Residents@JV

Riding Hope Inc.

Always looking for stimulating activities that will stir some interest and even interact with the residents of Jacob’s Village (JV), Karin Macke, Program Director, was approached with a novel idea. Get the residents Wanda, Donna Kay, Debbie, Mike, Michael, and Scott interacting with horses. Karin had just recently, during the Summer of 2007, hired Natalie Fleming as a part-time employee to help with the residents in the mornings while she was on her Summer break from Samford University, near Birmingham, Alabama. Previously and continuing to do so on Summer breaks, Natalie and her mother Lisa, volunteer their time in assisting special needs children with horse-riding therapy sessions at Riding Hope Inc. You never know when acquaintances that you meet will have an impact on what one is striving for; because Lisa, coerced by Natalie, offered to help Mike pull weeds in the JV garden on a couple of Saturday afternoons. Lisa wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty and Mike really appreciated the gardening camaraderie that developed over the weekends. Riding Hope, Inc. 3311 David Dr., Mt. Vernon, IN, is a therapeutic horseback riding program for children with special needs. It is located just down the road a piece, East of St. Phillips, IN, on David Drive, and…to make another noteworthy mention of the area’s improving landscape, the new University Parkway. The Parkway will be a direct short drive, whenever it gets completed; from JV and Hwy. 66 to the University of Southern Indiana and Hwy. 62 into the Westside of Evansville. With a 3 or 4 mile stretch ready for use on the South end of the Parkway, in which it has been that way now for 4 or 5 years from Upper Mt. Vernon Rd. to U.S.I., the new Parkway; once you get there using Korressel Rd. from JV, still cuts a lot of time off of ones driving. JV really benefits from the new incomplete Parkway immensely because that part of town is where most of the JV business is carried out. One of these days it will be completed and it will allow for more convenience. Now, Riding Hope, Inc. is just two or three miles West of University Parkway off the Hogue Road exit. Riding Hope, similar to JV, is fully funded by donations that are tax deductible to all donors making it a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation. Riding Hope was created by parents seeking to provide a progressive form of horse-riding therapy for their special needs children. Beth Tromley, mother of 11 year old special needs daughter Molly, directs the small operation out of a barn and corral close to her home that she leases from Tim and Barbara Martin. Beth opens the therapy sessions up every Monday evening to interested families beginning in April and then closing down in October to allow for the Winter months to pass. Although Riding Hope does not advertise, they are covered up with clients benefiting from the service and in need of volunteers to assist the little ones who take part in it. Some clients they tend to are not so little, the children range in ages from 2-18 years. The Riding Hope Mission Statement: To provide an opportunity for children with special needs to experience an enjoyable activity while benefiting physically, psychologically, and socially through horse riding. The special needs children all receive therapeutic benefits from horse-back riding in an array of developmental skills. Many of them are strapped and secured in the saddle and put on the horse forwards as well as backwards for coordinating the rhythm of walking. The staff at Riding Hope consists of parents of special needs children, educators, experienced horseback riders, and licensed Therapists in Occupational, Physical, and Speech Therapies. Safety is always of utmost concern when administering to clients and there are volunteers always walking alongside the horse and rider to help prevent and eliminate accidents. Over time talking with Beth, who also schedules the appointments at Riding Hope, Karin finally found an open date on the calendar that coincided with a reasonable Monday evening and time frame with Riding Hope that the JV residents could visit their operation. Arrangements were made for all the residents to attend two of their Monday evening therapy sessions, on Monday, April 21, and Monday July 28, 2008. Having two separate dates allowed for most everyone to join in on the fun, different Home Coordinators would be working and be able to participate. For the first scheduled Monday evening Joe and Gloria, the Men and Women’s Home Coordinators, were on duty and the next date had Barry and Janice working. Gloria and Joe prepared an early meal for the residents that Monday allowing them to leave soon after everybody returned home from work after they had eaten by 5:00pm, giving the residents about three hours of daylight to see what Riding Hope was all about and what they had to offer. Karin met the residents at JV and joined them on their drive over to the stables and corral. For this time, not knowing for sure where it was, they took the long way to get there; back to Parker Settlement, South on St. Philip’s Rd. into St. Philip’s and left on Creamery Rd. at the R.R. Crossing and where the St. Philip’s Café & Gas Station is located. Two or three miles down Creamery Road they passed it by; although there were a few cars parked in the grass behind the barn, there was no sign marking the address. There were a few people standing along the outside of the corral watching the children being led around on horses and a light intermittent rain shower was beginning to come down. The JV bunch exited from the two vans and was introduced to many of the volunteers. There were bleachers on one side of the corral and bales of straw on the other for sitting. Some people were inside, some were outside, and some of the JV bunch was content to having a few raindrops fall on their head while the others went inside the barn. The barn had old wood for siding and many tools hanging on the walls, a hard-packed dirt floor, grass sack/burlap feed bags, and saddle paraphernalia made for an authentic looking stable. The few people inside the barn, where they do have an area large enough to walk the horses around, were letting the recipients of the Therapeutic Services get acquainted with the Horses. Riding Hope has twelve horses available for use; although, only five horses are used at a time. Some Horses are a better fit toward the different individual personalities; and therefore, introducing the riders to the assorted Horses is a must to gain trust. Everyone taking part was very cordial and friendly and there were even a few familiar faces from Mt. Vernon making up the group. The facility was a busy place leading children around, moving from indoors to outdoors, changing horses, changing clients, and taking care of the horses. The light rain shower didn’t last long and a larger crowd was gathering around the corral. The JV residents got to pet the horses and Wanda, Mike, and Michael even had their picture take with Festus, the smallest pony of the bunch. As you would expect, Wanda wanted to take him back home to JV and care for him there. Riding Hope Inc. and Jacob’s Village have many similarities; the biggest one, their mission to help others is filling a need, offering options, and slowly gaining recognition. Beth is carrying a huge responsibility on her shoulders at Riding Hope and working within her means. The JV residents enjoyed their time visiting and watching the horses and the services provided by Riding Hope and would like to make a return trip someday. Maybe next time it could be arranged to have a horse available for a JV resident or two.

posted by J V Resident Blog @ 10:09 AM