Therapeutic riding arrives in Westman

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This article was published 18/03/2021 (1857 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Westman’s first therapeutic riding program has started, and it might be what some people need right now.

With the COVID-19 pandemic hitting the one-year mark, Phoenix Ranch managing partner Mike Sitko said ongoing restrictions are wearing thin for many people.

“There’s an immense number of children right now developing emotional issues that are really complicating life for them,” he said. “There’s never been a better time to introduce therapeutic riding to Westman … It’s very unique.”

The woman behind the reins is Jessica Lawford, who founded BEND Therapeutic Riding, set to operate in partnership with Phoenix Ranch east of Brandon.

BEND, which stands for balanced equine nurtured development, officially kicked off its operations earlier this month when level red restrictions eased up enough.

In the Phoenix Ranch barn last week, with mares Rose and Winnie by her side, Lawford said there are other people in Westman who offer equestrian services that aim to echo therapeutic riding, but none headed by an instructor certified through the Canadian Therapeutic Riding Association as she is.

Alongside classes and examinations, she earned her accreditation through more than 100 hours of volunteer work with certified instructors.

“It’s fantastic that it’s gaining traction here now — more awareness,” she said. “We just need more instructors certified and practising.”

Therapeutic riding is tailored to individual needs, Lawford said, with some riders who might not have excelled in traditional equestrian classes or activities finding their footing in therapeutic riding.

“Traditionally, therapeutic riding began with more physical disabilities, so cerebral palsy for example — the movement of the horse simulates the natural walking gait of a human being,” she said.

“The horse movement, walking around, gives inputs to that rider’s body as though they were walking a walker’s gait.”

Behavioural and cognitive issues and disabilities are also addressed through therapeutic riding, she said, adding people who have autism are frequent participants.

“A lot of these kiddos come in with either a high level of anxiety or an inability to focus, and they’re not successful in completing what task they’re given.”

Horses, she said, “respond to the feeling state you show,” and participants “have to work very hard to regulate themselves and figure out how to work through the grooming process, the tack process — whatever we set up for them that’s attainable.”

Lawford grew up around horses and has been riding since she was five. She got her first horse, a gelding named Blue, on her 12th birthday.

Self-described as “crazy-obsessed” with horses, Lawford said with a chuckle she’d spend every day all day with them and live alongside in a barn if she had the chance.

Lawford credits horses with helping strengthen her emotional health by echoing whatever emotions she’s displaying, regardless of whether she’s conscious of them. In this sense, she said horses have always put up a mirror to her that allowed her to reflect on what she’s putting out.

“They’ll very quickly tell you that you’re not bringing calm, centred energy to it, and that reflected back to me and let me know I had some personal development that I had to do before I teach my partner something.

“They have always been incredibly beneficial to me, so for my personal experience and how much I’ve learned from horses and was comforted by them, I’ve always wanted to find something where I could share that with other people.”

Lawford, who’s still in the process of relocating to Brandon from Winnipeg, plans on testing the waters by hosting sessions one or two days per week for the first while, during which she will be connecting with local health professionals to see whether therapeutic riding might augment their treatments and/or therapy.

However it rolls out, Sitko said it’ll be something positive for the Westman community.

“We’re going to see kids’ lives change out of this process — that’s the biggest goal.”

More information on the effort can be found online at bendtherapeuticriding.com.

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB