Cooperative Living September 2020 - 14

CoverFocus | Story and photos by Steven Johnson, Staff Writer
Stable of Hopes
and Dreams
At a Maryland therapeutic riding center,
breakthroughs come one gait at a time
W
hat really lifts Kimberly
Hopkins' spirits is when she
thinks about a young woman
who spoke her first words astride a
well-mannered quarter horse.
The woman was a student at Positive
Strides Therapeutic Riding Center,
which Hopkins operates on Maryland's
Eastern Shore, and was nonverbal to
that point in her life.
Her face beamed and her eyes
welled up as she mounted the horse.
Happiness filled the air around her as
Hopkins softly implored her to move
her ride forward.
" And then she said, 'Walk,' Hopkins
remembers. " She said her first words
on a horse. Her father cried. "
A single word, abetted by a gentle
1,200-pound animal, can change a life.
" I tell people when you do this kind
of work, you don't become rich, "
Hopkins says. " You become enriched. "
Sitting on a 50acre
farm just north
of Preston, Md.,
Positive Strides
represents a step
ahead - make that
a gait ahead -
for clients who
deal with physical,
developmental,
Kimberly Hopkins shows off Pumpkin Patch,
a fox-hunt equine turned therapy horse.
Hopkins, equal parts administrator,
teacher, confessor and cheerleader.
" When it's up and running, it is a
lot of work, but it's wonderful work, "
Hopkins says. " Almost every day,
there's one little thing that happens and
makes you say, 'You know what? This
is worth all of the stress and worry.' "
NO NEIGH-SAYERS HERE
Positive Strides started on a small
scale nearly 40 years ago as an offshoot
of a 4-H group. Over the years, the
organization, first known as Talbot
Special Riders,
THREE CORE VALUES
Therapeutic Riding
Mental Health
& Wellness Program
Hippotherapy
emotional and cognitive impairments.
The idea is to tap the inner calm
of the center's seven horses - they
are wizened senior citizens, by horse
years - to build greater confidence,
self-esteem and life-coping skills for
riders ranging from preschoolers to
senior citizens.
In various guises and places, Positive
Strides has been doing that since 1981,
most recently conducting 1,150 rides a
year with the help of more than 9,000
hours from dozens of volunteers, plus
12 | Cooperative Living | September 2020
expanded into a fulltime
operation at a
site in Easton.
A lifelong
horsewoman, Hopkins
volunteered with Talbot
Special Riders, later
spending a dozen years
as a certified riding
instructor with the group and assuming
the duties of executive director in 2006.
A few years ago, training moved
to Preston, to a farm she owns with
daughter Ashley. At the behest of the
center's board, the organization changed
its name in 2019 to Positive Strides,
which better reflects its mission.
The organization has three core
areas: therapeutic riding, a mental
health and wellness program, and
hippotherapy, which involves licensed
professionals outside of a clinical setting
Bella
avoided
a horrible
end to the
benefit of
riders.
who use horses as tools to engage
motor skills and cognitive systems.
Hopkins outlines goals for all riders,
who come individually or from group
homes, schools, community-based
programs, and physician and therapist
referrals on the Eastern Shore. The
targets might be as simple as standing in
stirrups for 10 seconds or maneuvering
a horse through a three-obstacle course.
Or maybe just grabbing the reins.
One of Positive Strides' great success
stories is a woman, likely in her 50s,
with communication issues. She has
co-opliving.com
http://www.co-opliving.com
Cooperative Living September 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Cooperative Living September 2020
