Rising Tide Therapeutic Equestrian Center in West Tisbury is paving the way for new programs in the realm of adult equine-assisted therapy.
It’s not often one hears about a blind woman riding a horse, or a woman with Alzheimer’s caring for one as a form of therapy. And although many veterans’ programs exist nationwide, those that use horses as a form of healing and a way to adjust to life after war are less well known.
Known primarily for their work with children with special needs, on Tuesday of this week Rising Tide began a six-week program with four residents from Windemere Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, the Island’s nursing home and assisted living facility in Oak Bluffs. A veterans’ program is also underway, and they’re looking into providing programs for at-risk teens and for addiction recovery.
Rising Tide is the only equestrian center on Martha’s Vineyard that is a member of the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH), which provides membership for barns that have PATH-certified instructors, ensuring their skills in equine-assisted therapies and activities.
Equine-assisted therapy
The benefits of equine-assisted therapy are many, improving a person’s physical, emotional, and social well-being. It’s been used to help people with cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome, autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), traumatic brain injuries, dementia, depression, behavioral issues, mental health issues, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and drug and alcohol addiction.
In an interview with The Times, Emma Vancour, a Rising Tide board member and a mental health counselor at Martha’s Vineyard Community Services (MVCS), said equine-assisted therapy requires both the person and the horse to tune in to how each responds to the other through an energetic and nonverbal exchange — an interaction that grounds the person in the present moment.
“It’s a lot like music, where if you are lost on some level, a lot of times music can help bring you back and make you feel grounded,” Ms. Vancour said.
A major advantage is the use of nonverbal communication, as it helps a person who struggles with communication to seek alternative forms. Horseback riding can also be an effective form of physical therapy for people with injuries or disabilities, because a person’s pelvis moves the same way on a horse as it does when a person is walking, strengthening the core and improving balance.
Historically, horses have been used for therapy as far back as 600 B.C. in ancient Greece. But it wasn’t until the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki, Finland, that equine-assisted therapy gained the attention of the world when Danish dressage rider Lis Hartell won the silver medal after being partially paralyzed with polio for eight years. Equine-assisted therapy eventually gained momentum, and the first therapeutic horseback riding facility was created in 1969 in Canada with the founding of the Community Association for Riders with Disabilities (CARD).
‘They can give you something’
Rising Tide program director and head riding instructor Linda Wanamaker has over 30 years of experience in riding and equine work, and is a PATH-certified instructor. She said her certification allows her to facilitate mental and physical learning through horses for her riders.
“If you think they’re beautiful, they can give you something,” Ms. Wanamaker told The Times.
It’s this belief that is the motivation behind the veterans’ program at Rising Tide. There are about 400 veterans on Martha’s Vineyard, based on an estimate from Dukes County director of veteran services Jo Ann Murphy. Yet given the number of Island veterans, Rising Tide program coordinator Ilona Metell told The Times, the Vineyard is considered a “low service area” for them. Veterans don’t have the option to simply travel further to receive services as they would on the mainland, and pick from a much smaller pool. Ms. Metell emphasized how critical it was to have on-Island services.
“The more we can do for our veterans, the better,” Ms. Metell said.
The program at Rising Tide is ready, but waits on funding. It includes work on and off the horse, with a large focus on grounding. Grounding is unmounted work that considers a person’s energy and how the horse responds to it, relying on nonverbal communication through hand gestures, body language, flags, and signals.
Ms. Metell said it’s possible through grounding techniques to learn how to deal with and reduce emotional issues. She said there’s a “trickle-down effect,” helping a person translate their work with horses to how they interact with people.
“Horses are tuned in to the energy of a human. If a human is angry, that’s something [a horse] would tend to avoid,” Ms. Metell said. “So the human has to change in order to stay in the presence of the horse.”
Ms. Wanamaker said that because many veterans have spent a significant amount of time in hostile environments, her desire for the program was to help veterans adjust to their life back at home.
“Behaviors such as anxieties, hyperactivity, aggression, depression, and fear are all human emotional expressions horses seek to avoid,” Ms. Wanamaker said. “In using horses as our four-legged counselors, we hope to bolster our veterans’ positive energies and help them experience a sense of accomplishment and personal growth.”
Ms. Wanamaker said one of the goals of the program is to help veterans work together with other veterans. Rising Tide will welcome family members, friends, and spouses to create a sense of community and an open door to all forms of support.
A love for animals
Staff at Rising Tide said that making equine-assisted therapy available to a broader group of people would bring more awareness and accessibility to alternative forms of therapy and healing. The program with Windemere helps support the Island’s aging population, a group that is growing at a faster rate on the Vineyard than in the rest of the U.S.
Betsy Burmeister, director of recreation at Windemere, spoke with The Times about the upcoming program with Rising Tide. She said that even if residents aren’t riding horses, which is dependent on what the center’s physical therapy will allow, there are still many benefits of the program.
“We want the residents to get out there and enjoy the fresh air. They love animals,” Ms. Burmeister said. “If they can’t ride, they can brush and feed the animals and spend time with them.”
Ms. Burmeister told the story about Joyce L’Heureux, a resident at Windemere who was blind. Ms. L’Heureux died in 2014, but she was originally from Perth, Australia, and had been an avid horseback rider. Through the Windemere Make a Wish program, Ms. L’Heureux was able to ride a horse at Rising Tide in 2011 at the age of 91.
Ms. Metell told a similar story about a woman in her 70s with Alzheimer’s who visited Rising Tide in July. She came with a group, and the staff was both elated and surprised at the woman’s reaction. “They couldn’t believe how alive she became around the horses,” Ms. Metell said. “She stepped right back into a younger version of herself, and this whole other part of her brain just came alive.”
Rising Tide will have a fundraiser on Oct. 7 at the Sailing Camp Park in Oak Bluffs from 6 to 9 pm. Tickets are $50, and will be sold at the door. For more information visit risingtidetec.org or call 508-693-1185.