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Riding horses is healthy. Anyone can do it if they put their minds to it — even special needs people with the help of the Lethbridge Therapeutic Riding Association.
“We provide therapeutic riding to special needs people,” said president Will Crust, who started volunteering with the organization in the Rainbow Riding Centre, located 6.5 kilometres east of Lethbridge on the Gaol Road (Secondary Highway 512), back in 2001.
They serve 60 clients per week, Monday through Friday, with the help of 16 “four-legged therapists,” under careful supervision of certified staff and dedicated volunteers.
The clients suffer from a variety of ailments including Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, MS and even Alzheimer’s disease. There are also amputees. They range in age from five to 65.
“Age doesn’t really come into it,” Crust continued. Clients come from all walks of life and all over southern Alberta including a few schools. They usually find out about the Lethbridge Therapeutic Riding Association, which was incorporated back on Feb. 7, 1977 and moved to its present location in the late ’80s, through numerous organizations which help special needs people.
“If they are physically able to they saddle their horses and clean them up afterwards after their ride. It’s all part of their therapy. They ride for 40 minutes and do a number of therapeutic exercises,” Crust continued.
The organization is affiliated with the Canadian Therapeutic Association, so trainers have to be certified by them.
They have a special lift on hand for those clients in wheelchairs or with mobility issues.
“When they ride, they exercise and strengthen their core muscles, the same muscles they’d use walking. Riding also strengthens their circulatory and respiratory systems,” Crust said.
He added there are also mental benefits.
“Just sitting on a horse and all of the sudden you’re looking above everybody else, it boosts your self-confidence and self-esteem,” he continued.
“They have better posture and better upper body strength. It expands and improves the quality of life. It’s something that they can do. ”
Most of all, riding is fun.
“If you exercise and enjoy it and chores are fun, then you will want to do them rather than if it is just a chore.”
Crust has always been interested in horses, back when he was living in the United Kingdom. So when he and his wife moved to Lethbridge, they saw an ad in the newspaper and decided to volunteer.
He was chosen president in 2004.
But, as a volunteer, he enjoyed watching the clients develop.
“We’d get kids here who would start bawling as soon as they get near a horse, and three weeks later, they’d be riding happily,” he said.
A lot of work goes into choosing the right horse for the job. Horses have to be even tempered enough to deal with clients who sometimes go through mood swings. Not every horse examined goes into the program.
“You do build up quite the relationship with the clients. When I stopped volunteering in 2004 because I got demoted to president, there was this little boy with Down syndrome who went through every room here looking for me, asking, ‘Where’s Will’ because he couldn’t understand why I wasn’t there,” he said.
“Another time, there was a boy with autism and they don’t like to make eye contact. But he looked me right in the eye and started speaking to me. It was all gibberish. I didn’t realize what it was but I looked at the aides and their jaws were on the floor,” he added.
Program co-ordinator Judy Pyne must adapt each day’s program to the needs of the clients.
They build on what each group has accomplished in the previous session, and will go from there. So it is different every day.
“It’s a challenge. Some time they might have had a bad day and might be in a bad mood and might not want to ride,” she said.
Pyne enjoys watching the clients
make advancements.
“It’s a very positive thing to see.”
Volunteer Karen Knight got involved with the program because she boards her horse at the Rainbow Riding Centre.
“When I turned 16 I had very little horse experience,” she said.
“But being involved has exposed me to a lot of different horses and a lot of different people. It’s a lot of fun.”
Rachel Bull, 17, has been involved with the program for a year and has been working with Knight for three sessions.
“I like riding by myself,” she said, adding she likes her horse Mescala.
“She’s a good horse. I like her.”
While there is a cost involved for the clients, Crust said the association keeps it to 15 per cent of what it costs them to run the programming, so they depend on fundraising, like a June 15 golf tournament, and The Tim Hortons Ride for Dreams and Live Auction, a fundraiser for the Lethbridge Therapeutic Riding Association, June 4. Weather permitting the ride will begin at noon at Pavan Park with breakfast being served all day long beginning at 10 a.m.
There will also be a live and silent auction to follow at the LTRA facilities. The fun ends at the association’s headquarters with dinner, music by Paul Elser followed by a concert at 7:30 p.m. with Trevor Panczak.
Doors open at 5 p.m.
For tickets to the supper, auction and concert, contact the LTRA at 403-328-2165.
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