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Champlain Adaptive Mounted Program

NOTES FROM OUR NEWSLETTERS

CHAMP's Giant Leap!

Click here to download a pdf of the Spring 2008 Newsletter

Spring 2007

Springing Ahead!

Spring is here and with it comes the excitement of a brand new riding season. For the CHAMP riders it means getting back to one of their favorite weekly activities. The riders will get to ride 6 weeks this spring and 6 more weeks this coming fall. As time and volunteers allow, even more lesson time could be added, the demand is certainly there.

With the constant requests for more riding time, the CHAMP program is on a mission. The mission is to raise a minimum of $500,000 so we can expand CHAMP to meet the needs of the Champlain Valley. Our response has been to begin our 20th Anniversary Capital Campaign.

Can you help?

Of course you can help! Do you have time to spare? Do you have goods we could use? Do you have money to donate? Any and all of these are ways you can help CHAMP move to the next level. After 20 years of serving our special community the program is bursting at the seams. The time has come to expand, and with your help we can do it!

As we are preparing this newsletter we received some really good news. NorthCountry Federal Credit Union has awarded us a $10,000 matching grant and $8,300 for us to run PSAs (Public Service Announcements) to promote awareness of the CHAMP program and the need for volunteers and funds.

Stop by our booth at the Everything Equine event that will take place at the Champlain Valley Exposition, April 28th and 29th. Some of our volunteers will be staffing the booth while others will be hosting the first Saturday of lessons at Good Hope Equestrian Center. Come and get your CHAMP shirt or hat and help us get the word out about this wonderful program and our Capital Campaign. You can even pick up a fund raising form for our 11th annual trail ride that will take place in September. You can raise funds and ride yourself, be a “ghost” rider, sponsor another rider, or raise funds for lessons for your favorite CHAMP rider.

Ah, spring is in the air and CHAMP is on the road to our next adventure.

Denise White, President

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Winter 2006

What a wonderful time at CHAMP!

• The Trail Ride was a huge success • The fall program was a huge success •
And CHAMP is hitting a milestone!

In 1987, twenty years ago, Julie Horrigan and Carol Melcher begin a program to provide therapeudic riding lessons for children with disabilities from the Folsom School in South Hero. The Yates family offered the facilities of their Contentment Farm nearby. Since the beginning CHAMP brings together a magic combination of riders, volunteers and professionals to create a place where the impossible turns into the possible. The farm is now called Good Hope Equestrian Center and is owned by Anne Zolotas and operated by Jamie Fell and Joan Lavallee all who continue to support our program.

Currently we provide lessons to almost 40 challenged individuals from the Champlain Valley in two six-week sessions annually. We are proud to be designated a premier accredited center by the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA) and that our instructors are certified by NARHA. The fall riding program was filled to capacity with excited participants, each enjoying their opportunity to connect weekly with their equine partners. There are many waiting for an opening in our limited program and we have numerous inquiries from individuals and organizations.

James, whose been a rider for a short time wrote: “I like riding the horses while I am at CHAMP. I have learned how to take care of a horse. I like seeing and saying “hi!” to all the horses in the stable and Major, the horse I ride, is a fun horse to ride. I really like riding in a western saddle because it feels comfortable. I feel like a cowboy when I ride in the western saddle! I also like saying hi to the CHAMP staff. The staff members and volunteers are very nice and very helpful. I can’t wait to ride again in the Spring!”

Malai became a rider several years ago. She writes: “I walk, I steer, I posting trot! I ride by myself! CHAMP is fun! I get to meet a lot of horses and I can ride different horses. This year, my Mom and I helped CHAMP at Everything Equine and it was fun. My picture was in the newsletter. Some day I want to teach kids how to ride. I would also like to volunteer with the horses.”

Marking our twentieth year, we are looking at ways to expand the CHAMP program. We now offer private lessons beyond our regular session to a limited number of riders and are announcing a long term capitol campaign to raise awareness and the necessary funds to make our program more accessable to more folks who will benefit from it Our ultimate goal is to offer a full-time, year-round program to serve challenged individuals of all ages and degrees of need. Look for more information soon or send a tax deductable contribution now. Click here for a coupon. Contributions of any size make a difference. Pass the word to anyone you know who may be interested in helping and participate in any way you’re able.

Trail Ride News

September 16th was a beautiful day enjoyed by 31 riders and many volunteers who helped raise funds for this wonderful program. Most of the riders made the full 5 hour ride, while a few opted to stop after the delicious lunch at the halfway mark. At lunch the generous volunteers flipped burgers and dogs, made and/or served all the other goodies and/or held the horses so the riders could enjoy the comaraderie of their fellow riders.

Our youngest ever participant, 6 year-old Iris and her 12 year-old friend Samantha (see pictures below), had so much fun that they insisted on completing the return to Tara North after lunch. The fact that almost $7000 was raised by the actual and phantom riders was icing on the cake of our 10th Annual Trail Ride. Go to the Trail Ride page for a complete list of the riders and contributers.

Next year’s Trail Ride will be on September 15, 2007. Mark your calendar now and plan on being a rider, a phantom rider, a volunteer or a cook. We look forward to and are already planning this event. We’d love to have you join us in any way you’d enjoy being part of it. Find out how at www.vtchamp.org.

Enjoy the holidays with your friends and family. Denise White, President

Board Notes

At the board meeting on November 15th Diane Cota, Jean Desranleau and Denise White were reelected to three year terms. Margie Davis, Helen Simon and Don Horrigan resigned from the board with our thanks for their years of service. Sheila Gorski, Mike Olson and Charles J. Roumas were elected and welcomed to the board. A three member executive committee was established consisting of the president, the vice president and the treasurer. This committee was authorized to make timely decisions within limited financial parameters when needed in the times between full board meetings. Advisory and honorary boards and a NARHA accreditation/policy/by law review committee were established.

Chuck Roumas, in his capacity as chair of the finance committee, noted that 2007 is our 20th anniversary and a perfect time to begin a capital campaign to expand our horizons beginning with consideration of short and long term strategic planning. Diane Cota, Secretary

Program Notes

We thank Good Hope Equestrian Center for giving CHAMP the opportunity to offer classes beyond our regular six week sessions. We have given 1/2 hour lessons on Wednesdays and Saturdays through December 16, with 1 or 2 riders per lesson which allowing us the opportunity to give one-on-one time for each participating rider. So far it has been a great success. We hope to continue this program in the spring as soon as it warms up. There is already a waiting list. We will keep you updated on the web or by letter. Should you need further information call me (233-4893).

We have five in the Instructor-In-Training program. Mike Olson and Sue Tebbetts are going through the NARHA Instructor Certification Testing in Connecticut. Diane Cota, Kathy Ellis, and Marie Postiglione-Dupell are doing their practice teaching and hopefully will be ready for certification in the spring. You will be seeing more of Mike, Sue & Diane at the CHAMP lessons. Kathy and Marie are both from New York and plan to start their own programs there. Good luck to all of you, we admire your dedication to therapeutic riding.

We are grateful to the Franklin-Grand Isle United Way for the contribution of a new IBM computer and to Denise White for the addition of a Lexmark Printer. Erin White has contributed a Fisher-Price basketball hoop on a stand which has been very useful with the riders in the extended program.
Jean Desranleau, Executive Director

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Fall 2006

Reaching High at CHAMP
by Janet Essman Franz

While instructor Julie Horigan steadies Casper, instructor Mary Willmuth coaches

Amber to reach for the ring that sidewalker Maggie is holding.

Sidewalker Sarah keeps hold of Amber.

Riding horses makes a world of difference for 13-year-old Amber and her grandparents, who care for her. It clearly helps her control her muscles, communicate with others and feel happiness, an emotion she does not often experience.
A traumatic brain injury suffered when she was an infant left Amber physically and cognitively disabled and emotionally withdrawn. She spends most of her time confined to a wheelchair, staring off in to space. She rarely speaks or smiles and often appears depressed and disinterested in her surroundings.

     “She drifts off by herself, in her own little world,” said Neil Fay, her grandfather.
      On the days she rides with CHAMP, Amber’s demeanor is notably different.
     “When I take Amber horseback riding she is smiling and bubbly afterward and she seems to be more focused on what I’m talking about,” Fay said. She communicates better with everybody.”
      When Amber began riding with CHAMP three years ago, instructor Mary Willmuth wondered if the program could help her. Amber was completely limp and would not speak to the CHAMP volunteers. “Without people supporting her on both sides she would collapse. She would stare up into space and not communicate with anyone,” said Willmuth, who is Vice President of CHAMP’s board of directors. “I asked her grandparents if she played with anything and they said she did not, she had no toys that she played with.”
      Today, Amber sits upright on the horse by herself and holds the reins. She reaches for toys, tells the horse to ‘Go,’ and laughs when the horse picks up speed.
     “She became different on the horse,” Willmuth said. “She doesn’t look like the same child.”
      Amber is alert and engaged while riding, and she communicates with the horse and CHAMP volunteers.
“She will say ‘trot’ or makes click-click sounds to make the horse go forward. When the horse trots she laughs. You can hear her up and down the arena,” Willmuth said. “She now interacts with us, plays with balls and rings and will reach to grasp a ball and put it in the bucket. The ball makes a sound when it drops in the bucket and she likes that.”
      The changes in Amber relate directly to the physical exercise she receives from horseback riding. Sitting atop a moving horse causes Amber to move her body in ways she does not move when she is sitting in her wheelchair. “There are not many things that she can do,” said her grandmother, Carol Fay. “The way the horse walks, it moves her hips like she is walking. The horse’s walk has a four-beat gait, which gives her exercise in her hips and keeps her loose.” She uses her torso to sit upright. Her leg muscles contract and release as she mounts and dismounts. When she reaches for a ball, she extends her shoulders and practices hand-eye coordination.
      The exercise also helps Amber emotionally, Carol Fay said. “In the winter when she doesn’t exercise at all, she goes into a little depression. She’s whinier, and she cries. After the first ride in the spring and fall she really likes it. She tells the horse to ‘trot,” and when it does she thinks it’s great. She bounces all over the place. She gets everybody laughing.”
      That kind of joy is the point of CHAMP, Willmuth said. “To help an individual with a significant disability, who can’t move around independently, to improve his/her ability to interact and give them confidence, that’s what the program is about,” said Willmuth. “It’s fun to work with a person who was unengaged, who doesn’t interact or have fun, for whom life is a struggle and to see her interacting and having fun.”

Janet Essman Franz writes frequently for Vermont Times and is

vice chair of the Vermont Governors Council on Physical Fitness and Sports

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