Hope Horses:
Living up To Its Name BY JESSIE SHOOK Hope Horses, of Cullman, Alabama, has been restoring hope to individuals with special needs since its beginning in 2014. “The goal was to have a place within our community to serve individuals with special needs where they would not only have fun but also find hope,” said Kelsey Scott, Executive Director of Hope Horses, Inc. Scott explained that the mission of Hope Horses is to provide therapeutic riding lessons to children and adults with physical, cognitive, social and emotional needs. “We have come to realize that there are many individuals in the community that can benefit from Hope,” Scott said. Therapeutic riding is much more than someone with a physical disability receiving benefits from riding a horse. Therapeutic riding is beneficial to individuals in need of cognitive and emotional support as well. “When it comes to someone with a physical disability, proper riding position will help their body tremendously,” Scott said. “Whereas someone with social, emotional or a cognitive disability will learn different ways to communicate with the horse.” Scott gave the example of a nonverbal student – they will not be able to tell the horse to “walk-on.” These students will have to physically communicate to the horse for movement. “We call it ‘bump-bump,’ which is simply squeezing their legs asking the horse to move,” Scott January 2021
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