SpiritHorse gives outdoor therapy to those with disabilities

By LES COCKRELL / Denton Record-Chronicle
lcockrell@dentonrc.com At first glance, the tree-shaded facility might look no different from any of the small ranches or horseback riding stables that dot the Denton County landscape.
Horses graze in a fenced pasture, and riders on horseback wind their way down a nearby trail. In a small corral, an instructor offers support to a young student who seems delighted to be in the saddle.
It appears idyllic, but a closer look reveals that serious work is under way. This is SpiritHorse, which provides private equine-assisted therapeutic riding lessons. Clients include people with disabilities, at-risk youth, battered women, young people who have completed drug rehabilitation and abused children.
"We don't provide recreation, we provide health care," said Charles I. Fletcher, founder and chief executive officer of the Corinth center.
Fletcher combined a passion for horses and a love for children when he started SpiritHorse seven years ago after retiring from Rockwell International. Now 71, he estimated that he works about 100 hours a week at the center.
SpiritHorse serves about 425 clients, and 90 percent of them are children. Lessons are offered for free. The center receives no government funding, and financial support comes from donations and grants, Fletcher said.
"This is a ministry, and these kids deserve it," Fletcher said.
Staff members meet with client families to discuss therapy goals and directives from physicians before beginning a program.
Hourlong sessions include horse management duties such as leading, grooming and saddling, based on students' abilities.
"It's a learning experience," said Stephanie Wilhelm, a horse care specialist and instructor at SpiritHorse.
"Children saddle and unsaddle their horses," Fletcher said. "It builds trust, self-esteem and motor skills. No matter what their disability, they participate.
The center operates under two guiding principles, Fletcher said: "Love the children" and "Make all decisions in favor of the child, not the center."
Parents take part in the sessions, he said, a feature that separates SpiritHorse from some riding centers.
"We require parents to participate," Fletcher said. "They are the experts on the child."
Having parents get involved also helps transfer the learning process to the home, he said.
The center has a staff of seven full-time and 10 part-time instructors and relies on assistance from more than 500 parent-volunteers and about 50 community volunteers.
A seven-member board of directors sets policy and raises funds, Fletcher said. Five members of a medical advisory board work closely with the center's staff.
SpiritHorse serves clients in Denton, Collin, Cooke, Dallas, Grayson, Kaufman, Rockwall, Tarrant, Wichita and Wise counties and typically receives about five new applications a week. The organization has "graduated" 365 riders in the last seven years, Fletcher said.
In addition to its operation in Corinth, SpiritHorse now has licensed centers throughout the world – from Georgia, Iowa and Virginia to Scotland, Hungary and Uruguay.
For more information, visit www.spirithorsetherapy .com or call 940-497-2946.

Special needs day gives youth chance to bond

By Argen Duncan: PNT Senior Writer

Halley Manley said her reserved daughter with Asperger’s syndrome, attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactive disorder became outgoing and made physical and emotional improvements, all thanks to horseback riding.

“She has self-confidence now and is willing to try anything,” Manley said of her daughter, 9-year-old Emma Purcell.
Manley and Purcell took part in Wednesday’s Roosevelt County Fair Special Needs Day, which included rope tricks by County Commissioner Bill Cathey, a Special Olympics horseback riding exhibition and a pet show for people with disabilities. This year is the second the fair has held a Special Needs Day and an indoor exhibits competition among disabled people.
“More people with disabilities should come out so they can intermingle with people in the community,” said Pat Dodson, who      leads the organization of the events.
Dodson said the riding exhibition aimed to show how disabled people can ride and compete in Special Olympics.
“It gives them something to do, and it gives them a sense of accomplishment because they’re able to compete,” she said.
Dodson’s 18-year-old son, Garrett, has a rare genetic disease that affects his motor skills, and he has gained strength and balance from his years of horseback riding, including participation in Special Olympics
“It’s fun,” Garrett said.
Cindy Vaugan, 48, has been part of Special Olympics since she was 8 and competes in a variety of equestrian events. She said she loves every part of it and has learned that horses are bigger and stronger than she is.
Emma, who competes in Special Olympics and takes lessons locally at Abrazos Adventures, also enjoys horseback riding.
“Everyone should learn how to do it,” she said.
Abrazos Adventures owner Wendy Toombs said she’s found little difference between normal and disabled children.
Toombs believes many problems in children come from unmanaged energy and technology allowing them to bypass learning to use their bodies. Once they learn to control their energy, she said, it helps with their disabilities.
“They learn how to focus; they learn how to apply themselves to something,” Toombs said.

Unbridled passion for changing lives

Bill Hendricks, Sarah Donaghy and (foreground) Kathy Day help Lucas Beauchamp climb onto Joey for his riding lesson at PRDA.
John Gordon/Langley Times


By Brenda Anderson - Langley Times

Published: April 03, 2009 3:00 PM
Updated: April 03, 2009 3:31 PM


On a sunny, early spring afternoon, the air in Campbell Valley Park is crisp and fresh. The ground, still muddy in spots, has been churned up by the hooves of a dozen horses passing behind the barn and indoor riding ring of Pacific Riding for Developing Abilities.

Riders, taking advantage of a brief spell of fine weather, have been spending at least part of their lessons outdoors whenever possible.

The barn doors, looking east over the back of the PRDA’s 15-acre property on 208 Street, stand wide open to the bright day, releasing the comforting scents of fresh hay and warm horseflesh.

Wooden stalls line each side of the long enclosure, currently home to 19 therapy horses (though there is space for 23) along with a small tack room.

As he strolls through the barn and past the riding rings where lessons are given, Bill Hendricks, one of two PRDA volunteer co-ordinators, reels off stats about the charitable agency, which has spent the last 10 of its 36 years on this site.

PRDA runs on a $500,000 annual budget, which is funded through United Way grants (which they will lose within the next two years) B.C. Gaming, and community donations, Hendricks explains.

The first riders were GF Strong patients rehabilitating injuries. Today, they include people of all ages with a variety of mental and physical disabilities, and range from young children coming in for pony rides to elite Paralympic athletes.

It costs PRDA $1,700 each to provide its 125 riders with a 10-week session. Users pay $250 for 10, 30-minute lessons, and the difference is subsidized.

The riders, who range in age from young children to senior citizens, are supported by paid instructors and PRDA’s 160-strong team of volunteers, who also range widely in age. Sixteen is the minimum age to volunteer, but their is no limit at the other end of the spectrum, with people in their 80s taking regular shifts.

Some are already horse savvy, while others start out knowing only that food goes in one end of a horse and comes out the other, jokes Hendricks.

But he’s the first to admit, facts and figures don’t tell the real story of PRDA.

This is a place where lives are changed.

That truth is revealed daily in broad smiles and peels of laughter, even in the disappointed tears of a dressage rider who knows she’s capable of achieving more than she has on a given day.

It’s actually not all that unusual for young riders to cry when they first arrive at PRDA. Perhaps they’re fearful of the horses, or maybe it’s painful to stretch and use the different muscles required to sit and balance astride the large animals.

“Often, by the end of the session, they’re crying because they have to get off the horse,” Hendricks says.

A hydraulic lift and the availability of specially designed reins and saddles or sheepskin pads, which transfer the animal’s body heat and act like a heating pad, mean riders at every level of ability can benefit from equine therapy.

“There isn’t really a rider we can’t accommodate,” says Hendricks. “We just need their doctor’s permission.”

Somehow, even the horses seem to sense they are dealing with special riders and that they need to be gentler with some than with others.

PRDA receives a couple of calls each week from people interested in donating a horse, but only about 10 per cent of the animals are suited to the task.

People sometimes get offended if their offer isn’t accepted, Hendricks says, but it takes a pretty special horse to meet the riders’ unique needs.

“We try to find ones that don’t have the flight instinct. Most do; it’s just a matter of how far you can push it.”

When she goes out and look at a horse, PRDA’s head riding instructor Michelle Meacher takes along a bag of soft toys which she tosses at the animal to gauge its reaction.

“If the horse is up the wall, obviously it’s not going to work,” says Hendricks.

The ones that do make

it don’t fit any particular profile, he says. And the line of animals inside the barn, ranging from ponies to draft horses bears him out.

Like people, they all come with their own distinct personalities.

There’s Gimli, for example, a Norwegian fiord, which Hendricks describes as being like a typical five-year-old.

“No, I don’t want to do this and you can’t make me,” he mimics the horse, with a laugh.

Gregory, formerly a top dressage horse valued at $100,000, was donated to PRDA after suffering an injury.

“We’ve had horses from the movie industry,” says Judy Cocchia, who job shares with Hendricks.

One was used in westerns and was trained to play dead. If you touched its shoulder, it would drop to the ground and lie perfectly still.

“That one took a while to retrain,” she laughs.

Then there was the parade horse that could trot up and down busy Fraser Highway without batting an eye, but it couldn’t go into the park because it was terrified of squirrels and blowing leaves.

While the horses can come from anywhere, they have to not only have a great personality, but must also possess a certain instinct that is harder to pin down.

One horse seemed to sense its teenage rider was having a small seizure and stopped in its tracks.

“They are truly amazing animals,” says Cocchia.

Each rider is matched with a horse based on the size of the animal and how much trunk control the rider has. Inside the ring, they are accompanied by one to three volunteers per rider, depending on the level of disability.

Some only require a watchful eye, while others must be held upright on the horse at all times.

Riders, instructors and volunteers work together as a team to teach real riding skills, using proper terminology, explains Meacher.

Instructors might run their students through a series of games, such as ring toss, designed to improve strength, stability, balance and co-ordination as well as fine and gross motor skills.

The psychological and social benefits are tougher to measure, but they’re easy to see as the riders gain confidence and self-esteem with every session.

“The psychological and social benefits are huge,” says Meacher.

“It’s something unique they can tell their friends.”

They may not be able to run and play soccer and baseball or ride bicycles with their classmates, but horseback riding sets them apart.

“It’s their sport; it’s what they do,” Meacher says.

Often, it’s as therapeutic for the volunteers as it is for the riders.

We’re always looking for volunteers. The whole facility wouldn’t function without volunteers,” says Hendricks.

Among the names on the timetable posted just inside the main doors of PRDA are Sandra Funk and Lois Beall.

“It’s a happy place,” Beal says. “The horses are happy and the kids are happy.”

“No matter how I feel when I come in, I always leave feeling great.

“My friends don’t realize, you’re not giving a lot — you’re receiving.”

Funk, a six-year volunteer who comes twice a week, agrees.

“It’s my bliss,” she says.

Under the women’s watch, children have come out of their shells. Some, so scared or shy at the outset they won’t speak a word, are babbling throughout an entire session after a few weeks.

Funk recalls one particular girl who beat the odds.

“The first year I was here little Brook learned to walk. Ten years old in a wheelchair and she learned to walk from riding.

“I can’t talk about that too long or I’ll cry,” she smiled.

PRDA’s next 10-week session begins on Monday, April 13.

Anyone who is interested in helping out, is invited to call Hendricks or Cocchia at 604-530-8717. Visit www.prda.ca for more information.

Magic Moments facing ‘very serious situation’

By Todd G. Higdon
Carthage Press
Tue Jan 06, 2009, 11:51 AM CST

IAMOND, Mo. -

A riding therapy center who helps people with developmental disabilities is facing possible closure.

Magic Moments Riding Therapy, 272 County Ln. 125, Diamond, made the announcement on Monday.

“Our situation is very serious,” said Jeanne Brummet, director. “We depend on donations to cover the majority of our operating expenses and this year, everyone has cut back. We are nearly out of money right now. We are literally down to our last few thousands dollars. And will not be able to feed our horses or pay our bills after January unless we get assistance now.”

The center began in December 1998, when Brummet’s daughter, Rachel, went through a riding clinic.

“Then we moved here, there was not a (riding therapy) center in this area and we felt that it was important,” Brummet said. “We work with a lot of developmental disabilities. The movement of the horse as the person rides, causes changes in the human brain, and during the time when they are riding, you can work with them and target different things that they might need help with. You can work on balance, posture and speech and muscle strength in different areas of the body. And when you are in the field of therapy, providing that you studied it, it is kind of like you have honed your craft to actually target different areas, using the horse and using your knowledge to make improvements in specific things. We work a lot with autism; we work on getting these kids out of their little world that they stay in most of the time and brining them into our world, through the use of the activities and movement of the horse. We work with kids that cant walk. We have gotten children out of wheelchairs and off of their walkers and be able to walk and run like other children. But it is a question to how to use these horses to get these things accomplished.”

Horseback riding is therapeutic because the motion of the walking horse stimulates the human brain and has an effect on 25 sensory-motor systems in the human body, promoting improved muscle tone, improved walking gait, flexibility, self-confidence, speech-language, balance, posture and more, according to information provided by the business.

Contrary to belief, therapeutic horseback riding is not a new technique. It was used extensively in Europe after WWII to treat victims of polio. It was brought to the United States later on and it is gaining recognition in the medical field.

During the last 10 years, Brummet said they have helped more than 300 people. They also have worked with area Girl Scouts by teaching them about horses, teaching them how to ride, etc. during the summer camp.

And as far has how they have helped those with disabilities, Brummet said it shows.

“I just had a mom today (Monday) that called me, whose son rides here, that is frantic, because her son literally can not get through school without riding,” she said. “For this kid, he goes into sensory overload and he can't function at school. And she had to take him out for a couple of months and she had to bring him back. They could do absolutely nothing with him, nothing. Not at home, not at school. She is frantic and she doesn’t know what she is going to do if we go under."

Now it is time for the public to help Magic Moments Riding Therapy Center.

“To operate for a year, we need $50,000,” Brummet said.

Brummet is asking for any donations. Donations can be taken to any Arvest Bank or mail to 272 County Ln. 125, Diamond, Mo. 64840.