“For the physically disabled riders, riding horses is the next best thing to actually walking,” said Sage Biale, a junior at Halleck Creek Ranch. “A lot of the riders go through life feeling less than everyone else, either because they’re mentally or physically disabled. Riding horses helps take away some of these limitations.”
Halleck Creek Ranch, which has partnered with the Marin 4H Council in Nicasio Valley to provide what they call a life without barriers to people with disabilities, runs the largest and oldest therapeutic horseback-riding program in the Bay Area.
“It’s great to see these kids away from their normal lives,” said Redwood sophomore and volunteer Jenna Wabeh. “One of the girls there that rides told me that when she’s in public she feels people looking at her like something’s wrong with her – that they act different. She’s no different than I am and it’s important for everyone, including, her to see that.”
Wabeh says that joining the program has since changed the way she looks at disabled people. Volunteers join the program with the impression that they are to be helping riders, but rarely know how much the riders will help them in return.
“Seeing the kids enjoy the program as much as they do first-hand when I’m there is exciting,” said Olivia Polletti, junior. “Once you start going, you get to know the riders and you just have to keep coming back.”
The more volunteers immerse themselves, the more bonds they form with riders in the program, many of whom come back every weekend.
“One time I was volunteering with a frequent rider named Shannon – her older sister decided to walk with me on the trails,” said Biale, explaining that Shannon was both physically and mentally challenged and had been in a wheelchair for all of her life.
“Shannon’s sister expressed nothing but gratitude towards me for giving up my Saturday to volunteer at Halleck Creek.” said Biale, “She told me that since Shannon had started riding she’d made remarkable improvements to her overall strength and coordination.”
Although she had been volunteering at the program for several years, the conversation struck a chord in Biale.
“It was amazing to see how big of an impact I had on a person’s life and it made giving up my Saturdays totally worth it,” she said.
