UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE
*******JUST ADDED AN E-BAY AUCTION***********
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330238239403&ru=http%3A%2F%2Fsearch.ebay.com%3A80%2Fsearch%2Fsearch.dll%3Ffrom%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm37%26satitle%3D330238239403%26category0%3D%26fvi%3D1
Click on the link to go to Rayne's Ebay Auction. For $1 you can buy an apple. The money goes to TEAM SPIDEY'S FUNDRAISING FOR THE EQUICENTER.
THE APPLES GO TO THE HORSES!!!!
Thank you for visiting my fundraising page!Donating through this website is simple, fast and totally secure. It is also the most efficient way to support my fundraising efforts.I hope you can Join TEAM SPIDEY May 30th at Frontier Field for the Stick Horses on Parade! I will be sure to have a MARVELous horse! The Equicenter has helped me in so many ways. Check out my storyFINDING JUSTIN
Charlie came up with the first clue. And it turned out the real Justin was there all the time. It was seriously hot on the fourth of August, a sweltering Saturday. Still, a good-sized crowd had gathered at the Regional Special Olympics. In the middle of the commotion, on a big brown horse, sat Justin Presciutti. As required by the rules, Justin, 15, was dressed to the nines, geared up head-to-toe. Which is worth notingbecause not so long ago, Justin would not have enjoyed any part of a day like this. The heat, the crowd, the getup plus the challenge ahead would have bugged him. Big-time. Justin was born with tri-paresis cerebral palsy. He uses a wheelchair to get around. His right arm has limited strength. His vision is impaired and he’s had to deal with some emotional and behavioral issues. For most of his life, when Justin ran into new things, or situations he wasn’t comfortable with, his confidence faltered. Then he would retreat. Or fight back with a vengeance. So Julie and Ralph Presciutti were kind of shocked, really, to see their son looking so calm and collected, sitting tall in the saddle, wearing a shirt, tie and jacket, with the helmet, the boots and the rest of the gear weighing him down, with all those people milling around and family and friends focusing on him as he faced a challenging course in an unfamiliar setting. But there he was, up on Rayne, his favorite horse, about to take part in his first equestrian competition in the Special Olympics. If Justin was nervous or scared, it didn’t show. He was smiling from ear to ear, despite the sweat rolling down his face.“It’s okay,” Justin told his parents. “It’s good sweat.”It’s been a tough 15 years for Justin and his parents.“As parents of a handicapped child, we’ve frequently experienced moments of sadness and, in a sense, loss,”says Julie. “We see our nieces and nephews growing up,socializing with other children, and doing all the things that kids are supposed to do. At school, Justin would often play alongside other kids. But not with them.”At home, Ralph says that Justin’s behavioral issues brought with them a “nightmarish quality.” Life with Justin could be“extremely challenging whenever he was unsure or anxious.”
Then in the fall of 2004, the Presciuttis picked up an EquiCenter pamphlet at the Rochester Easter Seals Diagnostic and Treatment Center. Justin wasn’t a big fanof traditional therapy – in fact, he pretty much hated the mats and the bending and the pushing – so Julie thought that horseback riding would be worth a try.“My expectation was that it would improve Justin’s physical range of motion,” she says. “He’d be getting a form of therapy that he needed, but hidden inside a fun time.” On his first visit to EquiCenter, the fun didn’t jump right out at Justin. Yes, he met a horse named Charlie and it was, says Julie, “love at first sight.” But Charlie was a little scary for a kid who wasn’t much into animals, not even his family’s two dogs. And Charlie was way more imposing than any dog. Justin decided he didn’t want to ride Charlie. So Justin’s parents and the EquiCenter staff backed off. “The folks at EquiCenter know how to handle situations like that,” says Julie. They brought out brushes and combs and showed Justin how to groom Charlie. They helped him feed Charlie treats. Slowly, Justin’s fear melted away.
By the end of his first EquiCenter visit, Justin was clearly enjoying himself. “Next time, I’ll ride,” he said. And that Monday, back in class at the Creekside School in Fairport, one of the first things he did was write a letter to Charlie. Justin has been attending EquiCenter regularly for three years now. He rode Charlie for months. Then Hope, a huge Belgian draft horse. Now he and Rayne, a Percheron Quarter Horse, have been a team for almost a year. And it seems that Rayne has special abilities. One day Ralph Presciutti was standing nearby, watching Justin’s therapy session, when Rayne walked quietly but surely toward Ralph. Rayne stopped and took a stance, spreading his legs to stabilize himself. It turned out that Justin was having a mild seizure. Ralph believes that Rayne can tell when Justin needs help, that occasionally Rayne “can see a seizure coming before anyone else, even Justin.” Julie agrees, saying that Rayne tends to become a bit restless just before Justin has an episode, which is “very unlike Rayne. I think somehow he tunes into it.” Rayne and all of the EquiCenter’s horses seem to have a sense of the things they accomplish. In Justin’s case, it’s easy to say that Charlie, Hope and Rayne, and the EquiCenter’s staff and its therapeutic programs have made Justin’s world a brighter place. The simple fact is that they have made a remarkable difference. Physically, Justin is much stronger. His endurance is greater and his range of motion has increased. His physical therapist believes that his riding has had a profound impact on his physical improvement. Justin has now developed strong friendships at school. And while he never seemed to care much for animals before he met Charlie, now he’s bonding and interacting more with the Presciutti’s dogs, Jack and Missy. Julie says that for years Justin’s language had “a negative tone” but that now he’s referring to a major part of life in a positive way, and that is huge for us. Justin has thrived at the EquiCenter – physically, emotionally, spiritually. “The negativity, it could wear you down,” says Ralph. “Used to be we couldn’t get him out of bed without grumbling. Now early Saturday morning he’ll jump out of bed to get to horseback riding. It’s something he’s good at and he loves and it’s very rewarding… We have a video from when Justin first started, and now when you see the difference, the way he commands the horse, the way he rides, it’s just unbelievable…and he loves the horses. He saves his apples from lunch for them.” On that sticky Saturday in August, the sun beating down on the Special Olympics equestrian competition, they went for it. Justin in command, sitting tall and attacking the course. Rayne giving it his all. The sweat rolling off both of them. And they won. Justin took home a gold medal in the Trail class. And Rayne became a legend, at least in the eyes of one young man." Julie says that all she wanted that day was for Justin to show up and take part. “I was so blown away by his maturity and the growth he’d achieved. He was so completely into it, holding the reins with his right hand. I never expected him to win a gold medal. I was high for weeks.” Every now and then, Justin wears his gold medal around the house. “He’s not a humble winner,” says Ralph, atouch of pride in his voice. “It’s almost a miracle,” says Julie. “No, that’s not right. If you knew how far Justin’s come, it IS a miracle. ”From one of Justin’s letters to his friends at the EquiCenter…Dear Hope,I like riding on your back, I love when wego over the poles and I steer you through thecones or blocks. When we do the trottingthing, when we go faster and faster. I lovewhen I feed you, pet you, and brush you…We bring carrots for you for the end of yourwork, for working so hard for me, and workingso well for me and being such a good horseand you are awesome.Love JustinThanks for your support -- and don't forget to forward this to anyone who you think might want to donate too!
