Krystal Greco (16 years old) is once again able to enjoy her passion – horseback riding. Two years ago she became suddenly paralyzed from a ruptured disk in her spine.
She spent nine weeks rehabilitating at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore at the International Center for Spinal Cord Injury where she learned of a place that may be able help her ride again. Freedom Hills Therapeutic Riding Program (http://www.freedomhills.org/), in Port Deposit, Maryland helps bring together people with disabilities with horses. There is a program at Freedom Hills where they offer hippotherapy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippotherapy), a form of therapy which uses the characteristic movements of a horse to improve neurological function and sensory processing. After 5 months of this therapy, she was able to begin to move her legs!
Her goals are to walk across the stage during her high school graduation and to compete in the U.S. Paralympics in the para-dressage event.
Greco, Krystal. “From horseback-riding to a wheelchair and back”. CNN. 9 May 2012. Web.
“Hippotherapy” Wikipedia. Web. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippotherapy