Therapeutic Riding Clinic Gives Clients Comfort
By BILL SCHWANKE of Missoula.com
Since Kalle Virtaneva of Corvallis was struck by a car seven years ago, suffering massive brain damage, his parents Monica and Kimmo have struggled to find things that stimulate him and allow him to grow as a person.
Sitting on the back of a horse at Bitterroot Therapeutic Riding is one thing Kalle - pronounced caw-lay - has truly come to enjoy.
For BTR founder Linda Olson, Kalle represents one of hundreds of success stories achieved since 2000 when the nonprofit business first started.
Seventeen-year-old brain injury patient Kalle Virtenuca and Jamaica put each other through their paces at the Bitterroot Therapeutic Riding indoor arena near Corvallis. Looking on are BTR instructor Joan Scheffer, left, and equine coordinator Ann Hardenbe. BILL SCHWANKE/Missoula.com
Kalle has gone through five brain surgeries since the accident. Most of the damage occurred in the front of the brain, the part that controls many of the things that contribute to a person’s quality of life, such as emotion and stimulation.
“Physically, he’s quite capable,” Monica explained. “His executive functions are impaired and we found that working with the horses has helped him a lot.
“It’s probably one of the few things that he does in a week that gets a smile on his face.”
Kalle has developed a special bond with Jamaica, one of the dozen or so horses available to people with disabilities at BTR. Like the other horses at the facility, two miles east of Corvallis off the Eastside Highway, Jamaica was donated by sponsors, in his case Stuart and Charlene Blundell of Missoula.
“We kind of became desperate for alternative therapies because he is one of the rare cases that does not respond well to medications,” Monica said. “We have to go to natural means and this is one of those that we can use.”
Kalle started once-a-week visits to BTR several months ago but had to back off for a time when some of the instructors took vacation. Monica said at first Kalle didn’t want to participate because it was “something new and his brain does not feel comfortable in new situations.”
But it didn’t take long before Kalle was looking forward to his weekly visit. And his mother has noticed that - after each ride - her son is more talkative and witty.
“So I know it’s doing something in his brain as far as stimulation that we have not seen with any other activity,” Monica said. “When you have a child with a brain injury, your life is changed forever, so you look for any opportunity that they can have a measure of joy in their life.”
She also enjoys watching her son interact with the volunteer and instructor that work with him.
Kalle’s instructor is Joan Sheffer, certified by the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association.
Sheffer has been around horses all of her life and discovered that the animals give back to her as much as she ever gives to them. She’s also a nurse, so working at BTR has given her a way to combine two of her passions for a good cause.
It’s “great to work with kids with handicaps or people with disabilities and put that all together.”
Sheffer has been at BTR for two months and thoroughly relishes the joy she receives from the people and horses.
“It’s a daily occurrence; it’s even an hourly occurrence,” Sheffer said of the rewards. “The reactions that you get and the interaction that you see with the horses is just so worthwhile and so rewarding and it just makes you think that these things belong together.”
Having some history about both the horse and rider is key to matching the two, Sheffer said, adding that they consider size and function, all geared around the severity of the disability a rider has.
There are times when the client at BTR has been on a horse before but the disability - multiple sclerosis, for example - had made riding again seem impossible.
“They’re coming back out and riding and just feeling that freedom of being on the horse,” Sheffer explained, “and that’s another very rewarding point, because these people will have you … in tears when they get back up on a horse and have that old feeling again.
“It’s an incredible adventure,” she added. “Anybody can benefit.”
The equine coordinator at BTR is Ann Hardenberg, who coordinates the volunteers, prepares the horses for their riders, and has input into which horses go with which riders.
“I usually know all the horses’ qualities,” Hardenberg - who currently doesn’t have horses of her own - said. “I spend a lot of time with them. They are my passion.”
She described the horses and riders as her children, noting that she tends to become “a little overprotective.
“I try to take the best care of them that I can and … if (a horse) is not having a good day then I will say, “Let’s not use him today.’”
Since the horses are older, Hardenberg encounters few problems in terms of general temperament, saying they are “so sweet and … unbelievably in tune with our riders. We see amazing things happen here.”
While the work is serious, Hardenberg said BTR makes an effort to keep things as light as possible. Sometimes the animals pitch in.
“I heard - I never saw it myself - we had a cat … who would be in here in our lessons and she would be swinging from the horses’ tails and swatting their noses,” Hardenberg said. “I’m very sorry I missed that, but I’ll bet that was pretty funny.”
Hardenberg got hooked on therapeutic riding while working for a program in Idaho. When she moved to Corvallis she knew no one, so the first contact she made was with Olson.
“This is what I love to do and I wouldn’t trade this job for any other in the world,” Sheffer said.
Olson said she couldn’t have predicted how the therapeutic riding program would take off.
She learned about the program from a friend who had attended a NARHA convention in Seattle, was highly impressed, and approached Olson because she had an indoor riding arena on her property.
A core group met weekly in Olson’s home, joined NARHA, set up a board of directors and went about creating a nonprofit organization. Things started slowly, but Olson said that was OK.
“The most important thing to us is, first of all, that everyone is safe,” Olson said. “Secondly, that we have tons of fun. If you have those things the therapy follows.”
Linda Olson: Founder Linda Olson visits with a guest at the Bitterroot Therapeutic Riding arena on Olson's property near Corvallis. BILL SCHWANKE/Missoula.com
It was six to eight months before BTR actually put riders on horses. Volunteers had to be trained, animals had to be evaluated, and more knowledge needed to be gained before a comfort zone was established.
“These aren’t just pony rides,” Olson noted. “This is actual therapeutic riding, and every step a horse takes is providing therapy as well as the energy the horse gives off.”
Since it is a business, Olson said it’s important to come to work with caring hearts while not taking lightly what is going on in the arena.
Seven years after those initial meetings Olson said Bitterroot Therapeutic Riding has served many needs, had many successes, and is now on the list of therapies prescribed by the medical profession and schools.
Organizations such as the national Multiple Sclerosis Society sponsor scholarships for victims in the area who can get to BTR for therapy. The local Optimists Club provided a sound system for the arena that helps riders with hearing issues.
BTR participates in area Special Olympics each year and has a team - including volunteers - about 100 strong.
“The program has turned out to be a huge family that grows weekly,” Olson said of BTR, which operates year round with the exception of a few days around Christmastime.
One highlight is the annual winter picnic - this year scheduled on Dec. 8 - open to riders and volunteers and their families, sponsors and the nearby community.
Normally operating six days a week, BTR has shortened its number of days to three recently because of the extremely hot weather. They also have been short one instructor.
High on Olson’s wish list is an electronic lift to help those people who cannot get on a horse, even with help from other people.
“If they are totally disabled we have no way to address that, and that’s sad,” Olson said, “because although we don’t have a great deal of people in that situation just not being able to help one … makes you feel bad because we are here to serve and hate to turn anybody away.”
Olson said she can’t describe in words what goes on in the BTR arena.
“It’s not only the benefits you see these clients derive,” Olson said. “It’s synchronicity for lack of a better word.
“It’s the volunteers. It’s the horses. It’s the families,” she added. “It’s such a hub of caring and involvement in all areas. The parents sit here and watch and they learn all kinds of things from each other.
“At the same time - within the arena - if it’s a group lesson where we have four people, they’re socializing. They’re involved. And they’re receiving therapy without anybody knowing it. It’s just a win-win situation.
“I don’t think there was any way that, when I started this, I could fathom the power that this program has,” Olson said. “It’s from everyone that’s part of it. Because we’re here from our hearts, it works.”
- To listen to the interview with Linda Olson, click here.
- To listen to the interview with Monica Virtenuca, click here.
- To listen to the interview with Joan Scheffer, click here.
- To listen to the interview with Ann Hardenberg, click here.
For more information: http://www.btrp.org, 406-961-2999 or btr@onewest.net.
