Horses with Hope Bring Therapeutic Riding to Gilfillan Farm Tim Gagne On a chilly, but clear Saturday morning last November, Anne Davis and a team of volunteers—two holding the leads of halters—formed a circle outside the Bethel Park facility of Horses with Hope, joined hands, and offered a prayer for a successful day ahead, as well as for the recent partnership with the Historical Society of Upper St. Clair (HSUSC) that will bring their therapeutic riding program to HSUSC’s Gilfillan Farm this spring. Shortly after this heartfelt huddle, two young riders arrived and, with assistance, mounted therapy horses, Rex and Rein, for their 40-minute-long riding lessons. Horses with Hope is a discovery, growth, and learning center that employs the power of equine therapy to improve the physical, mental, emotional, and social quality of life for Pittsburgh and Washington County area youth and adults with physical and behavioral health challenges. Carefully designed riding lessons help each participant reach their full potential, assisting them to expand their abilities through various exercises, but more importantly by the relationship developed with the horses. “It’s deeply gratifying to see our riders grow and develop through their partnership with the horses,” said Anne. “There is a spark that ignites when a horse and rider work together that gives the animal a purpose and the rider a way to reach beyond their current abilities. It’s like watching little miracles every day.” In 2007, Anne left a 20-year career in the airline industry to start Horses with Hope, inWalking along the wood-chipped trail at Gilfillan Farm spired by her daughter, Jamie Lynn—now 17—who was born with Down Syndrome. The program began in Washington County with three students and quickly grew to capacity, serving 27 clients per week with more than 75 volunteers. In 2013, Horses with Hope incorporated as a non-profit organization, bought four horses, and moved the program to the South Hills of Pittsburgh. This expansion enabled the program to nearly double the number of individuals it served. This growth is largely attributable to the group’s growing reputation and outreach efforts to underserved groups, including group homes for the physically and developmentally disabled, a psychiatric hospital, Pittsburgh Public Schools, and Allegheny Intermediate Unit schools. By 2014, Horses with Hope had expanded to 100 clients per week when school is in session, offering both therapeutic riding and equine-assisted learning sessions. The organization’s volunteer corps has swelled to more than 100, and includes teenagers engaged in service learning and university students completing internships. The therapeutic benefits of working with horses has been recorded and studied for more than two millennia. However, it wasn’t until Liz Hartel of Denmark won a Gilfillan Farm cleanup silver medal at the 1952 Helsinki Olympic Games that equine therapy really caught the attention of medical Left to right: Anne and Jamie Davis and equine professionals. (Hartel had suffered some paralysis from polio and had used horse riding to strengthen her leg muscles.) Now, organizations, including the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) and the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA), accredit hundreds of therapeutic riding programs in North America alone, and therapeutic riding is known to benefit individuals with a wide range of physical and mental conditions. Affiliated with both PATH and EAGALA, Horses with Hope began conversations with the HSUSC last summer that will result in a move by Horses with Hope to Gilfillan Farm, a 15-acre historical property in Upper 14
UPPER ST. CLAIR TODAY
Spring 2021
