Free rein to bond with horses

Eliana Anderson nervously stretches out her hand but snaps it back as the horse turns to sniff her.

"Do you want to say hi to Isaac?" Riding for the Disabled coach Sharon Aldersley gently asks her.

Eliana shakes her blonde head sideways with certainty, concern etched into her face.

She cautiously climbs from the platform on to the large, dark brown horse, with help from Sharon.

I hold one ankle while volunteer Jan Aldersley holds the other as the 5-year-old tries to utter "walk on" and taps the horse which begins to walk slowly into the indoor arena.

After a few steps, her big, blue eyes light up, her mouth curls into a smile and her body relaxes.

It's not long before she is grinning as we lead her around the arena while instructions are called out to "put your hands straight up in the air", "put your arms out to the side" and "touch your head".

Eliana has a rare chromosome disorder which means she has a severe global developmental delay giving her the physical and mental ability of a 3-year-old although she is almost 6.

With some prompting and help from Jan and I, the young girl happily waves her hands above her head and tries to touch her shoulders while volunteer Barbara Jones leads Isaac in a figure eight.

Holding on to her small ankle I can feel the muscles all through her body tensing and working to keep her body balanced on the horse.

Another three horses each carrying a disabled rider are also in the arena and all come to a halt as coach and physiotherapist Sharon Aldersley tells the kids to lean forward and hug their horses' necks, lie down on their horses, ride backwards or sideways and spin themselves around.

The riders then make their way over a series of numbered poles on the ground the more able kids direct their leaders through the course using the numbers while we lead Eliana around it pointing out the digits as we say them.

The last activity for the morning's session is a walk outside. The four horses are led single file down the long driveway of the Welcome Bay farm which overlooks the glassy waters of Rangataua Bay, across a paddock, over a quaint wooden bridge and back up the driveway to the arena.I always thought of Riding for the Disabled as just a fun activity for disabled children but less than an hour into my day at the charity I am convinced it is an organisation Tauranga could not do without.

It is more than just a fun morning for Eliana and the other riders whose bodies are being strengthened as their confidence grows and they are encouraged to learn numbers and speech, all while on a horse.

Eliana has been coming for weekly sessions for the past year and mother Judy Anderson says the benefits are endless.

"From an Ellie perspective, we have family who have horses and she's always been scared of them and now she just love, love, loves it," she says.

"You only have to say to her we're going to the horses in the morning and she just goes nuts and does the horse noises.

"Sharon changes her programme every week. She has games where she has to pick up different coloured objects off the wall. And the fastness they often do a canter and she just finds it exhilarating."

The sessions teach her the skills we all take for granted such as obeying commands and speaking.

She has learned to say "walk on" in her own sort of language and while unintelligible to people who do not know her it is a great leap forward.

For Judy Anderson, seeing her eldest daughter having fun and getting to know other parents who have children with disabilities was "absolutely brilliant".

But disabled people are not the only ones who benefit from time with the organisation's 13 horses.

Afternoon sessions at the farm often consist of at-risk youth and teenagers referred through Child and Adolescent Mental Health taking part in the Therapeutic Care Programme.

There are also plenty of chores to be done at the farm each day. It's not long before I am filling feed bags with hay, sweeping, emptying wheelbarrows of manure and tidying the gear room to make sure everything is accounted for and in its correct place.

Despite my lack of horse skills I am paired up with a young boy from Tauranga Intermediate. It is only his third session but he quickly explains everything he knows and shows me how to catch his horse, groom it and saddle him up ready to ride.

Coach Karen Hall challenges the group to ride with their eyes closed and arms out while we lead them around the arena.

But this is not just about learning to ride she weaves in messages about learning to trust others, having confidence in themselves, and not being afraid to try things even if they might not succeed first time.

The centre provides equestrian skills therapy for about 100 riders a week and about 400 each year.

Chief executive Kat Macmillian says the organisation provides physical and emotional therapy for people from 3-years-old to adult.

"It's having a therapy session not in a clinical environment. A lot of people respond really well outside of a clinical environment. It helps them understand empathy, compassion, working in a team, sport it's really fun.

"Although they love it, they are doing some serious rolls and stretches on the horses - it's really rewarding," she says.

"It's kind of like physio on horseback."

Seeing the change and improvement in riders is what keeps staff and volunteers going, she says.

"You sort of think how inspiring they are. They have so many medical conditions and what they achieve here is phenomenal."

Karen Hall says the Therapeutic Care Programme is about encouraging riders to "put themselves out there".

"They are having to build those connections between themselves and their horses and each other. Here it is about doing it in a structure and feeling success," she says.

The centre has also just begun a new equine-assisted psychotherapy and learning programme called EAGALA.

Participants do not ride the horses but work with the animals, a mental health professional and an equine specialist to help process and express their emotions.

"It uses the horse as a metaphor, it's using it as experiential learning," Karen Hall says.

"Horses are like us in a lot of ways. They are quite expressive, they are really responsive."

My time at the therapy centre is drawing to an end.

I've never been into horses but after eight hours at the farm I am itching to get on one myself.

I can see just how effective they are in helping children.

I'm exhausted and ready to sit down but I've learned so much about the organisation, the people - and myself.

I'd do it again in a heartbeat.