Lindsay, Ont. program uses horseback riding as physical, emotional therapy

Therapeutic Horse Riding in Lindsay (THRIL) isn’t your typical form of therapy. Since 2014, the program has been using horseback riding to help people with physical, intellectual and emotional challenges.

THRIL president and head instructor Kelly Russell said the activity has a variety of benefits.

“It really helps to with someone who has gait issues, it improves balance, muscle tone and gives an incredible sense of accomplishment,” she said.

“We have riders with all sorts of needs, a lot with learning challenges, autism spectrum, ADHD, seizure disorders, brain injuries, cancer, stroke, a young woman rides with us who is blind, we have a number of riders with Down syndrome.”

One of the riders is 18-year-old Kendra Norris. Her father, Kirk Norris, said he knew from day one that Kendra was hooked.

“When she got on top of the horse, we could tell she was just in love with it, just the freedom she feels,” he said. “It is just joyous; it is everything and it is something that is just hers.”

He said it has helped her in other ways as well.

“We’ve noticed her confidence has increased, her balance, her core especially, and after a few surgeries she has had better mobility with walking in her legs and this definitely does help.”

Kendra was born with a rare condition called duplication 1q, which means she has an extra chromosome. Although she uses a wheelchair to get around, at THRIL, Russell said she is the tallest — and fastest — person in the room.

“I think for riders especially that go from having mobility issues to getting on a horse and being above somebody rather than looking up to somebody from a chair, all of a sudden the horse becomes their legs again and a sense of movement that they may never have known or that they may have lost, and that is empowering to the soul,” she said.

In all, 34 riders are part of the THRIL program. But Russell said there is a wait-list, and they are hoping to raise more money and attract new volunteers in order to help more people.

So, the crew is running a golf tournament at Lindsay Golf & Country Club on June 28. For more information on the program, to register for the golf tournament or to become a volunteer, you can visit the THRIL website.