I’ve got a theory born of some research, that in times of physical or emotional stress, returning to an area of competence can be helpful, even curative.
That’s why, when my husband died while we were fairly young, I disregarded self-help books and friends who advised against making any major life changes. I knew that travel made me feel competent and capable. (I’m excellent at adventure, bad at staying still.)
So, I packed up my two young children and we moved to the Caribbean island of Barbados where I got a job, the kids went to school, and we learned that life wasn’t over. Despite losing my beloved husband, I found that there was this pleasurable thing I could still do. I assured myself (and my children) that we were going to be okay.
That is why I believe in finding an activity you are -- or were -- once good at to get through tough times.
For instance, Jack Gordon and Al Solnit, both in their late eighties, are two truly remarkable men who illustrate this point. Both happen to have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.
Jack, among other things, invented a very useful product to clean jewelry, which sold on the QVC Network. Al was formerly a dentist in Los Angeles with an extremely successful practice while serving on the faculty of University of Southern California’s Dental school. He traveled widely, teaching techniques of occlusion dentistry. (I looked it up, so you don’t have to! It’s the alignment of both upper and lower teeth when they are brought together.)
What these two gentlemen share in common besides the diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease, is a passionate love of all things horses; a love they’ve carried with them from earlier times in their lives. Jack and Al both attend the Santa Ynez Valley’s Therapeutic Riding Program which is providing treatment for their Parkinson’s Disease. (Full disclosure, I’m on the board of this amazing organization.)
Jack and his wife have owned Peruvian Paso horses for several decades and enjoyed their shared passion for horses by riding through beautiful trails in Idaho and California. Al also loved trail riding, as well as cutting horses. This gave him hours, days and years of pleasure.
However, for these men, and so many other people, it isn’t just riding the horse that’s important, it is about being with these incredible animals who seem to know what we want before we know it ourselves. Horses provide touch and smell and sensory fulfillment for folks. Loving a horse is duplicated by little else.
On Wednesday mornings, Al and Jack come to the Santa Ynez Therapeutic Riding Program and with various adaptations and help from instructors and volunteers, ride.
Jack mounts on his own, but has two helpers at his side. He begins without stirrups, giving his legs a chance to stretch out. Then, he practices various equestrian skills, such as getting his horse to walk backwards. This is no easy feat. Al needed a little more assistance mounting his horse, but neither man required the hoist that is available at the program for those unable to swing their legs over and get onto a horse. Al rode, with volunteers walking at his side, through a maze and even ventured outside the ring and rode through the Therapeutic Riding property in Santa Ynez.
Besides the sense of competency and pleasure that these lessons provide, there is sound evidence that horse riding helps those with Parkinson’s Disease, which is estimated to affect over a million people in the United States. It is a neurodegenerative condition with symptoms that include tremors, slowness of movement, rigidity and postural instability.
It is easy to see, watching Jack and Al in their lessons, how riding is an exercise which addresses most of these symptoms. The slow, graceful swaying of a well-trained horse gives the human body greater flexibility, strength and mobility.
Most of all, being astride a horse gives Jack and Al a memory of one of the most pleasurable activities of their lives. Al’s wife quoted a familiar, timely saying, “The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a person.”
The Santa Ynez Therapeutic Riding Program is always looking for volunteers over age 14. For more information, contact Karie McCorkle at volunteer.syvtrp@gmail.com or (805) 350-2280.