St. Louis program matches disabled children, gentle horses

ST. LOUIS -- A new program in suburban St. Louis uses gentle horses to help disabled children live more independently.

"Therapeutic horsemanship" is giving 15 children new focus and skills. Their partners are two silky quarterhorses and a bay-colored thoroughbred that live at Longview Farm Park, a rolling area of forests and fields, which opened last fall.

The children take 30-minute riding and therapy sessions each week. The horses walk slowly around the arena as the children ride, sitting or reclining. The children work on their balance and head control and on standing and reaching. A therapist walks or rides with each child, depending on each one's skills.

Access Able, a nonprofit group that teaches people with disabilities to live more independently, started the program a few weeks ago. The program pairs these gentle horses with children such as 7-year-old Ryan Brooks, who has a physical disability called spinal muscular atrophy, which is related to muscular dystrophy.

The children in the program have different types of conditions, from autism to cerebral palsy. One adult, a woman with head trauma, also is taking part. Two children have learned to walk a few steps on their own since they began riding.

"The kids are taking to it very well," said George McFatrich, a board member of Access Able and director of the horse program. "The kids don't realize it's therapy. For them, it's just fun."

On Sept. 20, the community will have the opportunity to meet the horses and the staff and become acquainted with Access Able.

Already, visitors to the park have "adopted" the horses, and adults and children alike come to the edge of the paddock to pet them.

"Kids will come up and say, 'Hi, Willie, hi, Ruby,"' said Sandy Brooks, who is Ryan's mother, executive director of Access Able and a pediatric physical therapist. "Everybody can be involved. It's become the cool new thing to do."

Selected for their sweet tempers and gentle ways, these horses are well-suited to their task. Willie, who is 17, is a retired racer from Fairmount Park. Ruby worked previously as a therapy horse, and Smokey, the newest to arrive at the park, has been in training for the past 18 months. The horses are buddies and like to stand side by side in the meadow. Sometimes they saunter up to greet the children.

The suburban community of Town and Country leases the facilities to Access Able in exchange for improvements to the barn and pasture.

The 1898 wooden stable has taken on a new life after more than a year of standing empty.

About two dozen volunteer teenagers, mostly from Town and Country, muck the stalls and keep them clean. Lyn Schoch, 13, said she likes to groom the horses and get them ready for riding. "I love horses, and this is an opportunity to be with them," she said.

Longview Farm Park is home to a large and elegant colonial-style farmhouse that Access Able would like to convert into a model of accessible housing. That idea has met with a mixed reaction in the community and will be taken up again soon by the City Council.

The city did grant permission to Access Able to start the therapeutic horse programs.

"It's a treat for the horses and a treat for the kids," said McFatrich. "It's a lot of work starting up a program, but it's worth it just to see the looks on the kids' faces."