Therapeutic riding programs help kids with difficulties
By 15-year-old Tia Platteborze, 15-year-old Lauren Lasko, 14-year-old Lorissa Juntti and 12-year-old Ashley Longtine, with contributions by 12-year-old Sydney Dorow.

“There is nothing as good for the inside of a man as the outside of a horse.”

This quote has been attributed to everyone from Abraham Lincoln, to Theodore Roosevelt, to Winston Churchill, to Will Rogers to Ronald Reagan. Whoever it was that said it first, a couple of horse therapy programs in Marquette County whole-heartedly agree with them.

There are many benefits of horseback therapy, also known as hippotherapy, including physical, emotional, and social benefits. For example, the physical motion from horseback riding can help the rider to improve his or her body tone, posture, balance, joint movement, and coordination. The emotional and social benefits include coming in contact with, and bonding with, the horses and therapists. Those in such a program may experience a sense of independence and may benefit from a nice, non-competitive setting for learning new skills and for building self-discipline and self-confidence.

Luanne Peterson is a co-coordinator at the Willow Farms Therapeutic Riding Program based at Willow Farms in Harvey. Peterson has seen many success stories connected with the program.

“ We have students that have learned upper body control,” she said. “Whereas usually they are real wobbly [by riding the horses] they are able to control their body better. We have students that learn to follow direction much better because they are able to integrate it on horseback. They learn how to attend to a riding instructor.”

The program started in 2000 and is now in it’s eleventh year. Usually the sessions run in four-week blocks meeting once a week. They ran eleven sessions this past summer and had about fifteen private lessons.

Peterson said one of the biggest benefits of the program for students is connecting the experience with the horses to challenges they are facing in their own lives.

“ I think probably the biggest thing that helps them in their lives is there’s a sense of independence, of steering a very large animal around, and also being able to mount it and ride and doing something that many people never get to do,” she said. “The movement of a horse most likens the movement of how people walk and so for some people who have never walked and are working on learning how to walk, this really gives them something to emulate with their hips and the movement itself.”

The riders at the Willow Farms Therapeutic Riding Program, many of whom are in wheel chairs or permanent crutches, mount the horses in various ways.

Some who are in wheel chairs board the horse on a ramp; others use a ladder or are lifted onto the horse by helpers. Once on the horse the helpers surround the riders on all sides and they ride around in circles moving through and over obstacles. They ride over logs and around cones. Afterward every rider gets to feed the horse a treat.

Liz, twelve, participated as part of her stay at the Bay Cliff Health Camp. Her last name is withheld due to camp policy. Liz said that riding horses has a calming effect on her.

“I like to ride horses because it makes me feel relaxed,” she said.

Another Bay Cliff Camper, Regan, also twelve, agrees that riding has the same effect on her.

She said, “I feel relaxed and comfortable.”

Willow Farms connects with possible student riders through a network of community support. Sometimes, an official agency refers a student; sometimes, it’s just through the grapevine.

"We get a lot of referrals from physical therapists, occupational therapists, the schools, our local community mental health agencies, parents and lots of word of mouth. Some of our students get the opportunity through the Bay Cliff Health Camp,” Peterson said.

Pam Debelak of Skandia, is a special education teacher in Negaunee and also she volunteers at the Willow Farms program because she sees what a difference it can make for the kids taking part.

“Being able to see what the therapeutic riding does for the kids is really huge as far as giving them self-confidence and strength and balance and so that’s what keeps me coming back,” she said.

Debelak has seen some amazing success stories from the camps she has been a part of, and said horse therapy can help with a range of disabilities.

“There is a boy I know who is blind and he has developed such a sense of balance through doing the therapeutic riding that he actually rides on a motorcycle with his family now and so that is pretty amazing to see…this kid on a motorcycle,” she said. “Some of the other things I’ve seen is kids who actually calm right down from being on the horses. I guess the other thing is seeing kids who actually start talking more and get more words put together than what they started out doing.”

Regan may have learned a lot during her time with the program, but when it comes down to it she likes to do what many people like to do on a horse.

“ I like to trot because it’s fun and you’re kind of going fast and you get to stand up straight,” she said.

On the other side of the county, there is another kind of a therapeutic riding program based at the Solid Rock Ranch in Republic Township. The Solid Rock Ranch, a faith-based private camp working on it’s non-profit status, specializes in helping kids with social or emotional problems or those from difficult home lives. Kids from troubled situations such as addiction, discipline, and emotional problems, come to the ranch to learn how to overcome their fears, be patient, how to interact properly with others and gain self-confidence.

Cathy Gimse, who worked for Teaching Family Homes for fourteen years, founded the ranch in 2007 because it combined her love of horses with her passion for helping kids. She has involved local youth groups as well as received referrals from agencies such as Teaching Family Homes and Great Lakes Recovery Centers. Gimse believes horses can provide an outlet for kids who need physical and emotional help.

"It provides a safe challenge,” she said. It teaches love. Horses give love and people need to feel loved.”

Gimse has seen this type of therapy work for many children, and tells a story about one child in particular.

"Laura was in the foster care system. She went into a foster home because of neglect and abuse in her family. She refused to talk; she just shut down. They took her to a farm for a school trip and she had this toy stuffed horse she brought along with her. When it was time to go home they couldn’t find her because she had climbed in to a horse stall and was sitting in the hay in front of the horse talking to it as it was eating. A staff member was so astounded to hear her voice that he stood there for a few minutes listening. When he told her it was time to go she got up and she said, ‘OK.’ He saw her stuffed animal up on the bales of hay and said, ‘Wait a minute,’ and she said, ‘No, I told him I’d leave it there for him.’ The communication, the vulnerability of both that little horse and this little girl, came together in a natural state and after that the kid started to prosper and grow.”

According to Gimse, the best thing her program does is build self-confidence and self-esteem.

"There’s nothing more exciting than seeing a child succeed and master the horse and have it do what they ask and communicate with it,” she said. “We had a little girl here who’s been in the foster care system, and she’s so bossy all the time nobody wants to play with her. But when she came here the bossiness transferred over to assertiveness when she was on the back of the horse. The girl is only six and her assertiveness gave her control over that horse that her peers did not have because they were not assertive. We saw in her a place to channel the control, and it was an appropriate way to use the control, and it made her far more popular with the other kids later because she wasn’t busy bossing them around. She had a horse out there to tell what to do.”

Emily Tapio, fourteen, of Republic, is one of the volunteers at the Solid Rock Ranch. She sums up simply why horses and humans can have such a connection.

"Horses are Special. They just help you,” she said.

At both of the camps, riders must take a few safety precautions. They have to wear a safety helmet, pants, and riding boots or good shoes.

At Willow Farms, the horse therapy takes place in an enclosed arena, while at the Solid Rock Ranch, riders may stay inside an outdoor fenced area, or may venture outside the fences depending upon the skills of the riders. For both programs, horses are selected and trained for a calm temperament and volunteers make sure that the riders are following all the rules and stay safe.

Whether it’s Solid Rock Ranch or Willow Farms, both programs strive to help children through their problems—whatever they may be—so they can grow and prosper as individuals. How each rider is helped by the horses may differ from person to person, but as each rider goes through the programs they may very well begin to understand the true meaning of how the outside of a horse can be good for the inside of a man.

For more details on the Willow Farms programs, visit wftriding.org.

For more on the Solid Rock Ranch programs, visit www.thesolidrockranch.com