Equine therapy facility offers support with help from Penn State, United Way

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — For many, traditional talk therapy can seem daunting or ineffective. At a barn in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania, though, a different type of support is available: equine therapy. Visitors to the Rising Hope Therapeutic Riding Center will be met with stalls of horses ready to help them process emotions, develop physical strength, and learn new skills that are essential in navigating everyday life. The service is made possible through support from Centre County United Way.

Participants in Rising Hope's programming cover a broad range, from veterans and senior citizens to children and anything in between. For anyone who’s longing to get up close to a horse and learn a little more about riding, the facility can seem like an exciting way to get some hands-on experience. But it’s more than just that, according to instructor Sarah Thompson.

“People talk about therapeutic riding, and I think a lot of people immediately go to physical limitations or physical disabilities, but they don't think about the mental health benefits that it provides,” Thompson said.

Thompson has been working with the center for about two years now. For her, the work has provided a purpose and a path forward for a career. But it’s also been a welcoming environment where she’s comfortable and supported, allowing her to be that resource for others.

She frequently works with children who visit the center for a variety of services: physical therapy for injuries or disabilities; assistance with mental illness or learning impairments; or even just having fun and getting to learn new skills.

“It allows my inner child to really come out. I can be creative with the kids, and I can think outside the box and see the change in them,” Thompson said. “To be a small part of providing that for a family, for a little kid, it's incredible.”

Rebecca Hall has seen the transformation firsthand through her daughter, Eliana. Eliana began visiting Rising Hope when she was just 5 years old, and even being around the smallest horses in the facility was intimidating for her. But now she’s able to ride larger horses and keep them under control, a clear sign of growth.

“The big things are confidence, assertiveness and self-control. When things don't go well, you have to figure out how to keep your emotions in check and what to do from there,” Hall said. “She's really had to tell the horse, ‘No, you're doing what I told you to do,’ because horses will try to take advantage of you, especially if you're smaller.”

Those skills are important for more than just improving her horse riding, Hall said, and come in handy in Eliana’s everyday life.

“When you're dealing with a situation in real life, having to talk to strangers or things like that, you have confidence. This has helped her realize those skills and how they apply to those other areas,” she said.

While Eliana may recognize those improvements herself, there’s another element that she said keeps her coming back to the facility: fun.

“It does teach you perseverance and stuff,” she said. “My favorite part is, I like going fast.”

Through options like retreat programs, painting and braiding horses’ hair, tending the stalls and checking feed and water, the barn can offer a variety of ways to find solace and therapeutic outlets. Not everyone who benefits from Rising Hope feels the need to hop on a saddle and gallop around obstacles. For many, just being around the horses makes a world of difference.

“It makes all the difference. The barn is open, 24/7, to anyone that needs it. They only need to let me know they're here,” said co-founder Cindy Kocher. “When they can't ride, they can spend time with the horses. We have people pitching in, and we're like a family.”

Kocher started the service about seven years ago. Kocher had lost her husband, she said, and was grappling with the grief while looking after nine horses.

“I was in a very bad place, a lot of grief, but I was taking care of them. It kept me going,” Kocher said. “After five years of that, I said, ‘I want to share this with other people.’”

The experience showed her just how much that kind of hands-on work could help with personal struggles, and she wanted to extend that to others. She sought out the help of a friend, Yvonne McCaslin, who had the certifications to offer equine therapy and was looking to start a similar service. McCaslin agreed, and the two founded Rising Hope together.

Since then, the program has grown to include about 50 volunteers, and there are 30 participants who visit the barn for regular therapeutic work. That includes kids like Eliana, who want to develop skills like confidence and leadership, as well as veterans, people with disabilities or impairments, and those who just want to spend some time outdoors.

“We develop scholarships, so anyone who needs to come — as long as we have an opening and an instructor — can come,” Kocher said. “We offer day wishes, where someone can come and just spend time with the horse. We don't charge for it, and they can see what the horse can do for them, and if they want to continue.”

The program is possible in large part because of the partnership with Centre County United Way. Funds raised for United Way, in part through initiatives such as the Penn State United Way campaign, are directed to partner agencies like Rising Hope to support their programs.

At Rising Hope, that funding allows people to participate who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford it. Funds from Centre County United Way help to pay for instructors, veterinary bills, and any additional fees that come up over time. Because of that support, the agency doesn’t need to charge the standard participation fees they might otherwise.

Veterans, for example, are never charged for the services Rising Hope provides. They’re free to partake in equine therapy programming without having to worry about cost, Kocher said, or anything else they might be dealing with at the time.

“There's no judgments, there's no nothing. They can be who they are, and they can be safe and comfortable. And they might not do that in another setting,” Kocher said.

The approach at Rising Hope has done wonders for veteran Ashley Confer, who found out about the program while applying for assistance with medical issues through Centre County.

Confer had visited doctors and counselors before, she said, for struggles both physically and mentally, without the success she’d been hoping for. That’s when she started noticing pamphlets for equine therapy at Rising Hope around county offices.

“I always wanted to learn how to ride horses. The traditional therapy wasn't really working for me, and I was looking for something different, to see what else was out there,” Confer said. “I reached out, and I fell in love with the place.”

Traditional talk therapy can be difficult for some veterans, Confer said, because of the way you have to communicate your thoughts and feelings. She has difficulty quieting her brain and relaxing in that setting, she said, when someone is asking her to focus on a variety of different things and communicate them clearly. Equine therapy, she said, offers a different approach.

“You come here and you're working through your problems in a different way. You're forced to be present and focus on your surroundings. It shuts down everything else going on in your brain,” Confer said. “That's helped me through some of my battles.”

For many veterans, the struggle to find and access assistance is draining, Confer said. Even just asking for the support you need can prove difficult. But at Rising Hope, horse riding forces her to communicate her needs and get over some hurdles — both literally and figuratively.

“I’m learning to ask for help when I need it, because here, you have to,” Confer said. “If you're too afraid to ask for help, if you don't know what you're doing, then you could get hurt. It forces me out of my comfort zone in that way.”

There’s also the more obvious benefit of physical therapy, Confer said. Riding a horse helps to build physical strength, she said, in a way she’s struggled with previously.

“If I go to physical therapy and try these different exercises, there's certain muscles that I just can't gain strength with,” Confer said. “But I get on a horse, and I can somehow get those muscles to activate.”

Rising Hope offers an opportunity for anyone in need to experience those benefits. Thompson has worked with participants dealing with a variety of personal struggles and has yet to see anyone walk away without learning something.

“The horses can give so much to so many people, and I'm just happy to be here and be a small part of the whole thing,” Thompson said. “It saves lives. So many veterans really struggle, and that's not a secret. But you could ask them; it saved their life. When I started working here, it saved my life. It saved [co-founder] Cindy’s life.”

The service is valuable, Thompson said, even to the people who come to take care of the horses and don’t take part in the therapeutic practice. The therapeutic practice extends beyond the participants, she said. Everyone — volunteers, instructors and even the horses — can benefit from their time in the barn.

“The horses rely on us. They need us to feed them and clean up after them. We let them out, we bring them in,” Thompson said. “It gives you a real sense of purpose, having to take care of them, in addition to teaching and knowing that you're providing something for the people who come here.”

The primary thing Rising Hope needs, Thompson said, is opportunities to grow. The program can use any financial support it receives from Centre County United Way to bring more people in and get them the assistance they need at pivotal times in their lives.

“One of the things we would love to do is reach more people and expand,” Thompson said. “To have more kids be able to come, you need to have more instructors. You need to have people to support it.”

About the Penn State United Way campaign

For more than 40 years, Penn State has partnered with Centre County United Way to ask Penn Staters to give back to their local community and support those in need. The annual Penn State United Way Campaign raises essential funds for agencies in the area to offer food, housing, education and additional resources to Centre County residents, allowing more than 53,000 county residents to live fuller, richer, more stable lives.

Through donations, payroll contributions, and events like Over the Edge at Beaver Stadium, Penn State contributes more than 40% of all dollars raised for the Centre County United Way each year. Learn more about partner agencies, services and ways to support Centre County United Way by visiting the campaign website.