HOLYOKE — In 1972, the late Father Robert Wagner struck a deal with a young woman who wanted to ride her horse on his nonprofit’s land.
Wagner founded the Bureau for Exceptional Children and Adults, more commonly known as Jericho, an organization that aims to enrich the lives of people with disabilities. When Geraldine O’Connor asked if she could use the grounds to ride, he said yes, on the condition that she would give the children who frequented the facility rides and let them pet her horse.
O’Connor accepted, and the early beginnings of the Therapeutic Equestrian Center were underway.
Wagner saw how much the children loved O’Connor’s horse, and began to research therapeutic riding. He decided to send O’Connor to the Cheff Therapeutic Riding Center in Michigan to get professional training.
For 10 years, the riding lessons operated as an extension of Jericho. The equestrian center wasn’t officially founded until 1982, but it has been helping people with disabilities “reach their highest potential” through horseback riding and equestrian-related activities since its unofficial beginning in 1972.
O’Connor, now Geraldine O’Connor Page, is now the center’s executive director.
“It’s in my blood, it’s in my heart to see this program succeed,” Page said.
The nonprofit, located on Northampton Street in Holyoke, recently received some extra money to help it continue its mission. It was able to update its indoor riding facility in July because of a grant from the Chicopee Savings Charitable Foundation. The nonprofit replaced the area’s footing, which will reduce the “wear and tear” on horses’ legs and joints, according to the center.
The new footing was installed by the East-West Arena of Millers Falls, which also regraded the outdoor paddock pro bono.
Sue Ellen Panitch, a founder and former member of the Therapeutic Equestrian Center’s board of directors, wrote the grant because of her love for the organization. Panitch, over her time at the center, has seen the benefits of therapeutic riding firsthand.
Panitch and Page witnessed a drastic transformation in one of the children who came to the center regularly. The rider was 8 years old when she began her lessons, and she was unable to walk because of serious hip deformities and displacements.
“The thought was that riding could help stretch out the tendons in her legs enough for her to have surgery,” Panitch said. “Gerry looked at her and said, ‘Let’s give it a try.’”
The young girl started out by riding a pony with a small saddle, and progressively worked up to riding in a horse in a Western saddle. She took lessons for several years. Eventually, she no longer needed surgery.
“Gerry had taken her past the need for surgery,” Panitch said. “Instead, they put her in leg braces, and she was eventually able to walk.”
The program is aimed at children with disabilities, but some people with other challenges, such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety and depression, also partake in riding classes through the equestrian center. “We had a group of veterans who used to do the program,” Panitch said.
“Anxiety disorders can be as crippling for some people as someone who has a spinal injury and is in a wheelchair,” Page said. “So, we do work with a wide variety of individuals.”
The facility is still in the process of fully reopening after being closed for a year because of COVID-19. Pre-pandemic, there would generally be four riders per lesson. When they first reopened in May, they cut it down to two. Now, they have three riders per lesson.
“Our hope is that by the fall, assuming that the world continues to behave itself, we’ll go back to our pre-COVID numbers,” Page said.
Page also noted that the pandemic hit the equestrian center particularly hard, because the cost of keeping horses didn’t change, but they lost their main source of income: lessons.
Lessons are generally $40, but they’re scheduled in sessions, which last for a varying number of weeks. The current summer session has seven weeks and costs $280. Each session has one lesson per week, which lasts for about one hour.
“The amount that we charge for lessons is a small fraction of what it actually costs to run this program,” Page said. The nonprofit aims to keep its prices low so that it remains affordable.
Even during the pandemic, the center held Zoom meetings and virtual events to stay in touch with their riders.
“We kept our riders engaged and our families engaged as much as humanly possible,” Page said.
The center is looking for volunteers and donors to help them bounce back from the financial challenges imposed by the pandemic.
“Anybody who is looking for a charity to support we would definitely, definitely appreciate that,” Page said.