Capital Region Cares Capital Region Cares 2017-2018 | Page 58

n
Success story
Joy Ride
AT LINCOLN’S
EQUESTRIAN-BASED
THERAPY PROGRAM
RIDE TO WALK, RIDERS
WITH DISABILITIES
GAIN STRENGTH,
KNOWLEDGE
AND SKILL
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CAPITAL REGION CARES 2017 | comstocksmag.com
BY Danna Sweidan PHOTOS: Kelly Barr
W
hat started with one pony
bridled near a Granite
Bay occupational ther-
apy clinic in 1985, is
now a 21-acre Lincoln
ranch with a lake and 10 donated
horses for the Ride To Walk physical
therapy program. But when Dr. Kris-
tine Corn thought to start integrating
horseback riding into her program
over three decades ago, she was not an
equestrian. Corn had bought a pony
named Freckles from a neighbor, but
she didn’t even know how to put a sad-
dle on a horse. And aside from some
lessons as a child, she didn’t have
much experience riding horses either.
As a physical therapist, Corn has
worked with patients with a wide
range of emotional, physical and
learning disabilities. She’d heard of
similar, equestrian-based therapies in
Europe in the 1980s, so Corn decided
to try it with her own patients. Wheel-
chairs are a static surface, but sitting
on a horse is a dynamic surface, one
that you have to actively work at to
stay on. As Corn says, keeping yourself
upright on a horse uses muscles in the
neck and core that riders with disabil-
ities often have trouble strengthening.
Learning to ride gives people with lim-
ited mobility more control over their
body, she says.
“A lot of my physical therapy clients
who were in wheelchairs often only got
out of them to get in and out of bed,
to go to the bathroom, or to sit some-
where else or lay on the floor,” Corn
says.
Starting with Freckles, she sat be-
hind some of her clients to support
and guide them. Some of those cli-
ents eventually gained the skill and
strength to ride independently, she
says. Today, the program serves cli-
ents of all ages, but most are between
2 and 16 years old. Most clients can