Tuesday, September 17, 2024
By Olivia Coffin
Contributing Writer
DE PERE – Exceptional Equestrians held their third annual Horses for Healing community wellness event on Saturday, July 27, along with 15 community partners, to provide resources, activities and educational opportunities to promote health and well-being.
The nonprofit promotes physical health and development, communication, community integration, self-esteem and achievement of functional skills.
The program was founded in 1999 by its pediatric occupational therapist executive director of exceptional equestrians and owner/administrator of Country Kids pediatric outpatient clinic, Lisa Kafka.
Kafka’s horse Annie is also a therapy horse at Exceptional Equestrians.
“I want to better the lives of people of all abilities through the healing power of horses. We provide hippotherapy, adaptive riding and equine-experiential learning programs that promote physical health and development, communication, community integration, self-esteem and achievement of functional skills,” said Kafka.
Hippotherapy is “therapy using a horse,” which is a medical treatment by an occupational therapist, physical therapist or speech–language pathology clinician to impact sensory, motor and cognitive functions.
Right now Exceptional Equestrians does 120 sessions a week and has a waiting list of 75.
“We are hoping to expand someday; we want to get those people off the waiting list and give them this opportunity.” she continued.
All of the horses have come from different walks of life, such as jumpers or show horses, and have been trained to be therapy horses now.
Each horse is desensitized to provide a safe and memorable experience.
“Our oldest horse is Glory, who is 24 but she is the sweetest girl,” said Carol Klak, a registered occupational therapist who has worked at Exceptional Equestrians for over 25 years.
“We are now open year-round, we were able to add an indoor arena so now we can give lessons all year.”
Because they are a nonprofit, Klak said that they wouldn’t be able to do this without charitable support.
“When we tell people about the mission of Exceptional Equestrians, they can’t help but be inspired, and they almost always ask, ‘How can we help?’” Klak said.
As a northeastern Wisconsin program that serves all children and adults with disabilities regardless of their ability to pay, Exceptional Equestrians relies on the financial generosity of individuals, businesses and charitable organizations.
For more information, visit https://exceptionalequestrians.org.
Exceptional Equestrians is located at 1130 Orlando Dr., De Pere.
