‘A horse can be healing’: Therapeutic Riding of Tryon breaks barriers with equine therapy
A program in Polk County called Therapeutic Riding of Tryon (TROT) has been providing equine therapy and activities to people with disabilities for 20 years.
By Gracee Mattiace
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POLK COUNTY, North Carolina (WLOS) — A program in Polk County called Therapeutic Riding of Tryon (TROT) has been providing equine therapy and activities to people with disabilities for 20 years.
Students range in age from as young as 4 years old to adults and have physical, developmental and/or cognitive disabilities.
Sarah Phillips started the program as a student to work on balance challenges.
“I was using a cane a lot and everything. I’m not doing any of that anymore. It really still baffles me that a horse can be so healing,” Phillips said.
“I really feel my balance is improved 100%,” she said.
Phillips said she loved the volunteers and the program’s mission so much that she decided to become a volunteer herself.
TROT’s Mounted Program typically involves three volunteers, one to lead the horse, and two to serve as side walkers who assist each student to carry out the teacher’s instructions.
Students spend hands-on time with the horse, grooming and learning how to saddle the horse.
After each lesson, students help remove the saddle, clean their horses, and offer treats.
“I would do anything for these people, and they would do anything for us. So it’s been an amazing experience that I hope I’m doing until I’m old,” she said.
Students can sign up for the mounted program, which typically includes a lesson per week.
The lessons are divided into two ten-week blocks: one between March and early June and another between September and early December.
Monica Dailey has four children in the TROT program and said the sessions bring a lot of happiness to her family, especially her daughter.
If you see her ride the horse, it’s just all over her face,” Dailey said.
“That part just makes the mom heart very happy,” she added.
Speaking specifically about her daughter, Dailey said she has been able to see lots of progress since the sessions began.
“Because she can be very apprehensive of a new thing she’s asked to do, she will be very stubborn,” Dailey said.
“They have just been very, very patient with her, and she has grown,” she said.
John Thurow, a TROT volunteer, donates time with his horse for the sessions.
He said the horses are specifically selected for the program for their calm nature.
The horses are incredibly sensitive to the emotions of the person, of people.
TROT is run by Foothills Equestrian Nature Center (FENCE), which has been operating in Polk County for 40 years.
FENCE has 384 acres of hardwood forest, meadow, and wetland, including a covered arena where the TROT program is held.
TROT is open to residents of Polk, Henderson and Rutherford counties in North Carolina, and Spartanburg and Greenville counties in South Carolina.
According to TROT’s website, “classes are planned and taught by PATH Intl. certified instructors and are built around the individual requirements of each student.”
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