The Times Herald (Norristown, PA)
Place of hope and healing: Horse ranch mentors troubled kids
ROCHESTER, PA. » Cassidy stands in a back corner of her stall munching hay.
Pint-sized Za’Riya Harris, 5, of Beaver Falls, can barely see her.
?’Scuse me,” she politely, but shyly says. “‘Scuse me,” she repeats, more emphatically this time.
The big mare with brown and white patches lumbers over. Expecting a treat, she thrusts her massive head toward the little girl. Startled, Za’Riya recoils.
But this is no place to be afraid. On the contrary, it’s a place of hope and healing, not only for kids — many facing conflicts and challenges — who come to be mentored, but for horses, too, many of which have been rescued from neglect and abuse.
Some children “feel like there’s no hope,” Micheline said, “and so that’s why we have this ranch — to give them hope, let them know that there is change, there’s opportunity for a better life and it’s within them.”
Plaques — some aphorisms, some Scriptural — bolster their mission.
For example: “Never be defined by your past. It was a lesson, not a life sentence.” Or this from Proverbs: “Seek his will in all you do and he will direct your path.”
RYYR is a peaceful, restorative spot — 50 acres off Wises Grove Road with a 17-stall bank barn more than 100 years old made of hand-cut sandstone and hewn posts, tack room, hay loft, indoor arena, pastures and huge pond stocked with largemouth bass, sunfish and bluegill.
Some horses are boarders (which help offset costs), some are donated, but many are rescues like Romeo and Juliet. Romeo, a quarter horse, and Juliet, a Morgan mare, both malnourished and emaciated from neglect by a previous owner, ate tree bark to stay alive, Micheline said. Today, fully healthy, they are favored among young riders.
The Barkleys rescued Tyler, a Dutch warmblood gelding stabled 10 hours away, three days before he was to be euthanized because his owner could no longer afford boarding costs.
Pansie, an imposing Belgian draft horse, was a rescued foal from a mare stalled 24/7 and kept perpetually pregnant, Micheline said, to collect her estrogen-rich urine to make Premarin, a man-made replacement hormone for menopausal women.
Horses are big animals averaging 1,000 pounds and standing 5 to 6 feet at the withers — the highest part of the back at the base of the neck.
“They’re like big dogs is what I tell the kids,” Micheline said. “They don’t care what you look like and they can’t lie.”
They’re curious and empathetic herd animals with an incredible power to heal. They’ve long been used therapeutically to help treat people with physical, emotional and behavioral disorders.
Most kids love animals, Micheline said, but “we get kids who are petrified. They turn white and plaster up against a wall.”
Until they meet Pansie, RYYR’s biggest horse weighing close to a ton with feet the size of dinner plates. Incredibly powerful, Amish use this breed to plow fields.
Whatever life throws at you, stand in front of Pansie and “everything just fades away,” Micheline said of this gentle giant.
“To me, it’s incredible how God made horses in such a way that there’s something about a horse that’s calming and helps kids learn how to communicate,” said Becca Shaw, RYYR trainer and program coordinator. She’s certified as a Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International registered instructor and also a substitute special education teacher.
“They have to be paying attention to the horse. You can’t force a horse to do anything. They learn an incredible amount by these large creatures that are willing to work with us,” she said.
Within weeks, Becca’s seen kids going from petrified to wanting to “ride the biggest horse in the barn by the end of summer. It’s incredible to see their confidence and then be able to use horses to speak to them about the hope we’ve given the horses as rescued and the hope we have in Jesus.” ‘A sense of calmness’ It’s just past 12:30 p.m. when a multi-passenger van pulls up a long driveway leading to the RYYR barn.
City kids ages 5 to 8 from Hayes Summer Camp run by TRAILS Ministries in Beaver Falls — some who’ve never been on a horse ranch — are on a field trip; a chance to explore different resources Beaver County offers, said Kolbe Cole, camp director.
For the past three years, TRAILS has been taking campers to RYYR for enrichment.
“They love it,” Kolbe said. “I think it’s an amazing program,” where children learn trust, responsibility for another being and gain strength and confidence.
After lunch and a Bible lesson, 19 children split into small groups that rotate through activities.
“We’re not an organization that throws a saddle on a horse and puts a kid on,” Micheline said. “They have to learn everything — how to handle a horse, discipline bad behavior, how to properly groom a horse, pick feet and saddle it to make sure it fits right. It’s so empowering for them to have all this information.”
Children who come to RYYR in its one-to-one mentoring program visit two to three times before they ride. They’re given a chore to teach the importance of serving others and making a difference. Older children clean stalls and fill feed buckets; younger kids groom horses with curry combs and dandy brushes.