health & wel lness s pri ng 2020
Philanthropy |
THERAPEUTIC HORSEMANSHIP
Horses for Healing
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Text by Heather Bennett
ot Springs is home to a new nonprofit organization that utilizes horses to deliver essential, previously unavailable services to adults and children with disabilities (cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, autism, wheelchair users, intellectual and developmental disabilities). The organization brings therapeutic riding and access to the only hippotherapy program in the county. There are around 14,000 children under the age of 18 in Garland County with at least one or more disabilities, and
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over 20% of the county’s overall population lives with one or more disabilities. Sadly, services for those with disabilities, including critical therapies, are challenging to find. The vision of Sunshine Therapeutic Riding Center is to make hippotherapy and therapeutic riding services accessible to all individuals with disabilities in the greater Garland County area for little to no cost. STRC is the brainchild of Katja and Zach Summerlin, who are both passionate horse owners. The idea for STRC came about after the couple had
| Hot Springs LIFE & HOME | HEALTH & WELLNESS SPRING 2020
difficulty finding effective therapies for their son Aiden, who has Down syndrome. “I used my experience with horses to help Aiden and realized he shouldn’t be the only child in the county with access to therapy this effective,” said Summerlin. “Our purpose is to create a facility in Hot Springs that changes lives through
