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: High Five Stables on the border of Castro Valley, CA.

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.

We now have a wheelchair ramp/platform for horse-level mounting of paraplegics, quadriplegics and other mobility-impaired riders!

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 therefore Wildhorse! is pleased to offer a sliding scale for lesson fees.

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.  Mentorship for youth and adult volunteers is also offered.

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.

Jeff and volunteer Terri, negotiating a cavaletti (low jump) course at the trot. Jeff is a Regional Center client and has been riding with Wildhorse! for almost two years.

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 service to disabled veterans and their families.

Our program is year round, with the use of two wonderful Tennessee Walking Horses, Echo and Cookie.

Mlle. C. Paul on Echo

Cookie, with a very special student and a great volunteer.

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!:

"Kari Ann Owen, director of Wildhorse!, provides a wonderful equestrian experience for people of all ages and abilities.  I have referred challenged students to Wildhorse! and have seen firsthand the benefits of this program for students with autism and other special needs.  Dr. Owen’s work has inspired me and I am currently working on a master’s project that documents the emotional benefits of riding (achieved June 2009), and beginning work on obtaining my therapeutic horseback riding instructional certification. 

"My family and I take lessons with Dr. Owen as well.  She is currently instructing me in basic dressage and I am enjoying this new challenge".

Liz Baugh

Education Specialist

Castro Valley, CA Unified School District

NOTE BY KARI ANN OWEN:

At Wildhorse!, dressage is presented with enthusiasm, respect for horse-rider communication; gentle application of hands, seat and legs and, above all, humor. Basic elements are presented piece by piece and then strung together like jewels in a necklace to achieve US Dressage Federation patterns. These elements include walk down the center line, halt, salute, tracking left and into a twenty meter circle and duplication of all these elements at various gaits, with transitions achieved by breathing and light application of seat and legs. My personal belief is that rigid perfectionism is the enemy of achievement, and compassion and humor are as important as every other aspect of riding. We laugh a lot during class.

"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

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

•   Grant Family of Wildhorse! autistic student.
isnotjoanne@hotmail.com.

 Cornerstone Equestrian Center References:

•       Candy Tolle, Cornerstone supervisor. 707 643 2223.

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

Wildhorse! in 2009

_{We are deeply grateful to the Elks Club of Fremont, CA for their grant in aid, which helps us provide lessons for needy students.}

_{We are deeply grateful to John and Barbara Baker of Hayward, CA for giving us a home for our horses and students.}

Our volunteers are incredible, and help us meet the needs our horses and especially our handicapped students, who require balancing help int he saddle and mounting and dismounting help.

Here are some of our terrific volunteers:

Minky and Echo, after Echo's makeover,

care of Laura and Lori!

Pat on Cookie, learning and practicing gentle hands and communication through her seat and legs.

"B" and Eleisha

Beatrice and friends!

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.

Autistic adult student Jeff began as a total beginner in late Spring 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 an equine bodywork seminar and demonstration with Marcella Smit, who is qualified in six different therapies for horses and humans; 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. Midori Morgan, Natural Horsemanship expert, presented a ninety minute workshop for us which helped us learn more about our beloved Sunny, who is extremely responsive to Natural Horsemanship, including a bitless bridle.

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.

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.