How to help
Tax-deductible donations may be made to “Bridge Riding for the Disabled Inc.,” 743 W. Pekin Road, Lebanon, OH 45036.
For more information or to volunteer, call program director Pat Howe at (937) 654-4693 or e-mail her at howe.pm@earthlink.net.
LEBANON — “Walk on, Corey,” 11-year-old Claudia Hawke of Mason commands as she clutches the reins of the Haflinger draft pony.
The girl, who is deaf in one ear and has a hearing impairment in the other, wasn’t talking when she started the therapy riding lessons more than four years ago. She was only using sign language, her father Jon Hawke said.
Now she’s chatting up a storm with Corey, as well as the three volunteers at her side during the hour-long lesson at Bridge Riding for the Disabled.
“It really builds her confidence,” her father said of Claudia, who also has a disorder that causes low muscle tone.
During the session, the girl demonstrates her skill weaving the horse through a series of orange cones.
“Show me how well you can steer,” said Pat Howe, who runs the program with her husband, Bill, at their private West Pekin Road horse farm.
Dr. Alison Crocker of Bellbrook got her 6-year-old daughter, Dasha, who has cerebral palsy, involved when she was 3. Croker thought horse riding would be a fun, therapeutic escape for Dasha from all her doctor appointments.
“I’m a veterinarian, and she’s ridden a horse more than I have,” Crocker said.
All of the riders experience one or more physical, cognitive or sensory disabilities such as cerebral palsy, blindness, hearing impairment, multiple sclerosis or autism.
Seventy-five percent of the students are younger than 18, and most are between the ages 4 and 12. Lessons are tailored to meet individual needs.
Only the most obedient horses are chosen.
“They really have to be bomb proof,” said Howe, a former executive with Relizon Company who has a master’s degree from Antioch University McGregor. She said managing a not-for-profit organization is different than the corporate world because there are currently no paid employees, only volunteers. It’s not even a paid position for Howe, who hopes to make the program sustainable long-term. The $40 lesson charge helps feed the horses.
The program is gearing up for a Sept. 12 ride-a-thon to raise money and help the program grow so it can serve more riders. About 10 people are on a waiting list to participate in the program, which operates with the help of more than 100 volunteers.
Near the end of the lesson, the three riders use their muscles and fine motor skills to groom their horses by brushing them and tying ribbons or putting hair clips on their manes.
“You look like an angel,” Claudia tells Corey, before parading the horse around the arena.
Laura Hawke said this has given her daughter a sense of pride.
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