Instead, he believes humans can communicate with horses in their own nonverbal language. Shy Boy returned to Roberts even after being accepted back into a band of wild horses.
Nicholas felt a link with a horse that communicates without words.
“The hardest disability (Nicholas) has is the inability to communicate, because he has so much to say,” Catherine said.
Last Christmas, Catherine asked Nicholas what he wanted.
He said he wanted to ride Shy Boy, using his communication device. Catherine told him that was impossible — Shy Boy might not even be alive anymore.
“He became so adamant and persistent and would not let it go and would get quite upset if I said it was impossible,” she said.
So eventually she resorted to Google and found Roberts’ website. There was a video of a now 21-year-old Shy Boy.
Nicholas went “through the roof,” Catherine said.
On Christmas Eve, she emailed Roberts.
Dear Monty:
I have a son with cerebral palsy and he does not speak. He has been riding since he was 2 and I attribute his ability to walk to riding. He has a great seat on a horse and has bonded with so many over the years.
He is now 17. When he was around 4, you came to Maryland and did a demonstration. We were there. Nicholas has a poster of Shy Boy on his bedroom wall that you signed. We also got the Shy Boy video and it has been playing in our house for the last 13 years, daily. He loves Shy Boy ...
For Christmas this year, once again he has asked to ride Shy
Boy ...
Have you ever had such a request before? I know you must think I am crazy, but if there is the remotest possibility of Nicholas being able to meet you and ride Shy Boy — even if just for a few minutes — I would make the journey to your farm. ...
I hope this reaches you, Mr. Roberts. Have a wonderful Christmas and I look forward to receiving your response.
A hopeful mom,
Catherine Thomas
Nicholas Thomas and Shy Boy
Nicholas Thomas meets Shy Boy at Monty Roberts’ Flag Is Up Farms, in Solvang, California. The meeting was a lifelong dream for Nicholas, who has triplegic cerebral palsy and does not speak. From left, Shy Boy, Monty Roberts, Nicholas and Catherine Thomas, Nicholas’ mother.
Meeting Shy Boy
On New Year’s Eve, Catherine received a response from Roberts’ daughter, who asked for a video of Nicholas riding.
She sent one. Three months passed. And then, an invitation.
But in the meantime, Nicholas had a tough spring. He had his first seizure and underwent two surgeries.
The promise of Shy Boy kept them going, Catherine said.
She nailed down a date of — June 23 — to go to Roberts’ Flag Is Up Farms. The two flew to Los Angeles and made the 3½-hour drive to Solvang, Calif.
She assumed Nicholas would get to the farm, spend five or 10 minutes on the horse, and then leave.
Instead, she said, “We were treated — I say like royalty, but also like family.”
Roberts said children with disabilities come to the farm several times a week to see the horses.
“Therapeutic riding in many many instances becomes the No. 1 activity of joy for these otherwise almost joyless people, who find life extremely difficult,” he said.
Roberts said that the morning of Nicholas’ meet-and-greet with him, he nearly forgot about it.
“I saw him in the yard and saw how profoundly challenged he was, and all of a sudden it was the most important thing in my life,” he said.
Roberts gave them a demonstration, and then Nicholas met Shy Boy.
“It was almost like they were speaking volumes with no words,” Catherine said.
Shy Boy never took his eyes off Nicholas, she said.
First, Nicholas looked down, as a sign of respect to the horse, and the two connected. Then Shy Boy reached up and nuzzled Nicholas with his nose.
Everyone, Catherine said, had tears pouring down their cheeks. It looked like two old friends meeting, she said.
“Nick doesn’t show an awful lot of emotion. He’s not a big smiler, he’s not a big crier or anything like that,” she said.
When they moved to take Shy Boy to the arena, Nicholas looked back at his mom.
“I saw that it had totally moved him — tears in his eyes,” she said.
Nicholas Thomas and Shy Boy
Nicholas Thomas rides Shy Boy, who is being led by Monty Roberts at his Flag Is Up Farms in Solvang, California. The meeting was a lifelong dream for Nicholas, who has triplegic cerebral palsy and does not speak. He attends Severna Park High School. Nicholas' mother, Catherine Thomas, watches at left.
Nicholas rode Shy Boy for about 15 to 20 minutes. Roberts talked about the benefits of therapeutic riding. They went to the stable where Shy Boy was resting and Nicholas spent a long time just sharing time with the horse.
When the two said goodbye, Nicholas blew Shy Boy a kiss and said “Bye-bye Shy Boy.” The horse lifted his head and nodded in response.
Catherine said the trip made her understand something about her son for the first time.
She spent his entire childhood trying to fix his cerebral palsy, she said. She tried to make sure he could walk, enrolled him in therapy and did anything she could think of to help him.
Now, she said, she understands that “he lives in a place that’s simple, full of joy. His dreams do come true. Most people can’t say that.”
When he needs to say something, Nicholas looks at his mother and touches his neck, before clicking onto his communication device.
But sometimes he doesn’t need to — Catherine will look at him and know what he wants to say. Her husband, Vince, says she’s inside Nicholas’ head.
Catherine said she’s so used to saying Nicholas’ words out loud for him41 that she forgets to appreciate his silence.
When Nicholas met Shy Boy, that changed.
“I had to stand in his silence,” she said. “I’ve never really stood in Nicholas’ silence before and in that moment, I did.”
Nicholas Thomas and Shy Boy
Nicholas Thomas meets Shy Boy at Monty Roberts’ Flag Is Up Farms in Solvang, California. The meeting was a lifelong dream for Nicholas, who has triplegic cerebral palsy and does not speak.
Nicholas Thomas and Shy Boy
Nicholas Thomas rides Shy Boy with the help of Monty Roberts, at Roberts’ at his Flag Is Up Farms.
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