Serving Special Needs Through Therapeutic Horseback Riding in the High Country

Terry Forman said she sees many of her students gain independence and confidence through horsemanship that carries over into other parts of their lives.

Therapeutic horseback riding instructor Terry Forman specializes in group and individual lessons for clients with special needs.

Like the majority of people who choose this rewarding yet not exactly lucrative profession, Forman — a certified therapeutic riding instructor through the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) — works as an independent contractor for stables that provide these services.

And like many of her peers drawn to help people with developmental, cognitive or physical challenges through connecting with horses, Forman’s bond with the four-legged beast goes back to childhood, even before her parents brought a real one home for her.

A young student gains confidence.

“I was fascinated by horses when I was young,” she said. “All my toys were horse stuff, and I used to have invisible horses.”

Actually, she confides, “They’ve always been with me.”

Following college, the Stone Mountain, Georgia, native moved to Colorado, and her career path invariably included one foot on the riding trail or in the ring. She worked and volunteered as a wrangler, leading group rides in Vail, Boulder and Nederland, Colorado.

Five years ago, following PATH training and residence in a six-week intensive course at High Hopes Therapeutic Riding in Old Lyme, Conn., Forman decided to make teaching horseback riding to the differently abled a full-time gig (she now also serves as a mentor to others seeking PATH certification).

“I love doing what I do,” she said. “Most people don't have it as their main source of income. It's not like we're making a bunch of money.”

Forman said that just as it takes a certain demeanor to do the work, it also requires a special kind of animal, a combination of calmness, presence, intuition and non-judgment. While at least the latter two attributes may come naturally to horses, she said, such is not always the case with humans.

Horses provide both physical and emotional therapy for children coping with the challenges of debilitating illness.

Equine Assisted Therapy includes a host of treatments to promote physical and mental health. Hippocrates first discussed the therapeutic value of riding horses in around 400 B.C. Fast forward to the mid-20th century, when Liz Hartel of Denmark and her horse took the silver at the 1952 Olympic Games despite the rider being paralyzed from polio (that also made her the first woman in any sport to win a medal competing in any field against men). Doctors took notice.

The North American Riding for Handicapped Association was founded in 1969 and became PATH International in 2011.

“As instructors, we are expected to know about disabilities,” Forman said.

“We teach horseback riding to people who have special needs, or a disability or some neurodivergent need.”

Many clients, most but not all of them children and adolescents, are on the spectrum for autism, she said.

“Instead of saying ‘autistic,’ we say ‘on the spectrum,’ because it's so huge, that term, and the diagnoses are very broad.”

Forman stressed the importance of being cognizant of and sensitive to terms clients might find demeaning or disempowering.

“If a term is a trigger for somebody and there's a better term that they prefer, then we try to use that term.”

Sensitivity to language and labels is becoming more mainstream, she said, which is a good thing.

“When you say ‘disability,’ it sounds like you're defeated, that's just kind of to me the way the way it sounds,’” Forman said. “‘Special needs’ ... You can have all kinds of special needs.”

Like being treated as an equal, she said.

“Everyone is treated just like everybody else when they come to the stables, and we have adaptive equipment to help them be able to ride safely,” Forman said. “And we teach riding skills just like anybody else learns riding skills in a riding lesson, and horsemanship. ... A lot of our participants will learn how to care for the horses.”

Horseback riding can be a great equalizer, says therapeutic riding instructor Terry Formam, and help clients coping with neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis regain strength and balance.

Volunteers are also central to programs at Miracles Therapeutic Riding Center in Lafayette, Colo., and Horses Make Miracles in Longmont, Colo., Forman said. She freelances at both centers and runs a Pony Power riding camp at the latter.

“We have groups that come out on buses to volunteer, and they help do stable tours and do some things that help care for the program.

Volunteers and others may also serve as “side walkers” to help support people who might have a physical challenge making it difficult to maintain balance on a horse, at least initially.

The intention is always the same for everyone, Terry said: a safe lesson with an objective goal.

“Something as simple as for the student to walk independently between two cones each direction, and that's the objective for the whole lesson, and that's what you work toward. It could be (to) complete the obstacle course with verbal assistance. But it's a measurable objective that we give in the lesson.”

While equine-assisted therapy has taken a foothold to assist with a range of human challenges from cognitive to physical to developmental — cerebral palsy, attention deficit disorder and behavioral tics, to name just a few — hard data supporting the efficacy of these programs dates to only around 2007.

There’s a theory that because horses evolved with humans — carrying them to market, across prairies and into battle — the genera equis and homo are genetically hardwired to understand each other.

Forman — similar to people who work with horses in the mental health arena — said the rhythmic movement of a horse under the rider, or just being around the calm and gentle beasts, is often transformative for clients.

And the partnership can provide a level of freedom never before experienced.

“Riding horses gives people an opportunity to be independent with their horse,” she said. “What a gift to ride across a field when your life is spent in a wheelchair.”

Lancaster Farming’s Mid-Atlantic Horse tells the stories of horses and their people. Big and small horses; fast, slow, harness, carriage and farm horses; wild horses, donkeys, mules, mustangs and more. Mid-Atlantic Horse covers the wide world of the genus Equus. And for every horse story, there are many more about the people who live so closely with their horses.

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Digital Content Editor

Dan Sullivan is the Digital Content Editor for Lancaster Farming and a former editor and writer for the Rodale Institute’s NewFarm.org and Organic Gardening and Biocycle magazines. He can be reached at [email protected] or 717-428-4438.