Our Riders & Families

Our Riders & Families

Riding at Flint Hills provides unique benefits to everyone!

Flint Hills Therapeutic Riding Center

Hope on Pongo

Hope smiles for the camera as she works with her horse Pongo in a hippotherapy class.

HOPE'S STORY:

Hope was diagnosed with epilepsy, sensory integration disorder, auditory and language processing disorders. She began therapy at the request of her occupational therapist. The sensory input from her horse during therapy is helping her to focus and attend to basic tasks better. Hope's self-esteem has improved as well as her dramatic decrease in disruptive behavior. Hope, after her first ride, wrote her alphabet independently for the first time.
She now writes in her journal about horseback riding. "It's an answer to many prayers," says her mother Julianne. Hope has progressed to riding in a saddle and stearing her horse, she is even helping out in the barn after her therapy riding.

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Aubrey

Aubrey was born at 27 weeks or 3 months premature. At her 1st month of life she was diagnosed with Congenital Myotonic Dystrophy. It causes weakness of the muscles of the neck, legs, and arms. Aubrey has a severe form and doctors gave her less than one year to live. Aubrey just turned 3. She now has a life expectancy to live to be 40 according to research. She loves to walk and says a few words which doctors predicted she never would be able to do. Aubrey began therapeutic ridng at age 2. It has increased her self-esteem and strengthened her trunk. She walks whenever she can and is very brave in her efforts to try new challenges. she goes to school and enjoys it. We can see so much improvement. We want to thank the staff and others that help Flint Hills Therapeutic Riding Center because it continues to help our little miracle.

Tavrick

It is with great pleasure that I write in support of Flint Hills Therapeutic Riding Center and the work that it does. Our first experience with this staff was eleven years ago. That was when my son, who was born with Down syndrome first started therapy with them. Tavrick, could not walk, talk or hold himself up very well. However, he loved horses and the whole experience of coming to therapy here. At times we paid the full fee and at times we asked for a partial scholarship. The effect therapy and the staff had on my son is hard to capture in mere words. It was like a whole new part of a world opened up for him and it had the same sort of effect on the rest of my family. In the long run our family routine started to revolve around the fun activities and fund raisers of the center and we enjoyed parties organized by them, fund raising events, “horse whisperer “ events and my other children started to enjoy doing things with their disabled sibling more and more. Even my parents who came to visit me from India got into the act and helped whenever they could. Tavrick started to talk, to crawl, to walk, to sit up straight, to sign and to have a blast in therapy. His gross motor skills improved and his gait got smoother. I am happy to say that Tavrick graduated from therapeutic riding to regular riding and still loves to come back as a volunteer. He and his sister volunteer in the barn and I volunteer as a side walker with other children.