Originally published in the Pottsville Republican-Herald on June 4, 2022.
A shaft of cloudy gray light shone through the open barn door, illuminating the horse as it tramped up and down the dirt floor with its powerful, plodding rhythmic footsteps. Atop the horse was 3-year-old Amelia Urquiza, of Andreas, surrounded by horse trainers and therapists. Urquiza struggles with a speech delay, hyperactivity, hypersensitivity and a short attention span. She worked with a therapist for a year before her family took her to Horses & Horizons Therapeutic Learning Center Inc., a New Ringgold farm that teaches horseback riding to children and adults with disabilities.
“I think she finds comfort in it,” said Carla Reed, Urquiza’s grandmother. “She enjoys animals. She relates very much to the therapists and to the horses.”
Horses and Horizons can be found along a series of bumpy roads that wind through green and serene Pennsylvania farmland. You know you’re there when you see the “Horse Crossing” sign. It was founded by Elaine Smith and her husband, Harvey, both certified therapeutic riding instructors.
Elaine and Harvey have been involved with therapeutic riding since 1985, when their 4-H club volunteered with the Schuylkill County Therapeutic Riding Program for the club’s annual community service project.
“We got hooked,” Elaine said. “We have always been horse people, it runs in my family. Horses are wonderful creatures. They’re non-judgemental. They let us do things to them that are far against their nature, but they’re adaptable, and they seem to have a feeling for riders with special needs.”
Elaine, who worked at Freeman Jewelers in Allentown for 40 years before her retirement in 2015, said that Urquiza was “an interesting case.”
“The horse calms her down,” said Harvey, a retired occupational therapist. “The horse has a calming effect. While (Amelia)’s moving, she has to maintain her balance without thinking about it. It’s like when you walk. You don’t think about what your legs are doing, but you’re moving. She’s improving and increasing her muscle tone through the movement of the horse.”
For those with physical disabilities, horseback riding is good exercise that strengthens muscles and improves breathing.
“Especially if it’s someone in a wheelchair,” Elaine said, “they love the movement of the horse. It just makes you feel good to be around the horses. Horses have such a large heart, their energy reaches outward.”
The act of riding gives Elaine’s patients a sense of freedom and independence.
“The horse’s walk is three-dimensional like the human walk,” Elaine said. “So the horses move the muscles that we would move when normally walking. Children who have cerebral palsy have terrible head control, and in a few weeks we can have head control for them and strengthen their core.”
Liam Reznak, 5, of Mountain Top, has cerebral palsy and limited use of the fingers in his right hand. As he rode Shadow, a stallion the color of dark chocolate, he had a big smile on his face.
“I like Shadow,” he said.
Shadow is a Tennessee walking horse, a breed known for its uniquely smooth gait. Harvey pointed out how Shadow’s haunches and Liam’s shoulders moved in unison.
“A horse can replicate a human walk 99%,” he said. “No other therapy can do that.”
Every week from May to October, people come from throughout northeast Pennsylvania and even the Lehigh Valley for lessons. Liam’s stepbrother, Alex Brisk, 13, has been riding for five years. His stepfather, Bill Reznak, said that it has made Alex appreciate the hard work and patient diligence that goes into life.
“He immediately loved riding,” Bill said. “I just think he enjoys the freedom of being on the horse. I think it’s something that is his.”
Jazell Garber, 15, of Tamaqua, has ridden at Horses and Horizons for nine years. Before riding Boone, a 21-year-old chestnut horse, she brushed his hair.
“He’s a very friendly horse,” she said.
Garber enjoys the feeling of being in control of the horses, who help her stay focused. For years, she developed a relationship with a horse named Frosty.
“He was his own person,” Elaine said about Frosty. “He was the leader of the herd, but he was a kind leader.”
Frosty is now retired on a farm in Andreas that belongs to one of Horses and Horizons’ volunteers.
“Frosty was very cooperative, out of most horses I ever rode,” Garber said. “He was very easy to control.”
That is the point of places like Horses and Horizons — to give kids a chance to be in control.
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