Therapeutic Riding
I’ve been a rider at Hoofbeats Therapeutic Riding Center since 2003. I got started riding as my exercise for fibromyalgia. The benefits have been far-reaching. I believe therapeutic riding rescued me from a downward spiral I found myself in after trying to work after I graduated from college. I couldn’t work because of chemical sensitivity and fibromyalgia.
I spent most of my childhood dreaming about horses. So as a 19-year-old freshman, in 1974, I signed up for a community college equitation class. Everything was going well—until I went on a trail ride. My instructor told me I didn’t need my hard hat. I should have realized that riding without protection was a stupid idea, but I trusted my instructor. When my horse changed gaits from a trot to a canter, I got bucked off. I broke my arm in two places and got a concussion and cervical neck injury. I spent months in recovery, then went back to riding the same horse.
After experiencing many unexplained symptoms and much pain, I eventually was referred to the University of Virginia Allergy Clinic in 1993, where I received my chemical sensitivity diagnosis. A year later the UVA Rheumatology Clinic gave me my FM diagnosis. My rheumatologist theorized that a fall from a horse triggered fibromyalgia.
My nurse practitioner for the past 16 years, who has followed me through all of the chemical sensitivity and FM stuff, encouraged me to find some kind of exercise. I had been reading about Hoofbeats Therapeutic Riding Center. I thought how wonderful it would be to go back to my first love! The nurse practitioner was very excited that I wanted to do this. She wrote out my prescription and filled out all of the paperwork.
I got started in May 2003. It had been 23 years since I had been on a horse. I was nervous about riding again. I kept thinking about my accident. Carol Branscombe, the head instructor, put me on a stocky gray pony. I had side walkers and a lead line for four lessons until I graduated to an appendix gelding (QH-TB). Carol decided I was an independent rider. I rode all summer on the appendix.
For my first two years at Hoofbeats I had to tack up my horse. In order to bond with your horse, it is good to be able to do the grooming. I lost the ability to clean out hooves, so a volunteer did that for me. (You have to pick up each foot, balance it on your leg, and then clean it out. That’s just too difficult for me to do.) I found out that I didn’t have the strength to groom, and then heft a heavy Western or English saddle. By the time I took my lesson, I was exhausted. Since 2005, volunteers have done all the grooming and tacking up for me.
After giving up my entire life due to fibromyalgia, chemical sensitivity, and CFIDS, riding is the one thing I can still do. I used to enjoy the martial arts, weight training, teaching hunter education, and archery. Even my crafting hobbies like quilting, or reading, drawing, or sitting to write fiction got to be so hard to do. It was easy to get discouraged. I was glad that I got into the therapeutic riding program.
It’s really wonderful to be around horses that want to be with me. All of those horses were always so excited to see me when I came for my lesson.
I have competed at the walk my entire time at Hoofbeats, taking the ACORD and IPEC walk Dressage tests. As a teenager, I used to love trotting as fast as possible. But now, as an older rider with fibromyalgia I don’t like it as well. I used to be able to post a trot; now I have to sit them since I don’t have the leg strength to post.
At my first Therapeutic Riding Association of Virginia (TRAV) show at the Virginia Horse Center in I won the Division Championship Trophy. This was a real first for me. Winning this did a lot for my confidence.
By the following year, I met a horse that made such a difference in my life: Ben, a partially sighted Suffolk Punch gelding.
I have met two Hoofbeats’ horses that made a connection with me. Ben was just one of them. The first day I rode Ben he did something special for me. I have trouble getting on and off due to my super stiff leg muscles. I use an elevated HP mounting block for mounting and dismounting. I have a ground crew that helps me for lessons, and at shows. Ben wasn’t close enough to the edge of the block for me to make the stretch with my weak legs. So he made a decision on his own, pushing himself hard into the block so I could get off. This surprised everybody. They all exploded with such emotion over what he did.
But this wasn’t all that he did for me. He helped me address my fear of falling. I rode him from the barn to the riding ring traveling down long hills at a fast walk. Ben got going so fast that I thought I would lose my balance and fall. I got so scared that I braced. Ben fretted about this. All I could think about was the time that I got bucked off. Ben stumbled a few times, on the trail to the riding ring, so that freaked me out. Carol came up with some inventive ways for me to cope. She had me use a neoprene saddle attachment that stopped all the sliding around I did in that English saddle. At the top of the hill before we made our trip to the riding ring, she had me count out loud from one to 10. At 10, I halted Ben. He got to the point that he would halt without me asking.
I had to drop my stirrups, which I hate since I can’t get my weak legs to move well enough to get my feet back in. Ben helped me by pushing the stirrup with his nose over to my boot. He is the only horse who helped me do this.
When I groomed him before and after a lesson I got so tired. Ben let me lean on him. He also liked for me to cuddle his face. I could lead him to the field for turn out without incident. He always walked right beside me as I shuffled along with my cane. He is the only horse who has been careful with his feet when he has been with me.
I have funded my lessons with scholarships, sponsorships, payment plans, and reduced fees. This year Hoofbeats raised their lesson fees for the first time in their existence. I have been able to get partial sponsorship this session, and last year’s third session. Sponsors have gifted me with riding clothes, show clothes, long reins, and other supplies.
I gave up every physical activity I ever loved to do. I couldn’t imagine what boring life I would lead since everything had been taken away. So Hoofbeats rode to my rescue, showing me how accomplished I could be by sitting on a horse. I always say Hoofbeats gave me my life back. I have social contact. I can feel accomplished at horse shows.
Hoofbeats is a healing place. I feel so accomplished after having to give up so much to be able to learn complex Dressage routines, and execute them to music. It is great to have a large equine be in submission to my aids. I feel so great when I can get an expressive Freewalk that receives large marks on a test.
I still have FM pain. I have noticed that as I am concentrating on riding, less attention is paid to the pain. As I ride, I can zone out, and not be focused on pain.
