Aaron Baker, a 22-year-old man from Grand Rapids, and Tacky N Sophisticated, a.k.a. “Wee-man,” prepare for their day together. (Lee Welch | Sentinel-Tribune)
WESTON — Aaron Baker, a 22-year-old man from Grand Rapids who is living with special needs, has found an equestrian friend in Tacky N Sophisticated, a.k.a. “Wee-man.”
Baker rides Wee-man three times per week as part of the Special Horseman Connection program at Dusty Boots Equestrian Center near Weston, and Baker’s mother, Shelly Allgire, says her son has a newfound confidence.
“It’s been awesome,” Allgire said. “It’s built his confidence, and he has a good time here. I just feel like it’s helped him in all aspects of his life from his confidence to his strength to following directions, being responsible, and getting to take care of another (life).
“You know, we have pets at home but not to this degree. We have a dog and a cat. He has to work on the tack and groom — he just doesn’t get to come here and get up on the horse and it’s ready to go, so he’s had to learn all the things.”
This Saturday, Sept. 21, the Special Horseman Connection will host its annual fundraiser, which includes a sausage and pancake breakfast at 7:30 a.m., horse shows all day long (26 classes for all ages and levels, including special needs) at its two indoor arenas and one outdoor arena at Dusty Boots, 15828 Otsego Pike, Weston.
There is also an afternoon drive-through chicken barbecue (begins at 1 p.m.), silent auction, basket raffle, the first annual tack sale, bounce house with an inflatable slide for children, a horse-less on-foot barrel race, a boot race, recognition of veterans and the Bucking Barista coffee truck will provide a variety of beverages.
Stacey Creps, one of three co-founders of Special Horseman Connection and owner of Dusty Boots, says the annual event has raised over $50,000 to provide equestrian programs for people living with disabilities.
“We started that to be able to raise funds for individuals with special needs, and that is money that can be used for anything horse-related — competitive showing, camps, physical therapy, riding lessons,” Creps said.
“Anything that the board says, ‘Yeah, that seems like it would improve your life,’ whether it’s functional skills, work related, or whatever it is. The money doesn’t have to be spent here — it can be spent anywhere.”
Creps says the SHC hopes to raise money this year for 15 families who have met volunteer requirements and applied for grants.
From PT to hippotherapist
Creps, who has been a pediatric physical therapist 28 years, began SHC with two other individuals in part because of what she saw when providing therapy to special needs youngsters, but also because her own daughter, Molly, lives with special needs.
“I do love horses. Before we had Dusty Boots there were these sensational kids,” Creps said. “Being a pediatric therapist, we had a lot of parents who would come in and be like, ‘I can only come in for therapy during my lunch break,’ or ‘My kid is 6-years-old but not potty-trained so they have to stay in an infant room’ and that’s not very fair, or ‘They won’t let Johnny bring his walker into the 2-year-old classroom at the daycare because they say it is not safe.’
“So, I was like, ‘Those people are just being lazy. There’s no rule against that,’ so myself and two other people started Sensational Kids, which is a daycare, preschool, and a K-6 program for individuals with special needs, plus there is (physical therapy) people on staff.
“So we had that program up and running really well, so I was like, ‘How do I combine the horses with people’s special needs?’ So, this grew out of that, so I went and got my certification through the American Hippotherapy Association, and rented space for a couple barns. We started out with one kid and one pony,” Creps continued.
“Individuals with special needs aren’t always looked on favorably, or sometimes somebody throws a temper tantrum or just causes a tender moment, and we got too busy so it was time to make our own place. So, I told my husband, ‘I know we just bought this 20 acres behind our house, how do you feel about a horse barn?’ So, here we are all these years later.”
SHC offers adapted riding, mounted or ground activities, grooming and stable management, competitive showing, parades, demonstrations, camps and hippotherapy.
Hippotherapy is not for just individuals with special needs, but anyone who needs physical therapy. The therapy is conducted by a licensed physical, occupational, or speech therapist assisted by a horse handler.
“Instead of going to the hospital to get physical therapy, I can do the physical therapy here,” Creps said. “Instead of a ball or a swing, we incorporate part of the horse’s movement into our treatment session.
“For that there is no saddle — we use s saddle pad and there is always a horse leader and then the person will ride forward, back, and sideways, be up on hands and knees, doing different activities.
“The movement of the horse has rhythm, symmetry and three-dimensional movement, providing riders with an experience similar to the human-gait pattern. This promotes active responses by the rider that cannot be reproduced in a clinical setting.”
In addition, Dusty Boots, which has 35 horses at the facility, has been hosting horse shows for riders of all levels for a decade, but the non-profit is celebrating its sixth year. More experienced riders travel to represent the equestrian center, plus there are lessons offered to all levels and ages.
Creps says the barn has offered equestrian services for riders from ages 2 to 96-years-old. She says while the facility has been adding services, the only limit to what could be next is the resources they have.
“We started with hippotherapy and we said, ‘Who wants anything bigger than this arena and this barn?’ and it’s just grown from there with adding adaptive riding and typical riding and the show teams just slowly got at it one piece at a time and here we are,” Creps said.
“There is so much that I don’t know, you know what I’m saying. There are other things that we can do or tap into. I just wish there were more hours in the day because I could fill it.”
