Magic Moments - Therapy offers hope, help to disabled riders

DIAMOND, Mo. -- For the average 18-year-old, feeding a snack to a docile horse may not be a massive accomplishment. At Magic Moments Riding Therapy, Krista Sturgis offering a horse a cookie on a plastic frisbee is reason for celebration.

"She wouldn't get close to a horse," said Margaret Sturgis, of Redings Mill, who's been taking her daughter to this riding-therapy facility for about two years.

Though she still suffers from a number of physical and mental disabilities, Krista is now better able to relax, and no longer needs to wear the leg braces that she depended on for years. She can even manage to carry a saddle without much help. She still can't manage to climb onto the back of the small horse, but Sturgis is hopeful that her daughter will someday be able to tackle that and other tasks on her own.

Krista is one of the success stories that makes staff and volunteers beam at Magic Moments, located a few miles north of Diamond. The center works with individuals from age 3 to those in their 40s with a variety of developmental disabilities. People with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, autism, attention deficit disorder, and other disabilities pass through the doors every week of the white, metal building and are greeted by smiling faces and a gentle odor that smells, well, like a barn.

"What these horses can do for these kids is absolutely amazing," said Sarah Stuckey, a Pierce City resident who makes the trip to Magic Moments three or four times a week to volunteer with Krista and others. "No other therapy can touch it with a 10-foot pole."

Stimulating the brain

Though researchers continue to probe into the reasons behind the effectiveness of equine riding therapy, studies have shown that the movement of a horse helps stimulate brain activity, benefiting those with mental disorders.

Maintaining balance on a moving horse can help improve flexibility and muscle strength, and building relationships and bonding with the animals can help patients with emotional disorders to build better social skills.

Learning how to ride and control a horse can give people a sense of accomplishment, and build confidence in people who've been marginalized because of their disabilities.

Magic Moments' roughly 30 volunteers instruct the center's 24 riders in games and activities while on the backs of the horses, teaching them communication, listening and concentration skills. Everyone starts the hour-long session by brushing and saddling their horses, honing manual skills and encouragement to interact and build social skills with horses and volunteers.

Jeanne and Gary Brummet founded Magic Moments in 1988 after moving to the area and discovering that they couldn't find a riding-therapy facility to treat their daughter, Rachel, now 24. Treatment at a riding facility a few minutes from their home near Peoria, Ill., helped alleviate a number of behavioral problems and "a series of disasters" at school, Jeanne said.

The Brummets began volunteering at the treatment center near Peoria, and Gary eventually became a certified instructor. Gary's work schedule at a Joplin-area paper company limits Magic Moments to offering classes three evenings a week. The center's only certified instructor, Gary must be present at all therapy sessions. He's recently quit his job in the hopes of being able to grow Magic Moments' therapy schedule, and the Brummets hope to make the center their full-time job.

As James Bellairs of rural Joplin watched his son and daughter on the backs of two horses on a recent Monday night, he talked about his kids' behavioral improvements.

Jordan, a second-grader, is moderately autistic, and Sarah, a kindergarten student, is also displaying signs of a mental disability.

Since starting riding therapy about 18 months ago, Jordan has started spending more time in regular classes than in special-education instruction. Instead of language delays, streams of garbled words and agitated outbursts, Jordan's now better able to follow instructions, express his thoughts and control his emotions.

Another condition, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, makes it difficult for him to concentrate, but games and activities at Magic Moments have helped him practice focusing.

Bellairs smiled as he watched his kids do one of the evening's activities assembling the face of a Mr. Potato Head.

"He's learned to focus his mind," he said. "He's better than his dad."