Story by Brianna Atkinson
Video by Leslie Guzman
Photos by Ronan Brown
Graphic by Jonathan Flores
HIGH POINT — Red, yellow, green and blue foam tiles scatter the sandy floor of the arena as Mikayla Smith stands in the middle flicking a Twister spinner.
It lands on yellow. And right hind hoof.
Smith’s Twister game has nothing to do with spots on a mat or human body parts. And she isn’t standing in the middle of any ordinary arena.
She’s on a ranch, in High Point, surrounded by four horses.
Smith is a recreational therapist at HORSEPOWER, a therapeutic learning center for people with disabilities.
HORSEPOWER gives lessons to 120 riders per week. They include students with learning or physical disabilities, veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and survivors of domestic violence.
Each class is limited to four students who ride one of the center’s 18 horses.
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Parker Roy, a 17-year-old in one of Smith’s classes, rides Glory, a 16th birthday present from his parents.
Alyson Roy, Parker’s mom, said the gift was inspired by what she was buying Parker’s twin brother for his 16th – a car. A gift that Parker couldn’t have, because he isn’t able to drive.
“That was a difficult present to compete with,” Alyson said. “To try to find something that is even in the ballpark of an equal kind of gift, we got his own horsepower. My son got it in the form of a car; (Parker) got it in the form of a horse.”
Parker can’t drive because he has Duchenne muscular dystrophy, an incurable condition where someone’s body is unable to fully develop healthy muscles.
“He is no longer able to climb stairs,” Alyson said. “Uneven terrain is difficult. What would feel like a short walk to most feels like a marathon (to him).”
It also decreases his endurance, makes it harder for him to walk and puts him at risk for falls and fractures.
But, when Parker plays games like Twister in Smith’s class, he is able to move the same muscles involved in walking – without having to actually walk.
Smith said when her students guide their horses to a colorful Twister tile, they are actually working on higher level skills such as using the left and right sides of their body to control the horse.
“That horse is simulating those muscles without them having to do a whole lot of work or effort,” Smith said. “They’re kind of sitting there not realizing that the horse is engaging those same muscles you use when you walk.”
Instructor Emily Mann also leads classes with students who have physical needs. She said in addition to exercises like the Twister game, just the natural movement involved in horseback riding activates the muscles involved in walking and even mimics the rhythm of speech.
“There’s also just something magical about the horse that we just can’t necessarily measure,” Mann said. “We have people take their first steps right after getting off the horse. We’ve had people say their first words on top of the horse. And when that type of thing happens, there’s not a dry eye in the arena.”
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HORSEPOWER started with a gift of love to Jan Clifford.
Back in 1995, Clifford’s family surprised her with a trip to a horse ranch for Mother’s Day.
In the middle of the field was a chunky, healthy-looking horse and Clifford was told it was hers. But as she looked farther out, she saw a horse that looked like it needed her love a bit more.
“I saw this other horse, up against the tree line, skin and bones and sores — he was abused when I found him,” Clifford said. “I took him home and I fed him and I loved him and I took care of him. He’s the one I started the program with.”
She named him MD, in honor of the day she brought him home. Afterward, she started a weekend program in Texas where kids and their families had picnics and went on horseback rides.
Eventually, Clifford and her family moved from Texas to North Carolina. It was here where she decided to take the program in a new direction, starting HORSEPOWER.
But, after seeing the serenity MD provided for her family and reading about how beneficial horses can be for people with learning and physical disabilities, she decided to shift the focus to children with special needs instead.
As HORSEPOWER continued to grow, Clifford started looking into other people she could help; eventually adding on a veteran’s program.
“There’s such a big need for people with PTSD, because sometimes you feel like you have nothing you can turn to, you’re not fitting in the world,” she said. “It’s kind of like children with autism — they are in a different world than we are. So, the horse helps bring them into our world.”
HORSEPOWER is one of 13 centers in North Carolina with premier accreditation from the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International, and one of three in the Triad.
It is also a nonprofit, which means that students pay about $300 for six-week long sessions and it runs on a network of volunteers.
A network that Mann said has become hundreds of people deep over the years, and a community that Clifford said is one of the most important parts of the center.
“It’s the work of the heart,” Clifford said. “It’s the volunteers that really keep us going, that sustain us. It’s not that they’re doing something for HORSEPOWER, they’re part of it. It’s a family.”
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Riding on the back of a 1,000-pound horse is something Michelle Lackey never expected her 9-year-old daughter Swayze to be able to do.
Not because of a physical difficulty, but because of her diagnosis on the autism spectrum.
Swayze’s diagnosis makes it harder for her to socialize with other kids her age, wear certain types of clothing like jeans and shoes like boots, and be comfortable in her own body.
Part of this diagnosis is also a lower sense of proprioception, which means that Swayze sometimes isn’t sure that her body can do what she wants it to.
When Michelle would take Swayze to the playground when she was younger, other kids would jump, ride the slide and climb on monkey bars as Swayze stood by.
“What if I climb on that slide and I fall off and I bust my head open?” Michelle recalled Swayze asking. “Her mind always went — ‘this is going to end badly, I’m gonna die.’”
But not in her Wednesday horseback riding class.
At HORSEPOWER, Swayze rides Canel — the biggest horse in her class — while wearing equestrian boots.
She proudly introduces herself to the class and shows the new students where to find their horses’ reins.
In the arena with her head held high, she tells Canel to “walk on” after Smith calls out a direction from her class’ Twister spinner and to “whoa” as his left front hoof reaches the red tile.
And she does it all with a belief in herself that Michelle said she hasn’t had anywhere else.
“The confidence that I see in my child, it almost brings tears to my eyes,” Michelle said. “She holds her head up high, whereas in school, it’s not that way. I’ve heard people say when you watch a child on a horse who has these challenges, you won’t believe the things they can do on a horse that they can’t do when they’re standing on the ground — and that really has been our experience.”
Mann said this is the other piece to the magic of the horse puzzle — the motivation students develop and the bond they create with their horses, peers and volunteers at the ranch.
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Over the seven years Parker’s been at HORSEPOWER, Alyson said she’s seen the magic of the horse through how his muscular dystrophy has progressed.
But, the biggest growth she’s seen within him hasn’t been from his physical condition. Instead, it has come from his mental health.
“His self-confidence and feeling of self-worth,” Alyson said. “How happy he is when he leaves. No matter what they’ve done that class; he’s come, he’s done his best, he’s spent time with his horse, he’s done something that his brothers don’t do. It’s something he can excel at on his own, without having to compete with somebody else.”
And for Parker, he said the lessons he’s taken at HORSEPOWER, along with the bond he has developed with Glory and everyone else at the ranch has had a huge impact on his well-being.
“It makes me feel good every time I come here,” Parker said. “It (means) everything. It is my life.”
