I, too, was horse obsessed when I was younger. I didn't have many opportunities to ride horses, though. Sometimes, we'd go visit my dad's cousin in central Iowa and I'd get to ride then, but I had nobody to tell me how to do it "right", so I spent most of the time sitting on the horse while it opted to eat grass.
In high school, I went to a summer camp on the eastern shores of Lake Michigan. They'd have horseback rides that we'd do one day of the camp. The last time I was there, I ended up with a horse named Rambo. Rambo didn't like the fact that I was on his back and would brush up against every tree we passed. Rambo was a very large horse (I'm 5' 11" and was that height by then, and wasn't light in high school - around 240 maybe) and stood much higher than any of the other horses in the "fleet". I recall the handler saying something that he was more of an adult's horse, but should be okay with kids. Well, after multiple tree brushings he found one with a fork in it - got super close, my left knee got stuck and he kept on walking. I held onto that tree for as long as I could. However, as a very non-athletic girl, that wasn't very long and I opted to slide down the tree. I had bark burn from the waist of my jeans to my chest. The guide asked me if I wanted to get back on Rambo - I opted not to and walked back to where we started our ride.
From that point on, I would talk to horses that I met, but hadn't rode one for years.
Fast forward a couple decades and we're in SW Colorado and my daughter sees horses and people on them and she's smitten. It was a local outfitter and they had a whole paddock full of horses and she really wanted to ride one. Well, they wouldn't let her go on a trail ride until she was 6, but I could lead her around the pen on the back of one of their tamer horses. 2 hours later, I looked like I had been rolling in the dirt! She had a blast and the requests for horseback rides began. We now go horseback riding when we're on Christmas break in Arizona and other locations where that's an option. It makes me so happy to be back on a horse (even if it's nothing more than a trot) and know what I'm doing.
We have a horse rescue center nearby and often go there to help out as volunteers. We learned how to guide and brush and clean hooves and all other cool things and she loves that, too.
As an addendum to the hiking abundance quest, hiking isn't something you can only do uphill, over uneven ground, in the high mountains. There are many ways to accommodate all kinds of different physical abilities, chronic illnesses and other challenges in the outdoors. You don't have to be able to walk to "hike" and you can enjoy the outdoors in so many ways!
I am someone who is really prone to altitude, I get woozy even just on the ground in Calgary, AB (elevation 1045m) so mountain hiking is not something I really do.
There are lots of amazing hikes, in the lowlands, on even, well-maintained trails. In Ontario, there are several accessible trails, shorter hikes that have frequent rest stations, overlooks, and are traversable by wheelchairs so everyone can enjoy the thrill of "hiking" even if they are actually rolling along. I'm sure there are incredible trails wherever you are, that one can enjoy without needing Olympic levels of fitness or even 'average' hiking skills.
What about biking? or, horseback riding!?! Getting on a bike and pedaling 10-25km in a day is way easier than walking the same distance. Recumbent style bicycles can be adapted to allow for many different bodies to bicycle! Horseback riding is an ideal type of exercise for many people with physical disabilities, there are already lots of special saddles and programs to help people get on horses and get active outside.
Have you considered birdwatching? Ed Yong, science author has started a birdwatching club for people with various forms of chronic fatigue illnesses:
Even if you can't stand up, move, or do any activities for more than an hour a day, there are active outdoor clubs you can join, full of like minded people.
Hiking is a sport of abundance, there are so many different trails, different places, different ways to traverse the natural world, I just know that whatever your disabilities, you will always retain the core ability of enjoying time spent in nature.
I, too, was horse obsessed when I was younger. I didn't have many opportunities to ride horses, though. Sometimes, we'd go visit my dad's cousin in central Iowa and I'd get to ride then, but I had nobody to tell me how to do it "right", so I spent most of the time sitting on the horse while it opted to eat grass.
In high school, I went to a summer camp on the eastern shores of Lake Michigan. They'd have horseback rides that we'd do one day of the camp. The last time I was there, I ended up with a horse named Rambo. Rambo didn't like the fact that I was on his back and would brush up against every tree we passed. Rambo was a very large horse (I'm 5' 11" and was that height by then, and wasn't light in high school - around 240 maybe) and stood much higher than any of the other horses in the "fleet". I recall the handler saying something that he was more of an adult's horse, but should be okay with kids. Well, after multiple tree brushings he found one with a fork in it - got super close, my left knee got stuck and he kept on walking. I held onto that tree for as long as I could. However, as a very non-athletic girl, that wasn't very long and I opted to slide down the tree. I had bark burn from the waist of my jeans to my chest. The guide asked me if I wanted to get back on Rambo - I opted not to and walked back to where we started our ride.
From that point on, I would talk to horses that I met, but hadn't rode one for years.
Fast forward a couple decades and we're in SW Colorado and my daughter sees horses and people on them and she's smitten. It was a local outfitter and they had a whole paddock full of horses and she really wanted to ride one. Well, they wouldn't let her go on a trail ride until she was 6, but I could lead her around the pen on the back of one of their tamer horses. 2 hours later, I looked like I had been rolling in the dirt! She had a blast and the requests for horseback rides began. We now go horseback riding when we're on Christmas break in Arizona and other locations where that's an option. It makes me so happy to be back on a horse (even if it's nothing more than a trot) and know what I'm doing.
We have a horse rescue center nearby and often go there to help out as volunteers. We learned how to guide and brush and clean hooves and all other cool things and she loves that, too.
As an addendum to the hiking abundance quest, hiking isn't something you can only do uphill, over uneven ground, in the high mountains. There are many ways to accommodate all kinds of different physical abilities, chronic illnesses and other challenges in the outdoors. You don't have to be able to walk to "hike" and you can enjoy the outdoors in so many ways!
I am someone who is really prone to altitude, I get woozy even just on the ground in Calgary, AB (elevation 1045m) so mountain hiking is not something I really do.
There are lots of amazing hikes, in the lowlands, on even, well-maintained trails. In Ontario, there are several accessible trails, shorter hikes that have frequent rest stations, overlooks, and are traversable by wheelchairs so everyone can enjoy the thrill of "hiking" even if they are actually rolling along. I'm sure there are incredible trails wherever you are, that one can enjoy without needing Olympic levels of fitness or even 'average' hiking skills.
What about biking? or, horseback riding!?! Getting on a bike and pedaling 10-25km in a day is way easier than walking the same distance. Recumbent style bicycles can be adapted to allow for many different bodies to bicycle! Horseback riding is an ideal type of exercise for many people with physical disabilities, there are already lots of special saddles and programs to help people get on horses and get active outside.
Have you considered birdwatching? Ed Yong, science author has started a birdwatching club for people with various forms of chronic fatigue illnesses:
https://www.audubon.org/magazine/new-birding-club-wants-help-covid-long-haulers-safely-enjoy-nature-together
https://buttondown.email/edyong209/archive/the-eds-up-birding-for-long-haulers/
Even if you can't stand up, move, or do any activities for more than an hour a day, there are active outdoor clubs you can join, full of like minded people.
Hiking is a sport of abundance, there are so many different trails, different places, different ways to traverse the natural world, I just know that whatever your disabilities, you will always retain the core ability of enjoying time spent in nature.