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Helping others stay in the saddle

Equine therapy program paying dividends for riders, volunteers

By BEN NELMS
bnelms@TheCitizen.com

It was a breezy, cloudless mid-September Saturday morning on Wilkerson Mill Road that provided a beautiful light blue canopy overhead for the riders and volunteers and horses below. The smiles in the eyes and on the faces of everyone spending the morning at Reece Center near Palmetto accentuated the landscape of green grass and soft rolling hills. It is here that participants in the nonprofit equine therapy program learn a greater independence in the simple pleasure and profound experience that caring for and riding a horse can bring.

Though recently relocated on a portion of the former Holiday Downs property, the Reece Center’s therapeutic riding program for people with disabilities is no new endeavor, said CEO and Board Chairman Wade Wheeler. The nonprofit had its beginnings in the area two decades ago as an offshoot of another program.

Established as Ride Atlanta, Inc. and now doing business as the Reece Center, Wheeler said the organization moved to Clayton County and then to DeKalb. The program was forced to relocate each time as property was sold for development. The current location in Palmetto came by way of a generous lease agreement through Ornstein Schuler Capital Partners, LLC, Wheeler said. Just north of Wilkerson Mill Park, the newly renovated barn and stalls and other facilities are located on 40 acres of the 138-acre parcel.

Serving riders ages six to adult, the all-volunteer staff at Reece Center know there is more to caring for and riding horseback than meets the eye. The acquisition of those skills far transcends the physical presence of the individual on horseback or the use of a curry brush after the riding is done. It is the formation of a bond with the animal that facilitates the acquisition of greater self-confidence, self-worth and the refinement of gross and fine motor skills. Yet the personal bond between human and horse brings a greater connectedness and an enhanced sense of belonging to some of society’s most precious, and often most unacknowledged, citizens. It is that understanding and that mission that reinforce the efforts Wade and Denise Wheeler and more than 50 volunteers promote.

“Our riders have unlimited potential and we encourage them to ride to their absolute maximum potential towards greater independence,” Wade said resolutely, who along with Denise and so many others continue to promote the reality that the label “disability” or “handicapped” does not begin to portray the real humanity and the potential for growth that exists inside each of us, regardless our circumstances in life. “Not all will be independent, but they will accomplish far more than they would have.”

Arriving Saturday morning, his smile and sense of humor unmistakable, was 27 year-old Atlanta resident David Hardy. A Reece Center rider for years, he began a conversation with Wade Wheeler as he approached the barn where Wheeler and others were standing. The two engaged in a good-natured banter that often happens between people that know and respect each other, the kind of exchange so common among friends.

“I like horses and I like the friendship here,” David explained, as he glanced over at Wade Wheeler, eyes bright. “It’s like a family.”

On that mid-September Saturday morning at Reece Center, families and volunteers mingled with riders, saddling and preparing the horses for the morning’s activities. The pasture began to fill with vehicles and activity heightened around the recently renovated barn that houses the tack room, feed room and many stalls. Overhead, other volunteers carried roofing material, continuing the upgrade to the facility. Reece Center has been blessed, Wheeler said, to receive donations from companies such as Palmetto Lumber, Dixie International, Home Depot and Atlanta Auto Auction.

“Atlanta Auto Auction has just taken us and adopted us. We’re excited about it,” he said. “They’ve cleared brush and trees, leveled the riding ring, brought in sand and gravel and completed installing the ring.”

Close by was volunteer Laurie Newman, who found Reece Center nearly four years ago. Her love for horses and the desire to help others attracted her to the center and its work. Now almost four years later, Newman is glad she found a venue to make a contribution in the lives of other people.

“I love it here, the people and the horses. It’s a win/win situation. Being here is a way to contribute to something other than myself,” she said. “We’re all in life together. I’ve got a good life and I can’t see why I shouldn’t help others.”

As with most everything in life, there is more than one way to view the activity of people being assisted in learning to ride a horse. There is the obvious physical, visual perspective one sees with the eyes, people with so-called handicaps acquiring greater self-confidence and connectedness by learning to ride and care for horses. And there is the intrinsic reward experienced by the volunteers, some working with riders, others working around the property. But there is something else, another view, available to anyone willing to see, not with their eyes, but with their heart.

To Wade and Denise Wheeler, to the volunteers at Reece Center, to the families of the riders attending the program, to the riders themselves and to everyone willing to forego the long-held barriers imposed by language and societal perception, there is something far more real happening at Reece Center. This greater reality transcends the visual landscape.

True vision does not come from what the eyes see, but rather from what the heart sees. What is really happening at Reece Center is people lending a helping hand to other people, with no need to affix a label of physical or cognitive competency, no need to look down or look away, no need to deny the reality that, in terms of the fundamental qualities we refer to as “human,” there is no real disability. There is no need at Reece Center for the label of disability that society so unthinkingly, perhaps unwittingly, assigns to those who are different. And perhaps, rather than labeling the disabled it would be better to disable the label.

For Wade and Denise and the many volunteers who share a part of their lives with others at a little equine therapy program near Palmetto the reality quite is simple. The riders, like themselves, are just people. They are friends.

Reece Center operates from fall through spring with breaks at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Due to heat conditions, summer sessions can be conducted only if the riding ring can be covered. Current plans call for developing a classroom and concession stand. Further down the road, the center may use the old race tack facility for fundraising activities. But regardless of the current and future parameters of the Reece Center endeavors, the nonprofit exists through tax-deductible donations. Current needs include gravel, limber, roofing material, indoor/outdoor paint, vet supplies and hay.

Individuals or companies wishing to make a tax-deductible donation should contact Wade or Denise Wheeler at 678-423-0858 or cherub2mom@aol.com.