When Solvang resident April Vossler retired as a speech therapist three years ago, she needed something worthwhile to fill her newfound free time. With a history of working with children, and as a former horse owner herself, she found her calling with the Santa Ynez Valley Therapeutic Riding Program, a nonprofit group providing equine therapy to youth and adults.
These days, Vossler spends about two hours weekly grooming, feeding, and leading the horses around a circular arena, as students with special needs take to the saddle for exercise and enjoyment.
“It’s pretty phenomenal to see kids get so animated,” Vossler said. “Even if they don’t have words, I can see their faces light up when they’re on the back of a horse. It’s just really meaningful for me. I always go home with a story to tell.”
In the ring at the Santa Ynez Valley Equestrian Center, atop a horse named “Red,” rode 28-year-old Amanda McCorkle. Blind and learning to walk again after a stroke, McCorkle has been a part of the program for the past year.
Her mother Kerie said she was originally drawn to the program for its potential physical benefits for her daughter, but soon saw horseback riding was equally, if not more impactful, on Amanda’s mental attitude.
“Taking physical therapy at a physical therapy unit place, they just try to get you up and stand, and walk. All that kind of stuff is intense and stressful. This is relaxing, and it works,” she said. “The more she relaxes, the more her legs stretch out. Then, she reaps the benefit of that.
“She wants to come here because it gives her the same benefits as physical therapy, but it’s all just positive,” McConkle continued. “It makes her happy. It gives her something to get up and think about.”
Though her daughter couldn’t be medically cleared to ride right away, Kerie began volunteering for the group about a year ago. She started by “mucking” the stalls and feeding the horses, eventually learning to groom and saddle them. She learned to lead the horses, too, and says the experience has made her and her family more upbeat and optimistic.
“After the first day that I was here, I thought, ‘I will do this forever,’” McConkle said. “It changes people’s lives in such a positive, casual way that it’s kind of an unspoken good deed. You feel like you’re doing it for yourself, but really the person that’s riding the horse is getting something out of it.”
The Santa Ynez Therapeutic Riding Program started in 1990, in the backyard of its current president, Mary Ann Evans, a Santa Barbara psychologist. The program, an offshoot of the Hearts Adaptive Riding program, moved to the nonprofit Equestrian Center in 1999.
Today, it serves about 70 special needs students six days each week; among them are private clients and youth from special education classes at Solvang School and Santa Ynez High School, the Solvang Friendship House retirement home, and the Los Prietos Boys Camp for at-risk youth. Therapy consists of two programs: therapeutic riding and mental health classes for incarcerated youth and trauma victims. Three-quarters of the students are younger than 18, and for most, riding is the only recreational activity and source for social interaction in their lives.
For people with disabilities, according to the group’s Executive Director Robin Serritslev, horseback riding increases core strength and flexibility, wards off depression, and helps make friends.
“A lot of our students when they start off can only sit up for a couple minutes at a time, and then after a couple months they can sit up for a half-hour,” Serritslev said. “That translates to their everyday life. For autism, they learn to communicate. It’s a powerful motivator.”
Students can stay in the program as long as they want, and are given individually tailored lesson plans that are reviewed after every lesson. Organizers also meet annually with parents or caregivers to determine future goals—not just in riding, but in other aspects.
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Jane Overbaugh, a board member and volunteer for the group, said that over the past two years she’s witnessed firsthand the value of equine therapy for people with emotional or physical challenges, such as autism or cerebral palsy.
“It’s so nice to see people with physical impairments loosen up or have more mobility just because they’ve spent some time on the horse,” Overbaugh said. “It’s wonderful to watch, and it’s fun to meet the students and get to know them. It’s just rewarding to do this kind of thing. I probably get more out of it than they do on some days.”
About 80 volunteers a year cycle though the Boys’ Camp, a juvenile home for teenage boys on San Marcos Pass. The boys are offered the chance to participate in the program for good behavior and are split into groups to take turns training and helping out in the horse stalls. Their goal is to stay in the program for eight weeks, while they participate in mental health sessions in addition to horsemanship–mucking, cleaning water troughs, and walking alongside horse and rider.
Santa Ynez Valley resident Adam Cameron, 18, ended up in Boys Camp for possession of a stolen motorcycle. For the past two months, he’s been cleaning out stalls, watering horses, and side-walking for three to four hours each week.
With a ranch-hand background, Cameron said he feels relaxed when he’s out at the Center and considers the ability to donate his time a privilege.
“Our little bit of help helps them quite a bit, and it’s fulfilling,” he said. “We get the benefit of helping others. You can go from working with horses to helping people and doing anything.”
According to Serritslev, the group currently has 55 volunteers and needs more, especially on Fridays, a day recently added to meet increasing demand. Volunteers are tasked with caring for and feeding the horses—which are largely donated or leased from ranchers in the area—as well as fundraising efforts. They’re also trained one-on-one to lead the horses around the arena and walk alongside the student. No background with horses or special needs children is necessary, but volunteers must be able to walk in the arena for up to an hour.
“It’s good if you can lift 30 pounds if you help with the saddling, but some people can’t,” Serritslev said. “There’s something for everybody to do, but we’re looking for strong people that can help with our adult clients and some of the more physical aspects of what we do.”
Overbaugh, who volunteers about three to four hours each week at the Center, encouraged anyone with the ability and the time to consider signing up.
“It’s a wonderful program and you really will get back more than you give,” she said. “If you like horses, and you like people, the combination’s just a beautiful thing, and if you like watching people’s quality of life changed by what you’re doing, it’s a great place to be.”
Staff Writer Jeremy Thomas thinks to err is human, to forgive, equine. Contact him at jthomas@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 12-19, 2012.
