72 SIDELINES SEPTEMBER 2014
FOR HORSE PEOPLE • ABOUT HORSE PEOPLE
By Dani Moritz
H
ow do you describe therapeutic riding — what it is, what
it does? You could describe it as sensory stimulation that
inspires physical and emotional improvements among
the mentally and physically disabled. You could say it mimics
walking, instills confidence, is a platform for learning — all of
which are true, but none of which truly captures precisely what
therapeutic riding really is.
Perhaps the best way to describe it is making miracles.
In reality, therapeutic riding is the feeling a mother gets when
she hears her 7-year-old daughter laugh for the very first time
at the simple sight of a horse sneezing. It’s the tears that rush
down a parent’s cheek as her child speaks his first word to the
trusty steed beneath him. It’s the smile that overcomes a father’s
face when his little boy holds himself up for the very first time
and proves to the world that he has what it takes. You could even
describe it as a little girl who once struggled through every day,
knowing and accepting that it might be her last, but now has
something to live for — because each week she battles on is
another day atop her favorite horse.
Every day across the country, thousands of volunteers,
instructors and, perhaps most importantly, horses, change the
lives of people who otherwise have little to look forward to.
They give people their first words, their first smile, a way to
communicate and the freedom of movement to those otherwise
confined to a wheelchair.
At SIRE, in the Houston, Texas area, they’ve been inspiring
these miracles since 1974 — each of the aforementioned
miracles included.
It Takes a Village
In 2013 alone, SIRE served 307 clients with 77 different
diagnoses with a 98 percent improvement rate. To serve these
clients, it takes four PATH Master-certified instructors, 15
additional certified instructors, nine support staff, 27 therapy
horses and 550 volunteers.
These numbers include all three of their Houston-area
facilities — in Hockley, Spring and Fort Bend — making SIRE
one of the largest premier PATH-accredited riding centers in the
country. SIRE also happens to be a major training hub for PATH-
certified instructors and soon-to-be instructors. At the moment,
Therapeutic Equestrian Center
e
Second Chances
Making Miracles at SIRE
Skyler Lindemann at the CGG
Saddle Up for SIRE Ride-a-thon
Photo by Tod Gilpin
