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Friday, May 18, 2012
Covering Dallas, Monmouth, Independence, Falls City and surrounding areas since 1868
Joe Downes gets a high-five from program director Kourtney Fjelland after making a basket while mounted on Red, a therapy horse at Love Reins Ranch in West Salem. Also pictured are founder and executive director Katie Evans, far right, and volunteer Beth Dougherty.
February 15, 2012
WEST SALEM -- Joe Downes is ready for his first horseback ride.
He has his boots, jeans and plaid shirt on, the latter underneath a warm hooded jacket to shield against a bitterly cold winter afternoon in the hills west of Salem.
Joe, who is autistic, eagerly awaits his turn on Red, one of four horses at Love Reins Ranch, a nonprofit equine therapy center that offers free sessions to people with special needs.
Daniel Walker, Joe's foster parent, said Joe was looking forward to his first ride for days and insisted on dressing the part.
"He was adamant that he had to go get cowboy boots and a cowboy shirt," he said. "He's only been out here two or three times, but he talked about it for several days leading up to it. It's definitely something he looks forward to. It's not like you get excited days in advance to go see your counselor."
Love Reins Ranch owner Katie Evans and two ranch volunteers led Red to a raised platform where Joe waits. They help him ease into the saddle.
He's ready to go immediately.
"Go horse. Walk," he said, seconds after placing his feet in the stirrups.
Joe, 11, laughs and chats with Evans and the volunteers throughout his ride around the ranch's outdoor arena.
At the end of his session, Joe pats Red on the neck before leaving the arena. The first ride lived up to his expectations.
"It was good," he said. "I like to ride. He's a fun horse."
Walker brought Joe to Love Reins in search of a better therapy method.
"It's hard to find traditional therapy that works for him," Walker said. "He's always done really well with animals.
"It might be able to reduce some of the stress and anxiety he feels."
Love Reins Ranch has been offering therapeutic riding since 2009, three years after Evans' family acquired the property.
"We took the first three years we were here before we even opened to get the horses trained and ready to do what they do," Evans said. "They all come from various backgrounds."
The four horses in the barn -- Red, Roxy, Hawkeye and Duchess -- are former rodeo, search and rescue team, show ring and lessons horses. Hawkeye, the newest horse in training, was an "actor" who appeared in movies such as "Braveheart" and "The Hunted" before being donated to the ranch in December.
10-year-old Lacey Avants can't contain a smile as she laps the arena accompanied by Dougherty, Fjelland and Evans, from left.
Working alongside the horses are the ranch's dedicated volunteers. They tend to the horses, assist during client sessions, and lead art activities when the weather is too ugly outside for riding. Love Reins volunteers strive to make every part of the session fun.
It isn't just the clients who are learning, though.
"The kids ... they love life and that makes me love life," said 15-year-old volunteer Molly Edison. "Being here shows me how great they can be and how much they can grow and progress."
For Evans, owning the ranch and being able to offer free therapy sessions has been a longtime goal.
"Since I was a little girl, I've dreamed of putting animals and people together, but specifically horses and people with disabilities," she said. "I don't know where that came from, but it's always been there."
Her family -- husband Craig, daughter Courtney and son Caleb -- have helped make her vision a reality.
Evans' dream has been a gift for the families who have discovered the small West Salem ranch.
Walker, who works for Marion County Developmental Disability Services, said foster parents don't have a lot of extra resources for therapy and budget cutbacks may reduce that even more. Places like Love Reins can help fill the gap.
"It's cool to see a nonprofit do something like this," Walker said. "I think for the longest time kids with disabilities were overlooked, as though they didn't need special resources."
Scott and Heidi Eberz said their son, Gage, who has a severe form of autism, has improved his speech and has slept better after just a few sessions with Red.
"After his first ride he slept for 10 hours that night," Scott Eberz said. "He's much more mellow. It's incredible."
Once on the horse, Gage, 9, becomes visibly calmer, even sleepy, as Evans leads him in circles around the arena. Scott Eberz compares the effect riding has on his son to "a runner's high."
"He's just so happy," he said as he watched his son circle the arena. "We just can't get that out of him normally."
Evans isn't sure what it is about equine therapy that produces such astounding results, but she believes it may stem from the relationship horses have with people.
"The horses connect very emotionally to people," she said. "They don't care how somebody looks. They don't care how somebody acts. They don't care what clothes you are wearing."
Red, the oldest horse in the barn at age 35, seems to have found a "calling" in being a therapy horse. Not just because he is well trained to work with children with special needs, but for the connection he makes with them
Evans snugs up Joe Downes' riding helmet in the barn before a lesson as Roxy, left, watches.
Evans said she's seen it happen time and again, but one incident in which a client asked to see Red stands out in her mind. The client, a teenage girl, was going through a difficult time in her life and needed someone to listen.
"He just took one look at her and she started pouring out her heart to him," Evans said. "Her mom and I watched him take his head and neck and wrap (it) around her and hold her to him eight times in the 15 minutes she was here. It's like he absorbed her pain.
"We can do all the training to make them safe with the kids, but what they bring to the table is huge, too," Evans explained. "Them just being them and loving the children the way they do is pretty profound."
Love Reins Ranch:
Founder Katie Evans uses equine therapy methods established by the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH International). The nonprofit was founded in 1969 to promote therapeutic riding and other equine-assisted activities for people with special needs.
Contact: lovereinsranch@comcast.net.
You can help: Love Reins Ranch outdoor arena is uncovered, which means sessions are weather dependent. The ranch is in the process of collecting donations to buy a canvas cover, which will allow the ranch to offer sessions in all types of weather. Evans said the cover costs about $60,000 -- $10,000 of which has already been raised at a fundraiser sponsored by the Pentacle Theatre last fall.
For more information: www.lovereinsranch.com.
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