Freedom Riders help children

Every Thursday at the Golden Spike Arena in Ogden students from Weber State University gather with other Freedom Riders to help physically disabled children experience riding a horse. Freedom Riders is a nonprofit organization designed to help physically disabled children ride horses. Everything is donated to the program and volunteers bring the horses each week. Weber County Commissioner's office and the Golden Spike Arena donate the use of their facilities. WSU dental hygiene student Lindsay Rasmussen said, "I think it's cool that people are willing to put forth an effort to something that they aren't paid back in anything monetarily; just in their own feeling in being able to contribute." This summer a grant was given to the Freedom Riders to fund all of the children in the program, so they could ride for free. It usually costs the families of the children $80 a summer to ride, but Rutter wrote a grant to the Alan E. and Jeanne N. Hall Endowment and was awarded the grant. Jenny Kapp, from South Weber, said her daughter Tessa loves to come to Freedom Riders and ride the horses. Most of the children in Freedom Riders have either cerebral palsy or spina bifida. Cerebral palsy is a disease that affects the motor cortex in the brain. The disease affects the development of movement and posture causing the person with the disease to be limited in their activities. Spina bifida is a disease affecting the neural tube. At birth the neural tube does not extend all the way or is overextended. "I love the kids in the program," Nina Hopkin, a WSU nursing student said. "They have great spirits, fun personalities, and I just love being here." Helping the kids ride horses is a type of therapy called Hippotherapy, literally meaning horse therapy. The movement of the horse mimics a person's pelvis when they walk, creating the walking motion in the pelvis for the rider. Since the kids with cerebral palsy have a motor problem, the brain is still able to sense the motion. It helps with motor planning and coordination. "After being through a horseback therapy program they're going to be a lot more proficient walkers, their gait is going to improve, and they are going to be more coordinated," Billy Rutter, a recent WSU graduate said, "because of that stimulation they're getting in their brain from being on the horse." Even though the program physically benefits the kids, it is strictly recreational. Steve Spencer, an Ogden physical therapist, started the program back in 1978. Spencer directed the program until 2003 when Patti Adams took over. People find out about the program through word of mouth, schools for cerebral palsy, or physical therapists. "The physical therapists, they will tell you the kids they see normally start riding with Freedom Riders…the improvements they make in physical therapy are just amazing," Rutter said. "They can always tell a big difference when the kids are here." Besides being good for the children physically, it's also good emotionally, according to Rutter. "It helps boost their self-esteem," Rutter said. "If you can imagine being a 60 pound kid on a thousand pound horse, that's the biggest risk any of these kids ever take in their life." The program takes only physically disabled children from ages 3-18. They have 90 volunteers that meet weekly from May to August. Freedom Riders has 24 children in their four classes right now. Each of their classes last for half an hour on Thursdays. The volunteers meet from 4 to 7:30 p.m. to help with the classes. Freedom Riders will be an event at the Special Kid's Rodeo on July 14, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Lorin Farr Park at 668 17th Street, Ogden. Volunteers for Freedom Riders may call Patti Adams at 801-985-7074.