CKRH recently had a name change. The Central Kentucky Riding for Handicapped became the Central Kentucky Riding for Hope and a more accurate name cannot be imagined. I recently visited and chatted with the students and parents and the disabilities, while quite varied in nature from emotional to physical, did not daunt the hope each had for the future and for this program.

 

I was probably most impressed by the quality and dedication of the staff running this amazing program at The Kentucky Horse Park for twenty years. Enough cannot be said for their knowledge and ability to keep the students focused and happy while keeping the barn organized and clean and the horses healthy. I was awed by the amount of volunteers the program requires and keeps up. Each rider requires at least two if not three volunteers who walk along with the horse and student, with one leading and a volunteer on each side of the student as a safeguard. If you had 6 students in the ring, that could mean up to 18 volunteers walking around with the mounted student for the entire one hour lesson! The program's ability to enlist such a dedicated volunteer pool indicates how vital this program is for Central Kentucky.  
         

I spoke with some students age 39 and younger and with some of the parents of other students in the program, separately. Many of the students entered the program at age three. Each story and handicap is as unique and special as every horse is in life but most of what each told me, privately, resounded as one voice. They clearly do not feel handicapped while up on their mount. They develop trust and a friendship with “their horse” because of the brilliance of the program allowing them the same mount for each 8-week session. They feel “calm” and “cleansed”, are “soothed”, experience better balance and coordination and higher self-esteem as if the weight of the world had been lifted from their shoulders. Many have trouble sleeping but after their weekly lesson sleep very well and leave each lesson uplifted. In most cases the riding lesson is the only physical activity the students are allowed to do and feel empowered by the fact they can do it all by “themselves” in a handicapped life filled with dependency. The students as a whole now share a passion and love of horses with some students going on to take lessons in other programs so they may ride two or three times a week turning their therapy into a true hobby and sport. These students may be the next generation of thoroughbred adopters.

 
Pictured here are two students with three volunteers each. To the left is Sarah on Siempre and to the right is Carla on Ingrid.

Central Kentucky Riding for Hope has been quite proactive for their program's expansion. They have recently been allocated 20+ acres of land by The Kentucky Horse Park to accommodate the demand on the program. They are actively soliciting funding for an indoor arena, something the program sorely needs. There are two 8-week therapeutic riding sessions offered PER YEAR because of Central Kentucky's weather patterns. An indoor arena would enrich the local community and the students could ride throughout the year keeping up with the therapy so intrinsic to their progress. CKRH has also developed partnerships to add to it's program such as Cardinal Hill's contract with CKRH to provide Hippotherapy in which clients receive one-on-one treatment from a licensed therapist using the horses's movement as a treatment strategy. Shriner's Hospital brings clients for a summer camp called Camp TRACK. The University of Kentucky uses CKRH to help expose its students working for masters degrees, to physical therapy assisted by horses. Midway College brings its equine therapy students over to work with CKRH's horses and Keeneland's Pony Clubbers teach stable management to CKRH students, increasing their chances of turning their hobby into a career.

 

These are but a few of the amazing accomplishments of CKRH and Thoroughbred Charities of America is proud to be one of the organizations who support an equine program such as this one, shaping future horse lovers as it goes.