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Boonville —
Dwight Green's extremities are often so rigid his parents struggle to get him dressed.
When they put a shirt on him, they must take care not to put too much strain on his arms, otherwise they could come out of their sockets. He is a quadriplegic, his range of motion restrained by a brain injury he suffered as an infant.
He sat upright in the front saddle of a horse Monday at Riley Equine Center, his legs dangling on the side, while a volunteer sat behind him with one arm laced around his sternum and the other propping his head up. As the horse circled inside a fenced ring, a staff member walked on each side of it, their hands acting as resistance for Dwight to stretch his leg muscles against, and the owner of the ranch gripped a lead rope and walked in front to ensure the animal remained calm.
Green has participated in weekly therapy sessions since July. Sitting on a horse as it canters and trots simulates the feeling of walking and generates sensory input in his brain, allowing the therapists to stretch his muscles.
Therapeutic Riding, started in Europe in 1951 as a therapy for disabled persons, treats those with disabilities, or behavioral or emotional issues, through interactions with horses. Bonnie Riley, a Boonville resident, started Riley Equine Center, a nonprofit facility, about a year ago.
She said she has been around horses her entire life. She raises and sells Riley Paint Horses from her home near Highway B and practices psychology in downtown Boonville. About 10 years ago, she started bringing patients she met in the clinical setting to her home.
“Sometimes adolescents don't respond to office therapy,” Riley said. “They have trouble relating face to face, but they can relate to a horse.”
Beth Green and her husband served as foster parents for Dwight and his two siblings almost five years ago. The children were returned briefly to their biological parents in Pettis County, and when Dwight came back to them at six months old, he had suffered a brain injury.
Doctors prognosticated he would die, or live in a vegetative state. The Greens had planned on taking-in older children but wanted Dwight to remain with his twin brother and older sister, so they adopted them. They already had three biological children.
“We knew from the beginning we wanted a large family,” Green said.
Dwight Green's extremities are often so rigid his parents struggle to get him dressed.
When they put a shirt on him, they must take care not to put too much strain on his arms, otherwise they could come out of their sockets. He is a quadriplegic, his range of motion restrained by a brain injury he suffered as an infant.
He sat upright in the front saddle of a horse Monday at Riley Equine Center, his legs dangling on the side, while a volunteer sat behind him with one arm laced around his sternum and the other propping his head up. As the horse circled inside a fenced ring, a staff member walked on each side of it, their hands acting as resistance for Dwight to stretch his leg muscles against, and the owner of the ranch gripped a lead rope and walked in front to ensure the animal remained calm.
Green has participated in weekly therapy sessions since July. Sitting on a horse as it canters and trots simulates the feeling of walking and generates sensory input in his brain, allowing the therapists to stretch his muscles.
Therapeutic Riding, started in Europe in 1951 as a therapy for disabled persons, treats those with disabilities, or behavioral or emotional issues, through interactions with horses. Bonnie Riley, a Boonville resident, started Riley Equine Center, a nonprofit facility, about a year ago.
She said she has been around horses her entire life. She raises and sells Riley Paint Horses from her home near Highway B and practices psychology in downtown Boonville. About 10 years ago, she started bringing patients she met in the clinical setting to her home.
“Sometimes adolescents don't respond to office therapy,” Riley said. “They have trouble relating face to face, but they can relate to a horse.”
Beth Green and her husband served as foster parents for Dwight and his two siblings almost five years ago. The children were returned briefly to their biological parents in Pettis County, and when Dwight came back to them at six months old, he had suffered a brain injury.
Doctors prognosticated he would die, or live in a vegetative state. The Greens had planned on taking-in older children but wanted Dwight to remain with his twin brother and older sister, so they adopted them. They already had three biological children.
“We knew from the beginning we wanted a large family,” Green said.
She and a nurse pushed Dwight in a wheelchair from a handicap van to a ramp — appearing out-of-place in the middle of a grass field, as if it were built in the wrong location — that serves as a path to an elevation where he can be lifted onto the horse.
“He smiles huge if you even talk about the horses,” Green said. “All his communication is done by visual facial expressions.”
Dwight and the volunteer holding him up sat together on a two-seat saddle, a costly piece of equipment, Riley said. Even with volunteers, the existing horse facility and the nonprofit status, opening up such an equine center is an expensive proposition.
Though Riley had horses when she started, none of them were “bomb-proof.”
“Like if you put off a bomb underneath, they don't move,” she said.
She drove to Atlanta and picked up two horses and then got one from Las Vegas. She said safety is most important when operating such a practice, and she knew the quality of the horses and the training they received.
Also, “You won't see any ugly horses on this ranch,” she said.
Riley collaborates with Jackie Jones, a special education teacher at Laura Speed Elliott Middle School, to operate the facility. Jones received her certification from Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International.
“You learn how to keep people absolutely safe, and about balance and posture,” Jones said.
Once the weather cools, with no indoor facilities, the equine center will close for the year. Riley said her dream is to have a covered arena so they can operate year-round, but that takes money. As does grain — $1,100 a month — and farrier fees.
“The expenses of this are very high, but it's just such a passion of Jackie and mine, both,” Riley said.
