Yee haw!
Horses gallop and clients smile while riding the “Shea Way”. Shea Center is a non profit riding center for kids and adults with disabilities. Shea uses equine horse therapy to give others joy and improve health. This equine therapy center has been open since 1978 and is one of the top equine centers in the world.
The Shea Center serves many clients with social, emotional and physical challenges. Riders at shea tend to struggle with mobility, autism and depression. Therapists at the Shea Center give people with mobility challenges opportunities to move again through the horses.
Highly trained staff and volunteers lead their clients to success with a series of lessons and exercises. Shea Center volunteers go through extensive training and continue to take on new roles as they engage with the center. Volunteers start as sidewalkers, which walk beside the clients as they ride the horse, then they can work their way up to other volunteer positions.
“I sidewalk with the kids and I am getting certified to work in the barn and tack horses,” saidSJHHS student Zoe Campbell.
At the beginning of the therapy process, a client is matched with a therapist, a leader and sidewalkers. Therapists specialize in client treatment, leaders are in charge of the horse during the lesson, and two sidewalkers stay on either side of the rider for security. Barn crew and leaders will prepare horses for their client prior to their session.
The Shea Center runs a summer camp for kids and clients that is open to the public. They run a series of barn activities, crafts and riding. The main attraction is teaching kids how to get on horses and ride them as well as doing special tricks on them. The kids make new friendships and memories while riding “the Shea Way”.
“We put our riders on the horse’s body which gets over 3,000 repetitions in a minute. This allows clients to get the same movement. Their pelvis moves similar to a horse’s pelvis,” explains volunteer services manager Michele Gingras.
The repetitive movement is therapeutic for patients with bodies that aren’t able to move that much. It provides motor and sensory input to affected areas and helps develop muscle tone, coordination, and balance.
Staff and volunteers transform the lives of their clients through horseback riding. Clients form a strong connection with their volunteers as well as other riders in the arena. Riding horses makes their clients feel independent and happy as well as learn important life skills.
“My favorite thing about Shea is seeing the smiles on the kids’ faces when they get on the horse and get used to riding. Just hearing them be so happy gives me a lot of joy,” said Campbell.
Shea Center continues to assist adults and children every day with their equine services. So many clients have benefited and even improved their health by attending the Shea Center.
