Horses and Wacky Temperature Control

Ayden Jane had horse back riding tonight. She rides every Tue. night for about 45 min. and loves it. She has been riding since about 18 mo. old and has always ridden Mindy. Mindy is a small horse who is older and has been a 'school' horse for a long time. Tonight we went and another child there needed to ride Mindy so Ayden Jane was given Kelsey. We were all a bit worried about how AJ would react... I was amazed. I felt like it was an after school special or Halmark Lifetime movie as Ayden Jane fell in love with Kelsey and just was totally comfortable on her from the moment they met. I know it sounds nuts and I am not really a horse person, but little things like AJ wanting to stroke Kelsey (she just recently would stroke Mindy and just not really comfortably) and just the immediated comfort she had with Kelsey. Ayden Jane definitely got more movement from the bigger, younger, more athletic Kelsey and whether it was that or some other horse/little girl connection, AJ did not stop talking the entire time on the horse. "I like Kelsey. Kelsey likes Ayden Jane. I ride a big horse Mommy. I like ride the big horse Kelsey... Kelsey has ears, Kelsey has shoulders..." Honestly, you would have thought that Ayden Jane had been riding Kelsey since birth with the confidence she had up on her back. I was in awe.

On and unrelated note an out of whack hypothalamus caused by pws makes maintaining body temperature a bit tricky for those with pws. Ayden Jane is lucky to be on the mild end of this as well, but we do see it come up from time to time. I think for AJ it is more of a delayed reaction? It seems like she gets a bit too hot before her internal thermostat decides to do something but then is able to cool off. Same with cold temps.

When I was still teaching, I tended to over simplify and then build on that to the more complicated. Just warning you my brain can come up with some strange analogies... Here is one for Ayden Jane's temperature issues. I picture it as sort of like when you turn on the air or heat in your house. If you set the air conditioning to 75 then it automatically kicks on when the temp is 76. If AJ were an air conditioner and I set her at 75 she would likely just not kick on until she hit 77 or 78. Her thermostat is just a bit off or maybe not quite sensitive enough. For Ayden Jane, although it is a bit off, it is not really dangerous because it will kick in... For some with pws that does not seem to be the case.