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last updated at 2:40 a.m. Sunday, February 17, 2002

Bridging the gap

Horses offer therapy

By MICHAEL DODSON
SNS Staff Writer

Talk to John Allen about horses or put him on or around one and the transformation is startling.

He is invigorated. A bounce returns to his step. Mostly, though, the change is visible in a megawatt smile that warms everyone around him.

The 21-year-old Shawnee resident was born with Down syndrome and mental retardation. For more than 15 years, Allen has been stretching his mind, building his confidence and improving his physical skills through the horsemanship program Charham Therapeutic Association and Arena at St. Gregory's University.

Each year, the program helps some 300 people who have physical and mental challenges, Maurice Walsh, program director, said. They learn horse discipline, horse nutrition and care of the animals.

CTA letterhead bears the statement, "Nothing is better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse." Diane Allen, John's mother, would tell you that, in her son's instance, that is true.

"It (has been) wonderful. He has gotten so much out of it," she said. "Even now, horses are his big thing."

Allen describes her son as "a lot more independent, a lot more assured" as a result of his relationship with the horses.

"It helps him," Allen said. She said interaction with the horses has developed John's confidence. "He knows how to work around horses, something I would never be able to give him."

Diane assists with the program participants. "They get up on that horse and, at first, they're so afraid," she said. "(But) within a few hours or a few days, they are so happy to get on their horse. It gives them confidence (about) being up high and knowing what they're doing, feeling that they can do something without anyone else around."

The benefits stretch beyond the mental and emotional. Allen says her son has improved his motor skills and hand-eye coordination through the program.

"They have to learn how to get up on a horse. They have to learn how to maneuver their horse," she said. "Just that, using their hands, their eyes, all of their faculties (improves physical skills).

"I don't know anything else that would have helped him as much. First, because he enjoys it so much. And, second, because it gave him the confidence to move, to use his hands, put his foot over the horse. If it had not been for Maurice trying to help these kids and trying to work with them, I'm not kidding you, I don't know how we would have done it."

"The magic connection is that horse," Walsh said. "It's a thousand-pound partner. That thousand-pound partner is pro-kid-and-adult all the way. (He has) no negative feeling."

New participants in the program begin slowly. "You have those activities where they can touch the horse, get used to the horse before they're on (it)," Walsh explained.

Interaction with a horse has broken the communication barrier that has an autistic person cocooned in his own world. "The horse reaches to them, and they reach out to the horse," Walsh said. "Then, that tremendous communication barrier can start breaking down."

Bridging that gulf does not happen in all instances and frequently requires a lot of time and effort, Walsh said. "If there can be listening and demonstration to that child (that) the horse is on his side and it's safe and comfortable, then that barrier can be broken," he said.

The Charham program has participants involve themselves in as much interaction with a horse as possible. For example, John Allen has learned to remove the saddle, store it, place it back on the horse and feed and groom the animals.

"All their humanity comes together with the horse" is Walsh's way of describing the partnership formed through this level of interaction.

When the Aztecs of the 14th century first encountered Spanish conquistadors on horses, they thought the two to be one being. "Go back to the Aztecs -- one being. When you have that kind of unity, it's beautiful," Walsh said.

Walsh said the improvements persevere after participants leave the Charham program.

"The whole idea of ... community-based programs is to allow the individual to go further in the community," he said, "whether that means going back to a class and sitting up straighter or that they get the confidence to go to the library and pick out a book about a horse or be able to move around in the cafeteria."

The program also broadens participants' experiences in another way. "For many, this therapy also opens, for the first time, a broad spectrum of life in our culture that would not otherwise be available to them," reads the program's description. "For the first time, many experience the wonders of a rural, agricultural setting."

An article in Strides, the magazine of the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association, offers more evidence of the miracles the human-horse partnership can create. That article told of what working with horses meant to Leslie Cootware, a young lady born with cystic fibrosis in 1964.

Given seven to 10 years to live, Cootware died at age 25. She once told her aunt, Melissa Everett: "I would have died a long time ago if it hadn't been for the horses. When you have something to do that you love, something you can go after with everything inside you, especially if that thing loves you back, you can live forever."

The Charham Therapeutic Association and Arena was the first program of its kind in Oklahoma. It is currently one of the largest such programs in the state.

As the Charham program description puts it, "Horses first came to the St. Gregory's campus in 1968 for use in physical education classes. Charham was founded in 1974 as a way to carry out the vision the Rev. Denis Statham and members of the association had to integrate equine therapy into the other programs offered through the college and to help those who would benefit from the program."

In 2001, Charham Arena served 296 individual riders. Of those, 220 were 18 or younger; 40 were 19 to 50 years old and another 40 were 51 and older.

People who get help at Charham have one or more of a long list of disabilities and conditions. These include Attention Deficit or Hyperactivity Disorder, substance abuse, visual impairment, hearing impairment, head trauma and brain injury, autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, emotional and behavioral problems, speech impairments, learning disabilities, mental retardation and muscular dystrophy.

The Charham Therapeutic Association's board members are Walsh, Ross Barnes, who is also associate director and treasurer, Tom Barnes, Rilla Barnes, the Rev. Paul Zahler, the Rev. Adrian Vorderlandwehr, Jerry Newhouse, Julie Quick, Connie Little, Luther and Shirlie Wilcoxson and David and Trish Koehler.

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