From left: ASPIRE TRP Head Instructor Judi Nelson and Clark & Associates President Dennis Clark, CPO, help Noah Beisner experience the joy and physical benefits of riding while ASPIRE Program Director Morgan Hawthore guides Noah’s therapy horse. Photograph courtesy of OPAF.
It’s one of life’s happy ironies: when a human body or mind is injured, its most profound healing may not come from the human world. According to the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA), therapeutic horseback riding can help people with a variety of physical and mental challenges, including amputation, spinal cord injury (SCI), spasticity, and post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); it can improve symptoms while also helping them to gain self-confidence, emotional control, and a sense of joy and health.
On May 22, the Orthotic & Prosthetic Assistance Fund (OPAF), with the sponsorship of Clark & Associates Prosthetics & Orthotics, Waterloo, Iowa, brought these benefits to a group through a McKeever’s First Ride event, a therapeutic horsemanship program for amputees and those with physical challenges. The event was held at the ASPIRE Therapeutic Riding Center, Waterloo, an NAHRA-accredited barn. Deenie McKeever served as the day’s mistress of ceremonies.
“It was awesome!” said 12-year-old Noah Beisner, a former ASPIRE rider who was the first rider of the afternoon. According to OPAF, Beisner began the ride timidly, then quickly gained the confidence to straighten up and ride high in the saddle. He told OPAF that he plans to wear his McKeever’s First Ride cowboy hat and bandanna into a future surgery to give him good feelings. Other riders included a set of three sisters and Larry Hunsicker, MD. Hunsicker is a transfemoral amputee who is also allergic to horses and hay but said he “wouldn’t have missed this afternoon’s activities for the world.”
Dennis Clark, CPO, a partner at Clark & Associates, said, “The obvious joy and life enrichment that occurred during the event with the participants was there for all to see and will be repeated over and over in the First Rides to come.”
Marilyn Moore, ASPIRE executive director, added, “Everyone was so respectful, kind, and considerate of all. I felt like we did a great job and all worked together as a team.”
For more information on OPAF and all the First Clinics, call 319.235.4318 or visit www.opfund.org
