Horses help disabled students grow during sessions

Therapeutic riding approach breaks through to students on cognitive and physical levels

JESSICA JOHNSON
The Post and Courier

Mount Pleasant Moultrie Middle School student Andrew Patterson’s goal is to just sit up straight on his horse. Sidewalkers Sarah Hinson (left), a Rein & Shine program coordinator, and instructor Liz McCool assist Andrew while volunteer Susan Mincey (right) leads Dutch.

In the clearing of a pine forest, riding somewhere behind the withers of a horse, disabled children measure success in small bits.

For Awendaw's Rein & Shine therapy riders, success might be a motion with the reins or just pursing the lips to make a W, the beginning of the words "walk on" or "whoa."

During a recent session, Rein & Shine instructor Liz McCool stands in the middle of Moultrie Middle School students shouting encouragement as they are led on horseback through a pasture.

Each week, students pick up a new lesson depending on their skill level. By the end of the program, students should be able to command a horse by speaking short commands, steer to the left or right and pull back on the reins to make them stop.

The students with disabilities including Down syndrome, autism and cerebral palsy look forward to their weekly lesson, said teacher Lana Carcamo.

McCool encourages Andrew Simons to pull the reins, urging his horse to weave through PVC pipe. He hears the instruction, but it takes him several seconds to process the information. Eventually he gets it, raising the reins.

Somehow, learning to ride a horse breaks through to students, some of whom are nonverbal, in a way classroom lessons do not.

Stuart Foss, Rein & Shine's executive director, said the sway of the moving horse and ensuing efforts to maintain balance stimulate riders' brains.

"There's something cognitive that happens," Foss said.

Neuroscientists theorize that one part of the brain is so excited that it stimulates surrounding areas. Neurons fire and new pathways form.

And it leads students such as Taylor Robinson, an autistic child with severe cognitive delays, to speak on command or at least try to.

Students in the class break into small groups so they ride with students of similar abilities. Andrew Patterson takes the saddle alone. Cerebral palsy and scoliosis cause him to sit hunched over in the saddle. His goal is to simply sit upright.

"Riding is more physical for him," Foss said.

Foss and her program coordinator have been assisting with the lessons for the most part because the organization lacks the volunteers it needs. The nonprofit operates on a budget of about $207,000, with half that amount coming from an annual barn raiser scheduled Oct. 25.

Moultrie Middle School students are nine of about 60 area riders who participate in therapeutic riding lessons offered on a sliding-fee scale, but most take advantage of scholarship opportunities.

Rein & Shine board member Scott Patterson, Andrew's father, placed his son in a riding program after moving to the area from Washington, D.C. He knew of the therapeutic benefits but would do it solely for the activity.

"It gives disabled kids an opportunity to have an experience of (their) own. ... They get to participate and be a part of the barn environment," Patterson said.

That sentiment rings true with many parents, Foss said. Parents tell her, "This is the sport that that child can do."

Reach Jessica Johnson at 937-5921 or jjohnson@postandcourier.com.