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Local Farm to Begin Therapeutic Riding Program
05/06/09 - 04:36 PM
WMBB News Department
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Bay County, Fla:

For people with disabilities, horseback riding can be a way to grow physically and mentally. A program hasn’t been available in our area…

Until now.

Red Oak Farms in Youngstown has been providing horse training, boarding and riding lessons for several years but recently, owner Amy Pachucki decided to add a therapy program for the handicapped.

“That’s what I like to do is just help people,” Pachucki says, “So really adding therapeutic riding is just another layer of what we’re doing already.”

The idea to add therapeutic riding to their repertoire actually came from Pachucki’s two-year-old son while watching a children’s television show.
“There was a boy riding a horse on Sesame Street that was blind,” she remembers, “So I thought, we can do this, we can help people ride horses who don’t normally think they could.”

The instructors have been training under a program in Pensacola called Leaning Post Ranch, where instructors like Teri Pankhurst, who has a master’s degree in behavior analysis, got the opportunity to see firsthand the effects of riding therapy.

“I was just thrilled watching the children and seeing how therapeutic, how beneficial it is for them is very, very rewarding,” Pankhurst says.

“There was a gentleman there who had cerebral palsy and when he was on a general day he would be bent over, his arms would be up against his chest,” Pachucki remembers, “But when he rode he was up he was open his hands were down and he was proud of himself

They say it’s important for the instructors to go through proper training so that they’ll be able to best help each individual case.

“We individualize our techniques and our training and the horses to the children,” Pankhurst says.

But it’s even more important to desensitize the horses. They’ve been taken through a variety of activities including having balls thrown at them to make sure they’re ready for anything.

“We go through tight obstacles, we put stuff over their heads,” Pachucki says, laughing. “By the time we’re done they’re looking at us like we’re crazy, but they stand there and they’re like, okay, I can do this, and once nothing’s going to spook them then we can move on.”

They have horses of all sizes trained for therapy, from a gentle giant draft horse all the way down to a miniature donkey.

“Some people are going to need more cognitive things, like picking out certain colors,” Panchucki explains. “Some people are going to be working through more emotional things how horses react to them, how they react to the horse.”

They say the bottom line is to help others, even if it means working out a financial aid plan for people who otherwise can’t afford it. To help make the program possible for those who might need financial aid, they’re looking for sponsors and volunteers.

“Why we’re doing this is to help people, help people see things in themselves that they never thought they could do,” Panchucki says. “Our goal is to bring horses and people together for positive experiences.”

Red Oak Farms will be holding a general information meeting for anyone interested in the program this Friday, May 8th, at 6:00 p.m. at their stable at 3842 Jenkins Road in Youngstown.

For more information or an application, contact Red Oak Farms at (850)722-5400 or visit www.redoakfarms.net.

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