Center seeks help changing lives through horses

By SARA ARTHURS
Fostoria Review Times
Staff Writer

It was intended as a chance to get some recreation and exercise — but riding horses has changed clients' lives.

Freedom Trails Riding Center in Tiffin offers therapeutic horseback riding for children and adults with disabilities. The nonprofit organization is holding a fundraising auction on Sunday.

Freedom Trails is about to start its third season of offering therapeutic horseback riding. The season runs from April through early November.

While the organization has only been in operation since 2006, the planning started four years earlier. A group of horse lovers and parents of people with disabilities got together to organize the group.

"We look at it as another recreational outlet for people with special needs, adults and children alike," said center president Kathi Heyman.

People with disabilities often don't have as many opportunities for exercise and recreation, she said. She's seen clients really grow through being around the horses.

"You can see increased range of motion," she explained. "They can improve their balance, posture, it can help with their strength and endurance, improve their coordination. We've seen increases in social skills. People who never smiled or talked are smiling and talking to other people."

Often, clients become more confident in other aspects of their lives, more willing to try new things they might not otherwise have tried.

Some have developmental disabilities and some have physical disabilities. Many live in Tiffin but clients also come from Fostoria and surrounding communities.

Freedom Trails is dependent on private donations. The biggest expense, Heyman said, is the cost of the horses. For insurance reasons, Freedom Trails must own its horses. The cost of purchasing horses, boarding them, getting veterinary care and so on adds up quickly, Heyman noted. Freedom Trails also purchases adaptive equipment including special reins, stirrups, saddles and bridles for riders.

Liability insurance is another expense.

Heyman's background is as an occupational therapist for children. She has also owned horses for years, and was one of the founders of Freedom Trails, along with parents of special needs children.

"We kind of all came together and saw a need for this," she said.

Sunday's event will be a live auction. Last year, Freedom Trails did a silent auction.

Up for auction will be donated items including furniture, collectible plates, jewelry and household items.

Also available will be a flight package with a tour over the islands around Lake Erie, a computer and a golf outing. Antique and collectible items like toys, books and records will also be available.

A list of auction items is available on the organization's Web site, http://www.freedomtrailsridingcenter.org.

The auction will take place at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Seneca County School of Opportunity gymnasium, 780 E. Seneca County Road 20, Tiffin.

The auction is not the only way community members can support Freedom Trails.

"We're always in need of good volunteers," Heyman said.

Volunteers don't necessarily have to have a lot of experience with horses — they will get trained. Heyman added that there are different opportunities to volunteer, depending on a person's skills and interests.

Some volunteers are "sidewalkers," walking alongside the rider and horse. If a client doesn't have good balance due to his or her disability, two sidewalkers are needed, one on each side of the horse.

Other volunteers lead the horse. Volunteers are also needed for clerical tasks.

Heyman said some volunteers who start off thinking the horses are "very intimidating" become more comfortable with them as time passes.

All volunteers are trained in how to help the disabled children and adults in the case of an emergency.

Those interested in volunteering can e-mail Freedom Trails through the Web site or call Heyman at (419) 447-8959.