THERAPY HORSES LEND A HELPING HOOF
At Slippery Rock University, a dozen horses stand ready to heal and to teach
Twelve special horses on the campus of Slippery Rock University bring joy and healing to people with special needs. But these animals go a step further — they benefit the university students, too.
Each week, 100 children and adults with social, emotional, cognitive or physical disabilities travel from seven counties to ride the horses at Storm Harbor Equestrian Center, which has been on the Slippery Rock campus since 2006.
While therapeutic riding programs have been around for decades, the equine-assisted activities and equineassisted therapies offered at Storm Harbor provide training for the university students as they help the riders.
On a recent afternoon, four horses and one pony took riders around and around the indoor riding arena under the watchful eye of Carissa Aleva of Cranberry, a junior at Slippery Rock who is majoring in recreational therapy.
One young adult needed the help of four Slippery Rock students to ride a Haflinger pony named Liver. Because of severe physical disabilities, the young man cannot walk or sit erect in a saddle.
A student led the gentle mare at a slow walk while three “side walkers” steadied the young man as he lay on a saddle pad, his head on the pony’s broad rump.
“Liver helps his balance, and he loves feeling her hair,” the man’s mother explained.
Three siblings, ages 8, 12 and 14, rode horses without volunteer assistance. One has a disability, and the other two do not — in this program, family members also can ride, if they wish.
When the siblings started riding in the program five years ago, the youngest child was nonverbal. His mother said the Storm Harbor horses did what other programs and health care professionals were unable to do — they got her son to talk.
Children who ride at Storm Harbor are as young as 3 years old. Adult riders include military veterans dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder and brain injuries. About half of the riders are on the autism spectrum.
In addition, the Slippery Rock University Equestrian Team rides some of the horses in intercollegiate competitions, and members of the Butler County Special Olympics Equestrian Team train at Storm Harbor and compete in the summer games at Penn State University.
Therapeutic riding programs “promote self-esteem, independence, coordination, strength and cognitive development,” according to the Storm Harbor brochure. “Other physical benefits … include improved gross and fine motor skills and increase in core strength.”
Students who teach riding classes or help with the riders and horses can get course credit, especially if they are majoring in recreational therapy and adapted physical activity. Slippery Rock also offers a new minor in animal-assisted intervention.
The course tilted Equine-Assisted Activities and Therapies “is especially appropriate for students enrolled in a health-related, human service or education major,” according to the Storm Harbor brochure.
Currently, three graduate students and 10 undergrads work at the center, along with hundreds of volunteers — many from surrounding communities — whose duties include cleaning stalls, grooming horses and saddling the animals for classes. Children and adults who are physically able to do so learn how to care for the horses they ride.
Storm Harbor Equestrian Center was built on university property for $500,000, paid for primarily with
private donations, said Courtney Gramlich, director of the center. All horses and ponies have been donated.
The white barn with green trim houses the horses, a heated indoor riding arena, a classroom and equipment that can lift riders onto horses — and off. Outside, there’s another riding arena and 13 acres of pasture, where the horses and ponies are turned out every night to graze.
A painted mural of a big, gray Percheron/thoroughbred mix horse adorns one wall of the indoor arena. His name was Storm Harbor, and he was owned and ridden over jumps in show rings and fox hunts by Carolyn Rizza of Liberty, Mercer County. She and her husband, Paul, were professors for many years at Slippery Rock University, and they donated most of the money to build the center named after their horse, who died in 2015 at the age of 28.
The number of therapeutic riding programs “has exploded in recent years,” Mrs. Rizza said, “but our program is a premier facility.”
Storm Harbor is one of 881 centers accredited with PATH International — the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International. Multiple riding instructors, including Ms. Aleva, are PATH-certified therapeutic riding Instructors.
Ms. Gramlich, who graduated from Slippery Rock in 2000 with a degree in recreational therapy, is certified by the National Council of Therapeutic Recreation.
In the near future, Storm Harbor will be bigger and better, thanks to recent donations.
The Rizzas donated $400,000 to expand Storm Harbor’s endowment to nearly $2 million, making it possible to add a full-time staff position.
Gary and Anita Rathburn of Tulsa, Okla., donated $500,000, which will be used to add stalls for six more horses and to enlarge the indoor riding arena.
The yearly fall Sunset Serenade fundraiser brought in $100,000 last year and $140,000 this year.
Some riders receive financial help with the cost of classes, which are $20 for 30 minutes.
“About three-fourths of our riders are on scholarship assistance,” Ms. Gramlich said. “We have never had to turn a rider away because of financial need due to our fundraiser and grant funding.”
For more information about classes or donations, see the Storm Harbor Facebook page or www.sru.edu/ offices/storm-harbor-equestrianor call 724-7384010.
Volunteer time and donations of horse equipment are always needed.
Cash donations fund scholarships for riders who currently come from Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Lawrence, Mercer, Venango and Washington counties.
Donations can be mailed to Storm Harbor Equestrian Center, 245 Harmony Road, Slippery Rock, Pa. 16057.