HORSE RIDING HELPS AMPUTATED HAITIAN CHILDREN FACE CHALLENGES|海地馬術療法 助震災截肢童復健.培養自信

An estimated 4,000 to 6,000 people underwent amputations after a strong earthquake devastated Haiti's capital seven years ago. A physically-challenged young kid runs as fast as his prosthetic leg can take him to a therapeutic riding center, where provides horse-riding lessons that have become the highlight of his week and improved his life. Judeley Hans Debel is sitting high and proud on the back of a tan polo pony named Tic Tac at the Port-au-Prince equestrian center. The center offers therapeutic riding to disabled youngsters. Advocates say that it improves their balance, coordination, and confidence, with the movements of the horse mimicking pelvic motions involved in human walking. The riding also provides muscle and nerve stimulation. Judeley's single mother says, the free weekly sessions offer her son a welcome respite from a life of urban poverty. ==NERLANDE JEAN PHILIPPE, Judeley's mother== I need the financial help, especially for the prosthetic leg and I am unemployed. Judeley was one of an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 people to undergo amputations after the powerful earthquake that devastated Haiti's capital seven years ago. Just 2 and a half years old at the time, his tiny body was pinned under jagged rubble at his shattered concrete home. His mother spent hours frantically digging him out and then rushed him to a hospital where doctors amputated his right leg just below his crotch. Seven years later, the boy with bright, shining eyes refuses to let his disability hold him back. He enthusiastically plays soccer and other games with schoolmates and hopes to study medicine when he's older. But his favorite activity is unquestionably riding Tic Tac. ==NERLANDE JEAN PHILIPPE, Judeley's mother== This is the biggest thing for me because it's one of the things he likes despite our problem. After his ride on a recent morning, Judeley methodically washed Tic Tac with a soapy sponge and water from a hose. He's even learning how to help hoist saddles onto the animals and prepare them for rides. ==ANNE-ROSE SCHOEN, Founder of Centre Equestre Chateaublond== And we have another program, which we started after the earthquake, which is called 'Ces Cheveaux Qui Penseés les Plaies,' those horses that patch up the wounds. And we created that program because we saw how much the therapy of the horse helps the child that has a problem. Schoen said perhaps the most important thing about therapeutic riding is that it makes youngsters happy in a country where disabled people face enormous challenges. TRANSLATED BY：JESSICA OY