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If you would like to
contact us, you can
e-mail
jr.mamea@courage.org
contact us, you can
jr.mamea@courage.org
Spotlight
Deandra
creates
this website
creates
this website
Jerry played in the Veterans Wheelchair Games in Omaha, Nebraska. His team won
the consolation prize. There were six power soccer teams with 2 experienced players
and the rest were all first time players.
Watch Jerry play power soccer
the consolation prize. There were six power soccer teams with 2 experienced players
and the rest were all first time players.
Watch Jerry play power soccer
Nathan
gets
a dog
gets
a dog
According to an old saying, nothing is as good for the inside of a person as the outside of a horse. Michaela learned that firsthand seven years ago when she began swapping her
wheelchair for an hour in the saddle.
Cerebral palsy robbed Michaela, 15, of much of her strength and mobility. Her weekly rides aboard Rusty help her regain it — a little at a time — along with a wealth of confidence,
friendship and unconditional love. As a client of We Can Ride, Powers is among hundreds of Minnesotans with physical and cognitive disabilities who have experienced the freedom and
exhilaration of life on horseback.
The Minnetonka-based organization uses horses to provide physical therapy and recreation for people with more than 100 different conditions. When Michaela sits atop Rusty, wearing
her riding boots and helmet, her back straightens, her legs relax and her smile spreads to the volunteers and therapists assisting her. In the saddle, she is at home.
“I never thought I could do this,’’ said the sophomore at Chaska High School. “I’ve seen regular people who can’t do it. I love being here.’’
We Can Ride was founded in 1982 and serves about 250 clients a year from its base at the Hennepin County Home School stables and three other locations. It is supported mainly
through donations and fundraisers, including this weekend’s Harvest Horse Show at the state fairgrounds.
Program director Judi French said riding provides a unique form of physical therapy. Sitting upright on a walking horse builds muscle strength, particularly in the trunk and legs, and
develops balance. The horse’s gentle motion helps to calm spastic and tight muscles. It also helps to increase range of motion and to calm and focus clients.
Riders range in age from 2 to 70. They have a broad spectrum of disabilities, and many ride with the assistance of volunteers who lead the horse and walk alongside to steady the rider; a
hydraulic lift raises wheelchairs to help them mount more easily.
The program’s 35 horses tend to be older, retired from careers in the show ring or race track. Quiet and docile, they inspire trust and confidence in their riders and care for them as
tenderly as their human counterparts. On Monday, Ruger, a 19-year-old bay, stopped whenever he felt rider Bethany Cape tense up.
Bethany, 10, has cerebral palsy and developmental delays. Riding Ruger has helped her relax her limbs, improve her ability to sit up and hold her head straight, and build strength in her
hips after multiple surgeries.
“He is very sensitive to her, and he knows when she’s not feeling well,’’ said Bethany’s mom, Theresa Cape. “He’ll stop and wait when he knows she needs a break. When we first came
here, she cried when she got on the horse. Now she cries when she has to get off.’’
We Can Ride’s staff of therapists, its army of volunteers and families of participants all have stories of riders who were transformed through their time in the saddle. Allison Livermore,
director of business development, recalled a boy who did not speak but loved to feed carrots to his therapy horse, Haji. One evening when his mother served carrots at dinner, the boy
grabbed one and said, “Haji.’’
Other riders have become strong enough to walk, to communicate enough to converse and to be confident enough to continue expanding their boundaries. Riding lends many a sense of
freedom and independence that they have never experienced, as well as pride in doing something many able-bodied people cannot.
“Riding gave Michaela the ability to tackle something she didn’t think would be attainable,’’ said her father, Mike Powers. “She said to me one day, 'I live in a world I have to adapt to. When
I’m here, they adapt to me.’ ’’
Some of We Can Ride’s clients have been riding for 20 years. The organization has a long waiting list for its programs, which includes carriage driving.
Bethany laughed and smiled throughout her session on Ruger, and true to form, she fussed when it was time to go. She declined a sloppy kiss from her horse, but she did give his nose a
goodbye stroke.
Michaela patted Rusty on the shoulder, then powered her wheelchair through the dusty barn aisle out into the night. “We were supposed to have [school] conferences tonight,’’ her dad
said. “She said, 'Dad, we’re not going to conferences. We’re going riding.’ This means so much to her.’’
wheelchair for an hour in the saddle.
Cerebral palsy robbed Michaela, 15, of much of her strength and mobility. Her weekly rides aboard Rusty help her regain it — a little at a time — along with a wealth of confidence,
friendship and unconditional love. As a client of We Can Ride, Powers is among hundreds of Minnesotans with physical and cognitive disabilities who have experienced the freedom and
exhilaration of life on horseback.
The Minnetonka-based organization uses horses to provide physical therapy and recreation for people with more than 100 different conditions. When Michaela sits atop Rusty, wearing
her riding boots and helmet, her back straightens, her legs relax and her smile spreads to the volunteers and therapists assisting her. In the saddle, she is at home.
“I never thought I could do this,’’ said the sophomore at Chaska High School. “I’ve seen regular people who can’t do it. I love being here.’’
We Can Ride was founded in 1982 and serves about 250 clients a year from its base at the Hennepin County Home School stables and three other locations. It is supported mainly
through donations and fundraisers, including this weekend’s Harvest Horse Show at the state fairgrounds.
Program director Judi French said riding provides a unique form of physical therapy. Sitting upright on a walking horse builds muscle strength, particularly in the trunk and legs, and
develops balance. The horse’s gentle motion helps to calm spastic and tight muscles. It also helps to increase range of motion and to calm and focus clients.
Riders range in age from 2 to 70. They have a broad spectrum of disabilities, and many ride with the assistance of volunteers who lead the horse and walk alongside to steady the rider; a
hydraulic lift raises wheelchairs to help them mount more easily.
The program’s 35 horses tend to be older, retired from careers in the show ring or race track. Quiet and docile, they inspire trust and confidence in their riders and care for them as
tenderly as their human counterparts. On Monday, Ruger, a 19-year-old bay, stopped whenever he felt rider Bethany Cape tense up.
Bethany, 10, has cerebral palsy and developmental delays. Riding Ruger has helped her relax her limbs, improve her ability to sit up and hold her head straight, and build strength in her
hips after multiple surgeries.
“He is very sensitive to her, and he knows when she’s not feeling well,’’ said Bethany’s mom, Theresa Cape. “He’ll stop and wait when he knows she needs a break. When we first came
here, she cried when she got on the horse. Now she cries when she has to get off.’’
We Can Ride’s staff of therapists, its army of volunteers and families of participants all have stories of riders who were transformed through their time in the saddle. Allison Livermore,
director of business development, recalled a boy who did not speak but loved to feed carrots to his therapy horse, Haji. One evening when his mother served carrots at dinner, the boy
grabbed one and said, “Haji.’’
Other riders have become strong enough to walk, to communicate enough to converse and to be confident enough to continue expanding their boundaries. Riding lends many a sense of
freedom and independence that they have never experienced, as well as pride in doing something many able-bodied people cannot.
“Riding gave Michaela the ability to tackle something she didn’t think would be attainable,’’ said her father, Mike Powers. “She said to me one day, 'I live in a world I have to adapt to. When
I’m here, they adapt to me.’ ’’
Some of We Can Ride’s clients have been riding for 20 years. The organization has a long waiting list for its programs, which includes carriage driving.
Bethany laughed and smiled throughout her session on Ruger, and true to form, she fussed when it was time to go. She declined a sloppy kiss from her horse, but she did give his nose a
goodbye stroke.
Michaela patted Rusty on the shoulder, then powered her wheelchair through the dusty barn aisle out into the night. “We were supposed to have [school] conferences tonight,’’ her dad
said. “She said, 'Dad, we’re not going to conferences. We’re going riding.’ This means so much to her.’’