edward
06-17-2011, 06:21 PM
Organization promotes healing on horseback
David Kenney, right, greets Daisy, one of the horses at the North Carolina Therapeutic Riding Center.
N.C. THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER
The North Carolina Therapeutic Riding Center, at 4705 Nicks Road in Mebane, offers equine-assisted activities and therapies to children and adults with disabilities.
For 33 years, its staff and volunteers have had the pleasure of helping create stories like this one, told by executive director Sarah Shapard: "There is a young student, David Kenney, who is as cute as a button. He put his hand on Daisy's nose and didn't know the nose was usually moist. You should have heard the pure joy, giggles and laughter that followed. I think when you share this story, most people look at you and go, 'So?' but to the parents of exceptional needs children, these are small victories that translate into something bigger. It is incredible."
Rupert Issacson, a human rights activist, journalist, and writer who published "The Horse Boy" and debuted his movie of the same name in 2009. The book and movie chronicle how horses positively affected Isaacson's son Rowan, who has autism.
Isaacson, who lives in Austin, Texas, started riding at 10 and hasn't been out of the saddle since. Even before he saw what horses did to help his son, he knew of their power to transform humans.
Rowan was diagnosed with autism in 2004. Then he met his neighbor's mare, Betsy.
"He made it very clear he wanted to ride her," Isaacson said. "As soon as I put him up there he began to speak."
That same year, Isaacson brought a delegation of tribesmen from Africa to the United Nations.
"Some of them were trained healers in their culture and they offered to pray for Rowan," he said. "I said, 'Go ahead.' For a few days he began to lose some of his obsessive behaviors, so I thought, 'Okay, he's had a radical and positive reaction to the horse, a radical and positive reaction to the healers - where is there a place in the world that is a horse culture that also has this kind of shamanic healing? I did some research and found out that this place did exist - Mongolia."
So Isaacson and his wife, Kristin Neff, and Rowan made their way to Mongolia to ride horses and get assistance from the shamans there.
"The Horse Boy" shares the family's journey. The movie includes wisdom from autism experts including Temple Grandin, an author, professor and autism advocate who has high-functioning autism.
"Temple basically said that animals and autistic people both think in pictures," Isaacson said. "This gives them a kind of intellectual and emotional kinship that appears miraculous to outsiders and breeds amazing results in terms of learning to communicate."
The staff at the Therapeutic Riding Center see that kindship every day. Mary Beth Osborne, a physical therapist with the center for more than 20 years, said that riding is phenomenal therapy, both physically and emotionally.
"The reaction of our patients is so different than what we see in other clinical settings," Osborne said. "It is the smiles and them being motivated by the horse and situation. Mostly they just want to be there and be engaged."
She has a patient with a severe brain injury who cannot walk or dress himself.
"But he has the biggest smile when he is on top of the horse, riding," she said. "He looks forward to it, and it is something he never thought he could do after the injury. After each session he hugs his horse's face."
Shapard said, "At the end of the day our goal for the children and adults is to help them create active, healthier and more fulfilling lives, and the horses play a large role in doing this."
Deborah R. Meyer can be contacted ateloise@nando.com or at 942-3252.
David Kenney, right, greets Daisy, one of the horses at the North Carolina Therapeutic Riding Center.
N.C. THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER
The North Carolina Therapeutic Riding Center, at 4705 Nicks Road in Mebane, offers equine-assisted activities and therapies to children and adults with disabilities.
For 33 years, its staff and volunteers have had the pleasure of helping create stories like this one, told by executive director Sarah Shapard: "There is a young student, David Kenney, who is as cute as a button. He put his hand on Daisy's nose and didn't know the nose was usually moist. You should have heard the pure joy, giggles and laughter that followed. I think when you share this story, most people look at you and go, 'So?' but to the parents of exceptional needs children, these are small victories that translate into something bigger. It is incredible."
Rupert Issacson, a human rights activist, journalist, and writer who published "The Horse Boy" and debuted his movie of the same name in 2009. The book and movie chronicle how horses positively affected Isaacson's son Rowan, who has autism.
Isaacson, who lives in Austin, Texas, started riding at 10 and hasn't been out of the saddle since. Even before he saw what horses did to help his son, he knew of their power to transform humans.
Rowan was diagnosed with autism in 2004. Then he met his neighbor's mare, Betsy.
"He made it very clear he wanted to ride her," Isaacson said. "As soon as I put him up there he began to speak."
That same year, Isaacson brought a delegation of tribesmen from Africa to the United Nations.
"Some of them were trained healers in their culture and they offered to pray for Rowan," he said. "I said, 'Go ahead.' For a few days he began to lose some of his obsessive behaviors, so I thought, 'Okay, he's had a radical and positive reaction to the horse, a radical and positive reaction to the healers - where is there a place in the world that is a horse culture that also has this kind of shamanic healing? I did some research and found out that this place did exist - Mongolia."
So Isaacson and his wife, Kristin Neff, and Rowan made their way to Mongolia to ride horses and get assistance from the shamans there.
"The Horse Boy" shares the family's journey. The movie includes wisdom from autism experts including Temple Grandin, an author, professor and autism advocate who has high-functioning autism.
"Temple basically said that animals and autistic people both think in pictures," Isaacson said. "This gives them a kind of intellectual and emotional kinship that appears miraculous to outsiders and breeds amazing results in terms of learning to communicate."
The staff at the Therapeutic Riding Center see that kindship every day. Mary Beth Osborne, a physical therapist with the center for more than 20 years, said that riding is phenomenal therapy, both physically and emotionally.
"The reaction of our patients is so different than what we see in other clinical settings," Osborne said. "It is the smiles and them being motivated by the horse and situation. Mostly they just want to be there and be engaged."
She has a patient with a severe brain injury who cannot walk or dress himself.
"But he has the biggest smile when he is on top of the horse, riding," she said. "He looks forward to it, and it is something he never thought he could do after the injury. After each session he hugs his horse's face."
Shapard said, "At the end of the day our goal for the children and adults is to help them create active, healthier and more fulfilling lives, and the horses play a large role in doing this."
Deborah R. Meyer can be contacted ateloise@nando.com or at 942-3252.