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For 25 years, the Northland Therapeutic Riding Center in Holt, Missouri, has offered equine therapy to students with physical, emotional and behavioral needs.
On the walls of the main riding hall, you can take a walk down memory lane and see the faces of families and students who helped build its history. What started as a program with four horses and four riders now has a waiting list of students hoping to hop in the saddle.
After outgrowing its original location, NTRC found its forever home in 2016 thanks to the generosity and support of Mark and Margret Frankcom.
“We see our riders come to a place where everybody’s glad to see them. They have the opportunity to gain strength, certainly, and balance. But also confidence. And for many of them, I think a sense of empowerment that they would not have in their lives otherwise,” said volunteer Bonnie Dickson. “There are a lot of things going on. Some of them you can quantify; others you can’t."
Dickson has been with the program as a volunteer since day one and now sits on the board. She found her way to NTRC after teaching English for 30 years at Park Hill High School.
As a long-time horse owner and rider, she was initially drawn to working with the horses. But what made her stay was far deeper.
“I think every volunteer would say that you get more out of it than you put into it,” Dickson said. “You think about what it must mean to them, what it must feel like to get a 1,015-pound horse to do what they ask.”
Along the way, NTRC obtained premier accreditation from the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International. The distinction requires the center to meet a high level of expectation when it comes to instruction, facility management and animal care.
It is an honor that lives on through the people it serves.
“They really get it here. They get our life, they get what we’re going through, they get my kids,” said mom Britney Voigt.
After years of medical fostering, Voigt and her sister adopted 10 children with special needs. Five of them attend NTRC every week for equine therapy.
Voigt says raising them brings unique challenges, but staff and volunteers at NTRC have made the ride a lot smoother.
“They kind of came on board and walked hand in hand with us," Voigt said. "And I was like, what’s going on? Nobody is like, shhh, you need to quiet your kid. Nobody is like, trying to rush us out of the room. And that was kind of one of the pivotal moments for us where I realized how different it can be."
Voigt has seen her kids improve in spatial awareness, confidence, social skills and mobility. The movement of the horse while walking causes the human torso to move the same way it does when we walk on our own two feet.
So for riders like Voigt’s son Malachi, who has physical disabilities, it strengthens their core and balance.
The work they do during class has undoubtedly transformed the lives of her kids, but she says it is often what happens outside of class that impacts her the most.
“They are really like a wrap-around support for families,” Voigt said.
Voigt wants to see that wrap-around support expand. Right now, students can pay for classes out of pocket, through state waivers, insurance or with county funding. Senate Bill 40 in Missouri also allows counties to levy property taxes and fund local services for people with developmental disabilities.
“I think we’re better than a lot of areas, but we still have a lot of room to grow,” Voigt said. “Kearney and north, it gets really sporadic and really hard to find support.”
NTRC is always looking for volunteers and donations to continue its mission. For more information on volunteering, you can head to its main website.
To donate, click here.
“It’s not easy to parent children with special needs, especially in our world, but it’s such a beautiful ride,” Voigt said.
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