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Jonathan Musselman, 3, of Adamstown, stretched out on his back at the bottom of a ramp, his red T-shirt riding up to reveal his bellybutton, as he waited for the horse to arrive.
Then he got up and walked to a platform where, with help from his mom, Beth Musselman, he mounted a tan Haflinger named Misty.
Jonathan and Misty each found recovery at Triangle Therapeutic Riding Center, in Reinholds.
Misty had been rescued from a previous owner to provide therapy for children and adults with disabilities.
"She was just skin and bones; now she's a porker," executive director Laura Rutledge said, patting Misty's solid side.
Jonathan, who has autism, has progressed, in part, because of riding therapy, his mother said.
"He's a sensory seeker," she explained, "and it gives him the sensory input that he needs so that he can focus on speaking and listening to us."
Though Rutledge and her staff are not paid, the program is expensive to maintain. And revenue sources are wearing thin as riders lack funds because of the poor economy and the recent state budget impasse.
Lessons are $40 per session. Some riders require several sessions per week.
State-funded local programs pay for 10 weeks of therapy for many of the riders, Rutledge said.
"But with no budget passed, we've not been paid for the ones that completed their 10 weeks and [for] the riders that are coming in now," she said prior to Gov. Ed Rendell's Friday, Sept 18, announcement that a budget deal had been reached. [As of Living section deadline, however, the budget had not yet received legislative approval.]
Some self-paying parents — already strapped with other health-care costs for their children with special needs — have reluctantly withdrawn them from the program.
Even if state funds were flowing, sponsors for riders and horses are still needed to maintain the program, Rutledge said.
It costs at least $650 per month to board and care for each of the eight therapy horses.
And there are other expenses. "Insurance alone is $6,500 a month," Rutledge said.
A volunteer staff of three certified therapeutic trainers and two apprentice trainers serves 38 children and adults with disabilities ranging from anxiety disorder to cerebral palsy to brain injury.
Other volunteers — many of them relatives of riders — muck stalls, groom, feed and exercise horses.
They all make it possible for children like Melissa Gehman, of Reinholds, to have a special experience. Melissa giggled as she trotted on a Welsh pony — a retired show-jumper named Blue. "I like it because it bounces me and makes me work hard," she said, smiling.
Rutledge had her hands on the pony as she walked beside it, coaching Melissa, who has cerebral palsy. A volunteer, Sarah Van Dyke, 23, walked on the other side of the pony to help prevent Melissa from falling. A third person, Jennifer Bielecki, 16, also a volunteer, walked in front, loosely holding the lead.
"We're gonna do the leg stretch again," Rutledge said. As Blue continued to walk, Melissa straightened her legs, pushing them forward with heels down and toes up in the stirrups.
A minute or two later, Melissa resumed the game that strengthens her core muscles.
Blue scores two points if Melissa leans forward or backward. Melissa wins the points if she sits up straight.
Most days, Melissa wins.
The posture-building exercise is important to prevent scoliosis, her mother, Peggy Gehman, said.
When Joey Speece, 6, of West Lawn, Berks County, was discharged from an outpatient rehab program for lack of progress, his neurologist suggested therapeutic riding. Joey was born with microcephaly, a condition that causes an abnormally small head and underdeveloped brain.
"Unfortunately, the [therapeutic riding program] that was closest to our house had closed the same year because of lack of funds," his mother Lisa Speece said.
Then she found Triangle.
Joey can sit and stand longer as a result of riding therapy, she said. And his vocabulary has increased.
"He went from five words to about 50 words in the first year," she said.
If Triangle were not available to the boy, "I think that it would immediately affect Joey's communication and his behavior," his mother said.
"I don't take him there to learn how to ride horses; I take him there because he does activities to help him develop his core muscles, communicate and develop relationships."
For more information, or to sponsor a horse or rider, contact Laura Rutledge, 371-3654, or visit triangletr.org.
Jeannette Scott is a Sunday News staff writer. Contact her at jscott@lnpnews.com or at 291-8689.
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