A Typical Day Volunteering
When you start a blog, you sit here staring at your computer at the daunting task of writing “the first post”. I have so much to say and so much on my mind about this that I almost do not know where to begin. I have given you the technical “What is Equine Therapy” in the pages section, so I thought I would start off telling you what a typical day is like volunteering at FTEA.I arrive about 9:00 a.m. and there is the hustle and bustle of volunteers arriving, horses being brought in and a lesson going on that is a part of the stable that FTEA borrows the barn space and arena from. I walk into the office and input my time into the computer, say hi to everyone, grab a name tag and look at the clip board to see which horses need to be groomed and tacked for that day.
We start out making sure the horses are all in their stalls from their pasture and we groom. Grooming a horse is so important because its time spent with them; it’s the taking care of them that is so crucial to the relationship with a horse. When I groom, I talk to them, I pet them, I find out where they particularly like getting brushed and I try to spend as much time as I can. Truth be told, a true horse lover could just spend all day doing just this, but there is a lot to be done on a Saturday to get ready for lessons, so you must be quick!
Then we tack the horses that are to be used at least in the first two lessons. Tacking simply means putting on the saddle and bridle. Once they are tacked and ready we can pull into the arena, the horses that are going to be used for the first lesson.
At 10:00 the first lesson begins. Each person there to ride is mounted individually from a mounting ramp with the aid of the instructor, sometimes the parent, and a volunteer “side walker” or two. Most of the kids in the first lesson are quite independent and only need minimal help getting up on the horse.
For a child with a disability to ride a horse, it sometimes takes a few volunteers. First, there is the horse leader. This is the person whose sole responsibility is to the horse. They have the horse on a lead rope and will help the person on the horse steer and control their horse. There are also “side walkers” who are on either side of the rider sometimes with hands holding their legs the entire time, and sometimes simply walking beside to ensure the rider is stable and not sliding to one side or the other or to help if a problem should arise.
Once the riders are mounted, they are led to the middle of the arena so that the instructor can make sure the rider’s stirrups are the proper length and to tighten the girth on the horse’s saddle and make sure everything looks great before the rider “walks on”.
Once the lesson is underway, typically the instructor is in the middle of the arena calling out instructions for the riders and facilitating games on horseback. Depending on the riding skill of the class, they may spend more time on riding skills such as jogging, posting at a walk, or posting at a trot. For children that are younger games is a very important – like red light green light or grabbing rings from cones around the arena and placing them on other cones that are their favorite color. Keeping it interesting, interactive and fun for the kids is the goal.
The side walker’s role is extremely important, especially for a person with a greater disability that doesn’t allow them to grab the reins as well, or they have limited verbal ability. The side walker can physically help them steer their horse, or ask them questions to piggy back whatever the instructor is saying so that the rider can have greater success with their lesson.
When the 45 minute lesson is complete, the instructor asks each rider to come back to the middle of the arena where once everyone is in place, the instructor assists them in dismounting to the ground, pulling up their stirrups, and giving their horse a big thank you as well as their side walkers and leaders. The instructor then walks the rider out to greet their parent or guardian that is with them that day.
Depending on the horse’s individual schedule, they are both untacked and put back in their stall for a treat that one of the volunteers always brings (usually apples!), or they stay in the middle of the arena to take their next rider!
The day continues like this until all the lessons are complete for that day. The horses work hard and give a lot to these kids and the volunteers are invaluable to these programs. I will write more about the horses and the volunteers specifically in future posts.
