Wildhorse!

Instruction in horseback riding and modern dance for children and adults at all levels of mobility.

Instructor and Director:
Dr. Kari Ann Owen, Ph.D.
penomee@yahoo.com

Location of riding lessons: McLeod Stables, 215 Skelly Street, cross street Hercules Avenue, Hercules CA, at the border of Pinole.

Our EIN number: 06-1794198
State of CA Corporation #: 2933655

We are a non-profit 501C3 corporation recognized by the IRS as a public charity.

Mailing address: PO Box 497, Pinole CA 94564

Wildhorse! is a movement education program involved in teaching horseback riding and dance to the handicapped, as well as the abled. Kari Ann Owen was once 98% mobility impaired from crippling sciatica. Her disabilities have motivated Kari Ann to serve others, and she will never turn anyone away for lack of funds.

Before founding Wildhorse!, Kari Ann spent two and a half years as an instructor at Cornerstone Equestrian Center, a therapeutic riding center in the Napa Valley. She began teaching in the summer of 2001.

Wildhorse!’s objective in riding is to teach movement instruction on horseback using relaxed techniques which allow humane-equine communication at both the physical and emotional level. Beginning and intermediate horsemanship using both English and Western saddles is offered to all riders regardless of physical or emotional challenges. Our only limit is that we cannot serve riders above two hundred pounds, nor do we have a wheelchair ramp/platform for horse-level mounting. Mentorship for youth and adult volunteers is also offered. Our objective in modern dance is to form a cheerleading/dance squad to support disabled athletes, with the aid of the Make Me a Pro! Organization.

Wildhorse!'s Board includes Belgian dressage rider Evelyne Hougard and science teacher and expert equestrian Heidi Schnabel.

Client services began in November 2006, and Wildhorse! is retaining clients and developing new ones. Kari Ann has taught abled adults and children and disabled children and adults in Napa, Butte and Contra Costa Counties. Wildhorse! has been granted vendorization by the Regional Center of the East Bay, which directly funds approved client services for developmentally disabled clients. Kari Ann Owen is a Certified and Registered Instructor for the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association.

Wildhorse!’s teaching approach is inspired by Centered Riding™ and yoga techniques and arena games for both abled and disabled riders. Hopes and dreams for the near future include a wheelchair ramp for paraplegic riders, and service to disabled veterans and their families.

Our program is year round, with the use of a wonderful Tennessee Walking Horse, Echo, and a  thoroughbred, Tinseltown ("Sunny"), who has been successfully shown at training level dressage and who jumps two feet, nine inches.

Mlle. C. Paul on Echo, learning to jump

References are numerous, and can be read below. A DVD of Kari Ann teaching the blind is available, and she is happy to make personal presentations.

References for Kari Ann Owen and Wildhorse! and Echo:

"We are very happy to have found Wildhorse!.  Our teenage daughter   has  severe cerebral palsy and has great difficulty engaging in any type  of healthful physical activity.  Wildhorse! has enabled her to enjoy the unique benefits of a riding program (muscle development, balance, discipline, etc.).  Just as important is the fact that she is excited  and happy to do it.  This is not the case with any other type of  therapy she has had. We look forward to many more Wildhouse! sessions. Kari Ann is wonderful, instructive, and has a can-do spirit.  Echo is  a peaceful, patient horse with a smooth ride!"

Thank you!
Tom Donovan

Kari Ann is very attentive to every need (student and
horse!) and her heartfelt compassion for others makes

the  horse riding experience very re-assuring for

anyone who is a beginner, able or disabled .

She is very kind and devoted , extremely

knowledgeable, humorous at time, respectful to others

and her surroundings,  and especially patient with her

students...she is just remarkable and has the best

qualities one can ever wish in a teacher ! 

 
Additionally, Kari Ann has the perfect lesson horse .

Echo is simply the kindest horse I have ever seen.

Just the right size, he is calm, sweet and easy to

work with . A perfect complement for Kari Ann 's style

of teachings . She couldn't have gotten a better horse

and the two of them make a great team ! 

Our 9 year old daughter lives for each of her riding

lessons! (and the rewards for us have been the

arrival of good grades!). She truly loves Kari Ann as

a person, and she loves everything about horses from

riding to caring for them... A to Z .  Kari Ann is

particularly great at integrating all the different

aspects of horse maintenance and care into her lessons

so the students learn a great deal . She manages to

involve everyone by inviting participation in various

workshop and volunteering activities, which in turn

create a wonderful wholesome experience for everyone .

Wildhorse! is simply a ''god send'' to us. 

All the members are wonderful and truly devoted horse

lovers. Unlike many organizations in the field, they

are very approachable, non competitive and

unpretentious. If it wasn't for them, we would never

be able to experience the joys of horse riding and the

closeness to a horse.

Madame M. Paul, Hercules, CA

•  Patricia Walters, equestrian teaching of the abled, all around character reference, Horse Master Course Instructor, CSA State Horseman’s Association: (530) 345-3028

•   Joan Grant, sister of Wildhorse! autistic student.
joan56@sbcglobal.net.

• Muriel Paul, parent of Chiara, abled riding student, murielcpaul@yahoo.com

 Cornerstone Equestrian Center References:

•       Candy Tolle, Cornerstone supervisor. 707 643 2223.

•       Les Karcher, Cornerstone parent, kstorklady@sbcglobal.net

Wildhorse! in 2007 and 2008

 About our students…

Abled riding students Chiara, Bree, Destiny and Eva all began in late Spring 2007 as total beginners, and by the Autumn of 2007 were learning beginning jumping, including trotting over ground poles and small obstacles. We have a deaf student and volunteer, Chelsea, whom Kari Ann is mentoring for college equestrian studies program in cooperation with Chelsea’s family and the California School for the Deaf in Fremont, CA.

Autistic adult student Jeff began as a total beginner in late Sprint 2007, has acquired a superb Western Pleasure (equitation) seat and trail seat and will be ready for horseshow competition by Summer 2008.

Severely disabled students Jacqueline and Anikin are experiencing very observable muscle relaxation, and Anikin is demonstrating very strong posture improvements and has demonstrated positive changes in concentration and motor control.

Wildhorse! has presented a dressage workshop with a Livermore, CA dressage expert and horse trainer; a bit fitting workshop with Dr. Kris Herman, pediatrician and breeder of Tennessee Walking Horses; and an Emergency Equine Procedures workshop with Dr. Renee Golenz from Brentwood, CA. All workshops have been attended by Wildhorse! students, volunteers and boarders from the stable where we are hosted.

The following workshop was presented to four developmentally disabled adults from the Futures Explored Organization in late Winter 2007. Please contact Ms. Aileen Timmers at aileentimmers@futures-explored.org for a reference, if you wish.

Introduction to Happy 
Horsekeeping 
and Beginning Riding

Curriculum:

What makes a happy horse?

(1) How we behave around the horse.

 (2) Feeding.

 (3) How to groom a horse. This will be participatory.
 All students take turns after instructor and volunteer
 demonstrations, and groom with the help of an aide
 or volunteer doing the grooming with the client.
 This will also be participatory.

 (4) Retrieving, leading and tying a horse.

 (5) Beginning riding. Instructor will help clients
 learn to breathe deeply, and to then apply that 
breathing during the mount. Client will be led
 on the horse with at least one aide alongside,
 and learn halt to walk, walk to halt and halt 
and dismount.

 Community Relations
Kari Ann’s trip to the Special Olympics in the Los Angeles area was largely funded the Tri-Cities Horsemans’ Association of El Sobrante, CA. Kari Ann won two second place awards.

 Wildhorse! is looking forward to the future!

Our objectives and goals for the coming year are to continue teaching our abled and disabled students; to acquire a wheelchair ramp/platform for horse-level mounting directly from wheelchairs; and to develop a scholarship fund in support of families who cannot afford self-pay under any circumstances, or who can afford very partial pay because of difficult circumstances.

Further goals include acquisition of a second lesson horse short enough for the smallest riders, and possibly a third lesson horse who can accept students over two hundred pounds.