I walked out one day this summer to turn off an irrigation valve in the hayfield. I knelt down, turned off the valve and straightened up again. I knelt down again just to check that I could do this. That was the first time I had knelt without pain for 15 years.
I have now been riding at the Creston and District Society for Community Living’s Therapeutic Riding Program (TRP) for three years. I started because all my joints were crippled and stiff from rheumatoid arthritis. Then I had two car accidents but I kept riding. Riding keeps me focused. I drive better after I ride. I think better. I walk straighter.
Everything at the therapeutic riding centre is well-organized. Christine Ross, my riding teacher says, “I look for two things, safety and enjoyment.” And she does. She notices everything. Checks everything. So riders at TRP can relax because they are safe and they can relax into pure concentration and enjoyment. The horses take their job seriously as well, they take care with their riders and they like to know they have done a good job. Each of the horses is an individual and each has his or her quirks and personality traits and they are matched with their riders accordingly.
The horses at the centre are carefully picked for their temperament, character and conformation. They must be in good shape, because they work hard, they must really like people, they must be gentle and well trained and, even so, it takes them about three years to really learn their jobs and adjust to the demands of working with so many different people with different physical and emotional abilities.
The horse I ride was given to me by my sister, who is a magic horse whisperer rider and a trainer, and is also the farrier for the Therapeutic Riding Program. She rescued him from a situation where no one had noticed him because he has an ugly head and neck. No one had noticed his strong body, his kind face, his need for warmth and attention. Whenever I get off him, he puts his head in my chest, wanting approval, wanting to know he’s done a good job. He and I are now in training to compete nationally as a para-equestrian dressage team. One judge was kind enough to call us “talented.”
Creston is extremely fortunate not only in the depth and strength and education of the riding instructors but in the number and skill of the volunteers that give their time and energy to the TRP. Some of the volunteers are also riders. Some are skilled horse people. Some lead horses. Some build pens and shelters. Some donate hay. Some merely come to take a favourite horse for a walk. Some people come because they love horses. And people. And children. There so are many ways to volunteer at TRP. When a child or adult with a disability is riding, they often require people to walk both beside them and to lead the horse. Many people begin riding with help and graduate to riding on their own. People cheerfully clean pens. Or saddle horses.
One of the truly amazing things to watch at TRP is the transformation that happens as people begin to bond with the horses, as their bodies strengthen, as they realize that they can ride on their own, as they straighten up, as their core muscles strengthen, as they get off a horse smiling and laughing, as such a simple thing as riding teaches them independence and confidence.
For example, Barbara West began initially volunteering at TRP because of an interest in working with children. She knew nothing about horses but she was attracted by the kind of joy she saw in the kids at TRP. Then she started riding herself, initially to help with her own balance issues caused by multiple sclerosis. She says she was “stunned” by how much riding unlocked frozen muscles in her body. As therapy, she practiced “centred” riding, which includes breathing and relaxation exercises. She began to realize how much the horse was a partner in her therapy.
“This was a huge shift for me.” she said.
Now she combines riding lessons, therapeutic riding and volunteer work.
“It’s such a whole picture,” she said. “It’s about normalizing disability, building on strength, trusting the wider community. TRP is about trust, joy, encouragement, and excellence.”
Michelle Whiteaway is one of the people who makes things work at TRP. While her official title is program director, she is also an instructor with the program, and she is also the person who is around when a horse or a rider needs something. Michelle is the person hauling hay, hauling poop, smiling, giving directions and in general making things work well, making everyone, horses and people, feel safe and happy.
Christine Ross, who is the head instructor and my teacher, has a knack for telling me just the right amount of information in each lesson so that each time I ride, both Caraigh and I learn one new thing. I was nervous when I started riding. I hadn’t been on a horse for years. I was tense and stiff and sore. Christine made me feel safe so that I could take joy in each ride.
Christine, who works as an architect in her other life, began teaching at the Therapeutic Riding Program as a way of using her riding instructor’s skills. She said it “blew me away” how much joy students took in their riding and how much progress people make.
TRP has four other highly qualified instructors as well: Peggy Hawes, Judine Maki, Shayla Leacock and Avis Hutchinson. It is absolutely astonishing to find this depth and level of qualification in therapeutic riding instructors outside the lower mainland. In addition, TRP has about 40 volunteers who volunteer in all different aspects of the program.
But for me, riding is more than exercise, more than therapy, more than competition, more than enjoyment. Riding, done well, for me, becomes something beautiful, a connection between my horse and myself, a balanced and mysterious beauty, where time slows and holds its breath, where my horse and I are suspended within a bubble of concentration, all of my body connected to his, listening to each other, moving in a perfect balance, an art of pitch perfect performance that falls apart even as we achieve it. I can’t imagine my life without it.
For more information about the program, call Michelle Whiteaway at 250-402-6793 or visit cdscl.com/trp.htm.
—BY LUANNE ARMSTRONG