LEXINGTON
HERALD-LEADER
FRIDAY, APRIL 19, 2002
HORSE
POWER
People,
equines find healing, peace in time spent together
BRYANTSVILLE
- The little Appaloosa mare called Spice trots in a circle around
the perimeter of the round pen, carefully looking at 8-year-old
Abbey Worley.
Gradually,
after girl and horse gain each other's trust, the horse signals
that she's ready to come to Abbey. Spice makes a chewing motion
with her mouth, and, with head down, approaches Abbey, who responds
with loving pats.
The moment
comes so quietly and with so little fanfare that it's easy to
miss. But what just happened is that Abbey, who has a learning
disorder, was able to focus and make a connection.
"It
was fun that I could teach her to come to me," Abbey said
later. "It feels like she's starting to know me a lot more."
People
and horses getting to know one another and heal each other is
what Pine
Knoll Farm in northern Garrard County is all about. The
farm uses horses to each children and adults about themselves.
Pine Knoll co-owner Gillian Vallis calls this "life enhancement"
for humans and animals.
"No
matter what's going on in your life, whether you're disabled
or whether you have emotional problems or learning disabilities,
there are many different ways that working with horses can help
people," Vallis said.
"And
in the process, if we can take a horse, particularly a horse
that's been abused, and then, through the right training, turn
it around, then that horse can help people."
Vallis
and her husband, Francis, bought the 130-acre farm and its antebellum
red brick house in 1996 and have turned it into a healing place.
On Saturday, the farm will have an open house so the public
can see what the farm and its non-profit Four Harmony Foundation
is all about.
A mother
knows
Leslie
Worley of Garrard County, Abbey's mother, can attest to the
farm's work with children. Abbey has attention deficit-hyperactivity
disorder, and in the past has been listless and had difficulty
with reading and writing.
"She
would be really shut down," Worley said. "She didn't
want to be engaged with anyone. She didn't want to play, didn't
want to have friends."
But after
she went to a summer camp at Pine Knoll last year, Abbey showed
some personal growth. "She was relaxed, she was calm, she
was more thoughtful. She was more bubbly. She was just happy,"
Worley said.
Therapeutic
riding has been helpful for Adam Barlow, 13, who is autistic.
Earlier
this week, Adam, who is from Nicholasville, rode Duke as the
horse was led and accompanied by Pine Knoll riding instructor
Debbie Bowerman-Davies, farm manager Trina McGuire and occupational
therapist Chasity Paris.
Paris said
riding Duke has a calming effect on Adam, who can sometimes
exhibit aggressive behavior such as hitting.
"We
get him on the horse, and he is totally calm and in tune, and
once we've captured his attention he can do more functional
things such as counting," Paris said.
Kathy Barlow
said the riding sessions over the last 18 months have helped
her son's balance and posture.
"Adam
had never been on a horse, and it was something I wanted to
try," Kathy Barlow said. "He likes it and asks for
it, so I figure he's getting something out of it."
A history
of helping
Vallis,
a native of England, has long known the therapeutic power of
horses. Her father and grandfather trained racehorses, and she
has ridden horses since she was a child.
In addition
to boarding and holding riding lessons, Pine Knoll offers everything
from "yoga on horseback" to a "Tree of Life Literacy
Circle" that encourages children to read and write about
the menagerie of horses, geese, guinea fowl, cats and dogs that
make their home at the farm.
The farm
has also taken in injured or abused horses for rehabilitation.
One animal, renamed Phoenix, is recovering after he survived
a Fayette County barn fire that burned his head, neck, shoulders
and back, and turned his ears into stubs.
Vallis
said it shouldn't be surprising that humans and horses need
each other.
"When
you think about it, how did the world evolve? The world wouldn't
be as it is now if it hadn't been for horses," Vallis said.
"How did we get around? How did we go to war? How did we
cut down logs and plow the fields? It was through horses, and
deep within all of us there is a historical connection with
the horse."
|
