More than horse play: Riding sessions therapeutic for those with special needs

Nov. 26--Eddie Brennan is all charged up. The hyper 4-year-old, who is autistic, has already charged through a puddle and writhes as his nanny struggles to remove his shoes and socks.

But when Brennan climbs on the back of Kattie, a dark bay therapy horse, something magical happens.

The kinetic little boy becomes like Jell-O, melting into the horse, contented and somehow soothed. He sits or lays on its back -- even rides backward. It's as if he has a connection to the horse.

For 25 years, the nonprofit Therapeutic Riding Center at the Huntington Beach Central Park Equestrian Center has offered riding therapies to people with special needs ranging from autism to epilepsy.

For much of that time, Donna Brandt, president of the group and the lead instructor, has been at the center of the action. A longtime horsewoman, Brandt became involved after her daughter, Jamie, was diagnosed as severely developmentally delayed.

Like many parents with challenged children, Brandt tried numerous activities and therapies to find one that engaged her child.

"We tried them all. This is the one she liked best," Brandt said. "She'll sit around all day and wait to go riding."

Parents and caretakers are almost unanimous -- there's something about horses. The relationships and bonds the children form with the animals can be transformative.

Katy Prill is all about drama, according to her father, David Gill. The 17-year-old, who has Down syndrome and recently recovered from leukemia, often tries to make big productions out of small things and can act out. But on this day, she hops right onto Wilma, a big bay, without any histrionics.

"Hey, dad, look at me," she calls out, waving.

"She's almost unrecognizable," Gill, 44, said of his daughter and her progress since becoming involved with therapeutic riding.

On the horse, Prill is focused and confident, two things lacking since her move from Redding, in Northern California, to Huntington Beach four years ago.

"When she came down, this was one of her first activities," Gill said. "She was very fearful."

On a warm, dusty day at the Huntington Beach Equestrian Center, parents talked about the self-confidence it gave the children. They feel the experience improves cognitive, physical, emotional and social well-being.

Brandt said people who use wheelchairs can build core strength by riding a horse. It also builds self-confidence. Brandt said something as simple as a change in perspective -- looking down from horseback rather than up from a chair -- can feel empowering.

Plus, the lessons are conducted outdoors and away from therapy rooms.

"This is one of the therapies (disabled people) don't give up on," Brandt said. "There's something about animals."

Gill said when his daughter plays softball or soccer, it is about the social experience. On a horse she is more purposeful.

"There's a maturity that comes with it," he said.

Brandt said insurance programs don't pay for riding as therapy, but she hopes that will change.

"It's becoming more mainstream. One of these days it will be accepted," she said. "I encourage everyone to file with their insurance. One of these days ...."

Karinna Barlow, 42, watches as her 9-year-old son, Leo, is led around the ring. He has a rare genetic defect called agenesis of the corpus callosum that affects the white matter that connects the hemispheres of the brain.

"We were trying so many things that we were overwhelmed with therapies," Barlow said. When Leo found horse riding, she described it as something akin to souls communing.

"It's so good to know there's always a way for them to participate in the world," she said. "You realize it's just in a different way."

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