Leader Publications: Pony Bird participants help out at Ride On St. Louis

Article Source & Original Publication: https://www.myleaderpaper.com/news/pony-bird-participants-help-horses-through-helping-hands-program/article_5d4549e7-9d6b-4d2b-96cb-1a84cb0d8077.html

Article Written by Teresa Inserra.

Ride On St. Louis corrections in preferred field terminology appear in brackets in this blog post.

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Ride On St. Louis has a few “Helping Hands” who come every Tuesday, ready and eager to help care for the horses there.

Helping Hands is a volunteer program that Ride On St. Louis created for Pony Bird Community Support Services (CSS) Day Program participants. Pony Bird is a residential facility for people with a range of disabilities, but it also has a day program that provides participants with the opportunity to work on social, independent living, communication and coping skills.

Sherri Hernandez, Pony Bird’s community supports supervisor, said participants started volunteering in the community on a consistent basis in June 2023.

“Part of my job as a supervisor at CSS is to develop new volunteering sites for our individuals who attend our day program,” she said. “There was a lot of interest to find an equine volunteer site in 2023.”

Hernandez reached out to Marita Wassman, founder of Ride On St. Louis, a nonprofit organization she formed in 1998 that offers equine-assisted services to people with disabilities and other challenges. The organization has offered more than a dozen programs over the years.

The nonprofit began Helping Hands in 2023 on a limited pilot program basis. That’s because at that time, the organization was temporarily housed in Cedar Hill after leaving its flood-prone Kimmswick property in 2019.

In 2024, the group purchased its 27-acre “Forever Home” at 9000 Grab Lane northeast of Hillsboro and began improvements there.

The horses moved to the new property this past February, but it would be four more months before the most basic infrastructure was in place for Helping Hands volunteers to begin participating in the weekly, hands-on, all-inclusive program.

BriAnn Session, who is in charge of grants and equine management at Ride On St. Louis, said 21 Pony Bird volunteers have completed 77 program hours at the new home since June 10.

“If you consider the prior years, as a pilot program out of our temp location, that’s an additional 30 participants at 72 program hours in 2023, and 30 participants at 57 hours in all of 2024,” she said.

Part of a team

Five Pony Bird participants may volunteer each week, and the signup sheet for Ride On St. Louis fills up quickly, Hernandez said.

On a recent Tuesday, Pony Bird participants arrived at the barn on the property promptly at 10 a.m. With assistance, Rachael Mullins of Hillsboro, Coleen Sweeney of High Ridge, Brennen Ackermann and Billy Holt of Arnold and Lauren Waggoner of De Soto signed in as volunteers and were given a sticker.

“I get to see April,” Rachael excitedly announced.

She said April is her favorite of the three equine-assisted [service] horses “because she’s blonde.” Most of the volunteers seemed to like April more than Ghost or Zen.

April joined the team in 2015, after Ride On got funding from the Jefferson Foundation to buy her, Session said.

Session said April’s flaxen color makes her the most memorable.

“April also was taught to ‘smile,’ which a lot of participants find very charming,” Session said. She said April enjoys interaction and having a role to play.

“(April) is always checking in with the handlers with little neighs, grunts and snorts,” Session said. “She looks to them for not only direction, but also affirmation and genuinely seems to get a delight from understanding what is asked of her in a program setting, whether that be to stand still while perhaps a hesitant participant is approaching her, to lower her head so someone can practice motor and sensory skills related to brushing her mane, or to walk at a certain pace.”

She said April is unphased by oxygen tanks, noises, crutches and wheelchairs.

On that recent day at Ride On, the volunteers sat down on mats in the air-conditioned barn with buckets of grooming tools to clean. Frequent volunteer Billy showed the others how to get started and received a high-five for remembering what the tools were called.

Since Brennen and Rachael weren’t there the week before, each took a turn working with Wassman to fill out a worksheet she put together on what a curry or currycomb does, explaining that “we’re going to use it on a horse to get the mud off, so you can write ‘mud off.’”

Praise was frequent.

“You all are learning so much about horses,” Hernandez told the volunteers. “You are contributing to the care and I think that gives you guys a lot of pride.”

Session believes purpose and belonging are important.

“For people who often face limited opportunities to contribute or be recognized for their strengths, Helping Hands changes the narrative. It says: You belong. You matter. Your work makes a difference.”

When the work was finished, Wassman walked outside to get April.

“It’s like such a reward after they’re done with their work, Marita will bring up a horse and let them pet a horse,” Hernandez said.

“We stay calm,” Rachael told everyone as they waited.

Wassman reminded the volunteers to pet April on her shoulders.

“I love you, April” Rachael said.

“And if (April) could, she would say, ‘I love you Rachael,’’’ Wassman said.

When Coleen took her turn, she was only slightly startled when April sneezed. Brennen let Billy go before him and Lauren decided to skip her turn.

Everyone agreed that seeing April was the best part of the day.

“It’s so exciting for them,” Hernandez said. “Lauren was telling me they helped feed one of the horses a carrot (the other day). She came back super excited about that.”

Lauren’s mother, Renee Bolden, said she enjoys seeing her daughter so excited about the program.

“Lauren looks forward for days when she knows she is scheduled to volunteer here,” Bolden said. “When she volunteers, she tells me how much fun it was and everything she did during her time volunteering. She not only tells me, but everyone she comes into contact with.”

Coleen’s mother, Julie Sweeney, also likes the program.

“Coleen loves going and enjoys seeing the horses. She also loves helping out with the chores they give her to do,” Sweeney said.

Hernandez said Wassman puts a lot of work into making the volunteer experience meaningful for each person.

Limited

Because the nonprofit’s new home is a work in progress, Session said programs and services are limited.

She said Helping Hands is the only program Ride On St. Louis and Pony Bird are presently partnering on. Ride On St. Louis has suspended its Unmounted Activities program until infrastructure and improvements are finished.

Session said Unmounted Activities, in partnership with Pony Bird, serves people with medically complex and co-occurring disabilities, requiring the use of wheelchairs.

Over the spring, Ride On St. Louis created a gravel parking lot to accommodate vans for the Helping Hands program since those participants can walk without assistance.

“We are in the process of raising funding to construct walkways, a wheelchair ramp and a program deck to provide a safe, elevated platform for horse-human interaction, reducing risk when working around wheelchairs and large animals,” Session said. “This addition, as well as creating a ramp/swell into the barn so those using wheelchairs can more easily access the barn, will allow us to reinstitute Unmounted Activities with Pony Bird, among other programs.

“The first year after those improvements are completed, Ride On expects to add another 30 [participants],” Session said.

“We also have plans in place to pave the parking lot and add a circle drive, to further facilitate the ease of loading and unloading.”

How quickly that happens depends on fundraising. Since finding the new property, the goal has been to raise about $4.3 million for property improvements and programs.

“We’ve achieved about half of that amount so far,” Session said.

Wassman said a tax credit program has been helpful. Business owners and other eligible donors may receive 70 percent tax credits for donations to Ride On St. Louis through the Department of Economic Development’s Neighborhood Assistance Program. Information and an application may be found at rideonstl.org/nap.

She said volunteers and donors make programs like Helping Hands possible.

“We work diligently to keep our program costs low to no-cost, but rely heavily on the kindness of individuals to continue this model for those who need it most,” she said.