Carousel Ranch, an equine therapy program located in Agua Dulce, uses horses to both mentally and physically improve the lives of their students.

Denise Tomey-Redmond and Becky Graham started the program 18 years ago after working for another therapy program for 12 years.

“We started in her backyard with her horse, one day a week of working with one kid, and that turned into three kids, turned into five kids, turned into ‘we need to rent some space and board two horses’ and it just slowly grew. Today we’re doing 80 kids a week or more on this 10 acre ranch but we would’ve never thought that back then,”said Denise Tomey-Redmond, the Executive Director of the program.

“We really started it because we love it and we always saw the difference it makes in the kids’ lives and the things that are possible by using the horse as a tool for therapy” Tomey-Redmond said. “It enables us to do so much that you really couldn’t do in a traditional setting and the kids don’t see it as therapy. With therapy, it’s not fun everyday to go to a hospital or clinical setting.”

Carousel Ranch allows them to not only take part in therapy but be outside and connect with animals and other people in a more natural way.

“With people like Whitney, she’s very tight, her muscles are really tight and and you can see as she circles around, all the sudden her arms come down, her posture gets better, her legs loosen up and it’s just a natural stretch of the muscles,” Tomey-Redmond said. “Every different way you sit is moving the body in different ways”

Pictured here is Whitney Rainwater, who has been riding with Carousel Ranch for 20 years. Whitney has greatly benefited from the program, gaining more mobility, decreasing her seizures and she is now able to operate her motorised wheel chair on her own, said her mother, Regina Rainwater.

“After 20 years, she still looks forward to coming every week”, says Regina Rainwater, “They’re very individualized in their lessons. Other places have one thing they do for every child but here, each lesson is individualized for the child or adult.”

Another one of Carousel Ranch’s riders is Katlyn Burnison. Katlyn has only been at Carousel Ranch for a few months but has made great progress.

“She has a lot of separation anxiety so for her to be this far away from me is huge” said her mother, Heather Burnison, “It’s something that with her love of animals, I knew would be a good all around therapy for her, not just the physical therapy part of it, but the mental therapy and dealing with her anxiety”.

Katlyn enjoys riding. It allows her to do something special that other kids can’t do.

“It’s good thing for her to also do something that normal kids get to do, which is unusual for her. She doesn’t get to do a lot of normal kid activities. It’s a good therapy for her as well as it’s a chance to say ‘I get to ride horses’”

“When he started, he wasn’t able to stand up, now he’s able to stand on the horse.” Norma Prieto, a parent as well as a Carousel Ranch staff, talks about the huge improvement she’s seen in her 6-year-old son, Edgar. “I’ve seen a difference in his attitude and his motivation. He loves coming here.”

The horses help Edgar relax mentally as well as physically,  she said.

“He is very calm with the horse. He’s afraid of the dog but he’s willing to go and pet a horse. He feels very freindly with the horses” said Prieto, “He’s more relaxed. His legs seem to scissor so he wears a brace 24 hours, but when he comes here they take it off and it really relaxes his legs. It’s something with the vibration when the horse walks”.

Prieto and her son have had great success with the program, she said.

“I’m thankful that there’s people like this who make programs like this for us who have children with special needs so I am very, very grateful for them.” says Prieto