4-H horseback riding is therapy for children with special needs

Smiles, laughter and physical therapy go hand-in-hand for special needs children participating in a 4-H horseback-riding program in Mendocino County.

The children are part of the TRAIL Project (Teaching Riding as an Access to Independence and Learning Project), developed by three 4-H youths 10 years ago. The program, in which disabled children and foster children visit weekly to ride horses, is conducted at Ridgewood Ranch, a spiritual community of 35 people on a working ranch where the previous owners raised the famous racehorse Sea Biscuit.

4-H volunteer leader Ellen Bartholomew coordinates the program.

“We are a 4-H family,” Bartholomew said. “I was a member in Colorado when I was a child. My kids have shown dairy cows, pigs and horses. It’s part of our lifestyle.”

Still, the 4-H members Bartholomew led wanted to do something more. They heard about therapeutic horseback riding and began to seek grants and donations to fund the program.

Some of the program’s special needs riders have Down’s syndrome, cerebral palsy, autism or other physical disabilities. The foster children benefit from the sense of pride and self-worth that comes from learning the new skill.

Riley, a boy with cerebral palsy, has a special place in Bartholomew’s heart, she said. His family was considering ligament lengthening surgery, a common treatment for children with cerebral palsy whose ligaments are rarely used and don’t stretch as the bones grow.

“Therapeutic riding has been a tremendous help to him,” Bartholomew said. “The movement of the horse, the warmth of bare back riding. Now we call him loosy goosy.”

Bartholomew said Riley previously was completely non-verbal, but now has a vocabulary of words, including “walk on,” “yippee ay yay,” and “Woody,” the name of the pony.

Mari, who suffered brain damage when a benign tumor stopped her heart at age 3, is a quadriplegic. 4-H member Mattie Piñon, an exceptional horseback rider, holds Mari on the horse.

“Mari gets on the horse and laughs her head off,” Bartholomew said. “She loves the horse and she loves riding the horse. She’s just charming. And Mattie is strong and patient. Nothing rattles her.”
A girl with Down’s syndrome, Ashley, started riding when she was 12. At the time, she needed people to lead the horse and walk on both sides to keep her safe.

“Now, at 17, she’s completely independent,” Bartholomew said. “She saddles the horse, rides the arena, takes trail rides. What might have taken another child a couple of lessons to learn took a couple of years for Ashley, but she did it!”

The program is equally beneficial for the 4-H members who help the disabled children. The younger ones start out as gate openers and manure movers. Eventually they become head walkers, leading the horse on a halter while the child holds the reins; or “side walkers,” staying alongside the horse for safety as it carries a disabled child. Some 4-H members serve as back riders, sitting on the horse right behind a disabled child with arms around the child’s waist.

“Some of the foster children who started as clients have learned how to be side walkers and helpers,” Bartholomew said. “It makes them feel so good about themselves. Instead of thinking about their own survival, for a time they get to experience what it’s like to help someone else. You see them change.”

The lives of Bartholomew’s own son, one of the program’s founders, was greatly influenced by his participation in the TRAIL program. He was deeply moved, she said, when he was a side walker for Larry, a client with Down’s syndrome. “Larry asked him, “Why would God make me have Down’s syndrome? I’m nice to everybody.’ Dan never got over it,” Bartholomew said. Today, Daniel, 22, is a physical therapist in San Diego.

Another founding member, Amy Sweringen, 25, recently graduated from college and now has a job with the Good Will Industries finding jobs for disadvantaged people. The third founder, Erin Livingston, 21, is a veterinary technician.

Linda Edgington, the 4-H Youth Development advisor in Mendocino County, considers the TRAIL project a triumph.

“It has had a profound impact on the lives of the special needs children by giving them freedom and confidence along with painless physical activity,” Edgington said. “And TRAIL has instilled a sense of responsibility and compassion in those that serve the riders. These are 4-H goals, and with this program, we are achieving our goals.”

(September 2003)

Feature Story Archive