A Smoother Ride for the Disabled

Juan Galindo sat tall in the saddle as his horse was led around a practice ring at Ride On Therapeutic Horsemanship, a Chatsworth organization that teaches riding to children and adults with physical and mental disabilities.

The 10-year-old, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, comes to the training center twice a week for therapy to improve his balance, muscle control, hand-eye coordination and language and math skills.

“Sometimes he complains about coming, but once he gets on the horse he is excited,” said Juan’s mother, Leticia Correa of Sylmar, as she watched her son ride. “I know the therapy is going to help him in the long run.”

The annual Holiday Campaign of the Los Angeles Times Family Fund was launched to help such programs as Ride On, which received a $10,000 grant. The campaign gives aid to agencies serving the needy and disadvantaged across five counties in Southern California.

Since its founding in 1994, Ride On has given hundreds of disabled people the opportunity to get out of wheelchairs and onto horses under the supervision of physical therapists, certified instructors and trained volunteers.

Ride On offers two programs -- hippotherapy, which emphasizes therapy and always involves a licensed physical therapist, and therapeutic riding, which focuses on recreational riding -- at its two sites in Chatsworth and Thousand Oaks.

During therapy sessions, instructors ask younger riders to count the number of people standing around the ring, pick an apple from a basket and drop it into a hoop on the ground and to talk about what they did in school that day.

Children with autism often open up and talk about their horseback ride because they are so excited by the experience, said program director Gloria Hamblin.

“I think these kids would much rather be outside on a horse than in a therapy room,” she said.

The practice ring also has become a place for children with disabilities to meet one another, Hamblin said, adding that it’s not unusual to see children going off on play dates after riding lessons.

“There aren’t many recreational things they can do, so they are really happy to meet other kids and hang out with them,” Hamblin said.

The Holiday Campaign was established in 2000. The Times Family Fund is a fund of the McCormick Tribune Foundation, which matches the first $700,000 raised at 50 cents on the dollar. The foundation and The Times absorb all administrative costs so every dollar raised, plus the match, go directly to the agencies serving Southern Californians.

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HOW TO GIVE

Donations (checks or money orders) supporting the Los Angeles Times Holiday Campaign should be sent to: L.A. Times Holiday Campaign, File #56986, Los Angeles, CA 90074-6986. Please do not send cash. Credit card donations may be made on the Times’ Web site: www.latimes.com/holidaycampaign. All donations are tax-deductible.

Contributions of $25 or more will be acknowledged in The Times unless a donor requests otherwise. Acknowledgments cannot be guaranteed for donations received after Dec. 18. For more information on the Holiday Campaign, call (800) LATIMES, Ext. 75771.