Case Study - Oli
September 2007
Oliver has a variety of learning difficulties and a lack of confidence in his
abilities, to the extent that even if he can do something his lack of self
esteem will hold him back. In addition, he had an ongoing problem of stealing
money from family and friends. I approached Oliver's head master at school
to see if he had any suggestions as to how we could help Oli. He recommended
Aurele and her horse therapy, so we booked some sessions with fantastic results.
Oliver who had no previous experience with horses, really enjoyed the sessions
and looked forward to them. His self esteem improved, his confidence in his
reading and many other aspects of his life improved and the stealing stopped.
I think a good example of the improvements is demonstrated in the story below.
A few days after his last session with Aurele it was sports day at school.
Oli is fairly good at Athletics, he was often placed in the top 4 but he never
won. However, this sports day was different. Before one of the events, the
400 metres, one of the other boys threatened Oli, if Oli won this lad said
he would beat him up. Oli was leading for the first half of the race, then
slowed down and the other lad over took him. Oliver then decided that he was
not going to let this bully get the better of him and sped up and won the
race by an impressive margin. When I asked him why he slowed down in the middle
of the race he told my the story. Before going to Aurele's sessions with the
horses he would never have had the self confidence to stand up to this boy.
He would probably also have held back from winning as well, he would have
shied away from the attention that winning would attract. Oliver won two races
that day and came 2nd in another and he thoroughly enjoyed going up to collect
his medals at the prize giving. The difference in him was amazing, the improvement
in his confidence was evident from just looking at him you could see how proud
he was of his achievements - a new experience for him.
Oliver is a keen golfer. In the past if I suggested that he enter tournaments
he was adamantly against the idea. Now, he enters every tournament he can
and even if he has had a bad day he does not get down hearted, he just goes
out and practices more. This again is a major change, previously if he had
a few bad days on the golf course he would give up golf for a couple of months
and then come back to it. Before a tournament, to calm his nerves, he goes
through some of the exercises he learnt from his sessions with Aurele and
the horses and it boosts his confidence and helps him overcome his nerves.
Last week he came 2nd in one tournament and won another.
Oli and I would like to thank Aurele and her horses for everything they have
done for both of us, she has helped turn Oli's life around.
Wishing you all the best.
Lisa