HATFIELD — Five years after occupational therapist Leora Barry launched Transitions Through Motion — a women-operated nonprofit that provides therapy, often through the use of horses, to those in need, the group has secured its first permanent location in Hatfield.
Standing in the stables of Transitions Through Motion’s new North Road location on a recent morning, 4-year-old Nolan Moller brushed and saddled a horse named Malibu. The young boy, diagnosed with both the neurological disorder apraxia and Jacobs syndrome, wore an ear-to-ear smile while he held Malibu’s hoof and cleaned the mud off it.
“He loves, loves, loves animals. He’s just got a strong connection and it’s amazing … He’s made strides. Even just in six months being here and working with Malibu, he’s come a long way,” said Nolan’s mother, Amber Moller. “The equine therapy, I’m realizing the depths of how it helps him — it’s more than just his speech. The posture he has to learn, the muscles that he gained working with Malibu. It was insanely educational for myself through learning how to help him, even at home.”
Barry, Transitions Through Motion’s program director and founder, explained that she grew up taking horseback riding lessons with an instructor who also taught people with disabilities.
Barry said her career trajectory as an occupational therapist was partly set after she was seriously injured in high school and underwent abdominal surgery for a broken pelvis and a torn diaphragm. She said much of her monthslong recovery took place on the back of a horse.
“I was sent home [from the hospital] and they said, ‘You don’t need therapy, you’re 18, you’ll be fine,’ but we had a friend that was a physical therapist who works with horses, and she just said ‘Nope, hop on,'” Barry said. “Through my youth, I saw a lot of really amazing things, and always knew I wanted to follow in that and be able to help as many people as I can find freedom in movement and possibility where they might feel like there’s nothing but impossibility.”
One of the nonprofit’s most memorable clients was a late University of Massachusetts Amherst professor who, in his twilight years, resumed his interest in horses to gain better balance and mobility.
“He went through a spell where he had some really bad health, and his wife contacted me and said ‘I really would love for him to get back on and back riding,'” Barry said. “He was in his 90s, and he was a pretty special guy, and starting to lose a bit of his memory at the time. He just wanted to have a little bit better mobility, a little bit better balance, a little more endurance, be able to go out and walk from his house out to the barn safely without his wife having to hold his hand.”
Prior to TTM’s acquisition of its more than 10-acre Hatfield location in November, the organization mainly operated temporarily at other hosting facilities. The new location, however, will allow TTM to whittle down its 30-person waitlist, said board member Loretta White.
White became involved with TTM when she and her partner moved to the area and, seeking support for their child, decided to try horse-assisted therapy.
“We had never been in an equine-assisted therapy program before, and as soon as we met Leora and saw the work that she was doing, it was an instant click. I would say, outside of the support of family and friends, Leora and the TTM staff and community have had the single most profound impact on our kiddo,” White said. “When the opportunity came for us to be board members and give back, we jumped at it.”
To raise $30,000 by the end of April for TTM’s continued accreditation and certification through the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship and the American Hippotherapy Association, TTM is fundraising and accepting donations from past and current clients. Barry said the funds will also help the organization purchase more horses and fix fencing to provide safe service to a wider array of clients.
Former speech pathologist and audiologist Noryn Resnick began volunteering at TTM after volunteering at local farms during the pandemic. She said she fell in love with the group.
“I fell in love with horses, and then when I found the horse program, I found an opportunity to mix my background with a new passion,” Resnick said. “This is a magical place.”
