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Ponies don't care about your past. They don't care
about your troubles. They only care about how you treat them, which is
why Churchill County resident Barbara Lydon says they're the perfect
teachers. Lydon is owner of Helping Hooves Happy Hearts, a budding
treatment program geared toward children with behavioral problems, “to
help turn them around and get them focused,” she said. Where lectures
and punishments fail to make a child understand, Lydon said equines show
someone when they're in the wrong rather than tell them. If a child is
standoffish, the horse will be too. Anger will be met with anger and
outbursts met with outbursts. Hundreds of therapists and counselors around the country use horses, ponies and mules to make contact with troubled youth. They say there's just something about horses that kids can't pass up. “They create a bond like you wouldn't believe,” said Lydon. Therapists say working with equines build a sense of confidence in kids, who marvel at the fact that they can mount and ride such an intimidating, strong animal. They show people that cooperation is the best way to get anywhere, since a horse won't be forced into anything. They also help quash anger management problems. “The angrier you get, the worse they'll work for you,” Lydon said. When anger fails, she said kids start trying new ways to make the horse do what they want. A counselor with the New Frontier substance abuse treatment center in Fallon, Lydon said she is more interested in working with troubled, abused or neglected kids than adults with addictions. “If I can save a kid before he ends up there, that's my goal,” she said. Lydon expects to work with adolescents and teens, often those who've ended up in the juvenile probation office. She is just starting her business, with four ponies and five mules, out of her property on Sand Hill Road south of Fallon. Most of her equines were donated, and some were themselves abused before making it to her pasture. Modern day equine therapy began with the efforts of a disabled Dutch woman who rehabilitated herself from wheelchair to horseback and went on to win a silver medal for Grand Pris Dressage at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952, according to the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association. Using horses, mules and ponies for therapy has expanded since the 1950s to encompass healing of the mind as well as the body. Equine therapy is now widely used, with 670 NARHA centers in the U.S. and Canada annually serving more than 30,000 people with physical, mental or emotional disabilities. Lydon, who also runs a pony ride business called Party Ponies, said she's ready to start accepting therapy clients. She's also ready to accept more ponies.
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