Horse-back riding offers therapy

By DANIELLE LYNCH

Mary and Ron Jones said that after only a few months of therapeutic horseback riding, their autistic grandson, Nicholas Scali, could speak more words.
Scali, 8, of Newtown Square in Delaware County, has been attending therapeutic horseback riding lessons at Reins of Life since April.
“This child said nothing,” Mary Jones said. “He’s happy here.”
The riding has helped teach Nicholas how to say commands such as halt and walk. He also laughs more often, his grandparents said.
Lora Steward, Scali’s riding instructor, said riding is therapeutic for children with special needs. She said she’s seen progress in children through the interaction they have with the staff.
“Physically, it helps them and strengthens muscle,” Steward said. “It literally uses every muscle and the horse is counteracting movements in the person’s body.”
And for some children, the horseback riding provides for a social setting.
“They are stars here,” Steward said.
Reins of Life Founding Director Judy Freedman said that therapeutic riding improves the children’s quality of life.
“It helps in every which way - physical, mental, emotional and educational,” Freedman said.
Founded 15 years ago, Reins of Life had been operating in West Caln. Recently, Chester County Parks and Recreation granted Reins of Life permission to lease five-plus acres of the 650 acres at Wolf’s Hollow Farm in Atglen, Freedman said.
Similar to other therapeutic horseback riding places in the county, Reins of Life helps children and young adults with special needs including spina bifida, Down syndrome, autism, cerebral palsy, speech, vision and hearing disabilities.
Hope Springs Equestrian Therapy located in the Malvern and Chester Springs area, was founded 11 years ago by Elaina Shaffer.
Program director Jana Kent-Dewald said Hope Springs provides therapeutic riding on a one-on-one basis only.
“There’s an incredible sense of independence,” Kent-Dewald said, adding that it helps build confidence and establish relationships.
In addition to riding in the ring, the children ride on trails, too, Kent-Dewald said. Therapeutic riding allows disabled children to be like any other student, she said.
Thorncroft Therapeutic Horseback Riding in East Goshen was founded 39 years ago on Quaker beliefs, according to Director of Operations Sallie Dickson. The lessons at Thorncroft include a mixture of disabled children and adults with typical children and adults, according to Dickson.
“Because that’s how the real world works,” she said.
Dickson said that “as the horse is walking, it’s the only ‘instrument’ that totally recreates the motion of walking – your body will mirror their body,” she said.
Quest Therapeutic Services based in West Bradford was founded 12 years ago, according to its president and founder, Sandy McCloskey. In addition to therapeutic riding group lessons, Quest offers one-on-one hippotherapy for children.
Therapeutic riding teaches adapted riding skills to children with special needs, McCloskey said. And hippotherapy teaches improved function such as how to go up and down steps, or use playground facilities.
Hippotherapy is also covered by medical insurance because it’s considered physical therapy whereas riding is not, McCloskey said. Quest is currently conducting research on hippotherapy with DuPont Hospital and Widener University, according to McCloskey.
“It’s a combination of a therapist’s skills and movement of the horse that causes the outcome,” McCloskey said.

For more information about Reins of Life, visit http://www.reinsoflife.com/.
For more information about Hope Springs Equestrian Therapy, visit http://hope-springs.org/.
For more information about Thorncroft Therapeutic Horseback Riding, visit http://www.thorncroft.org/.
For more information about Quest Therapeutic Services, visit http://www.questtherapeutic.com/.

To contact staff writer Danielle Lynch, send an e-mail to dlynch@dailylocal.com.