Simple Changes hosts horse-assisted therapy sessions with seniors in Northern Virginia. The benefits are heartwarming — and surprising.
With his son, Jack Eliff, standing protectively behind him, the elder Eliff started to paint. “Look at the color of this,” he said. Two vertical strokes and one horizontal — the letter H. Then he stopped. He frowned at the horse and started shaking his head. “If it looks nice,” he said, “why paint it?”
The organization, which serves people of all ages who have physical, cognitive and emotional disabilities, has five full-time horses and a sixth in training. To function safely in a therapeutic setting, they must be able to handle situations such as hearing a loud noise or encountering a wheelchair or walker without getting spooked. Some participants can ride the horses, with assistants walking alongside to spot them, though visitors from Goodwin Living do not.
After a session, participants with advanced dementia talk about the horses and often ask to return, Bolin said. “These times of engagement can divert a person from feeling isolated, lonely or upset,” she said. “The resident comes out of their illness for a while.” Some residents have what Bolin describes as “skin hunger,” which stroking the horses can assuage. “It’s the absence of touch,” she said. “If someone’s separated from their family, they’re not getting hugs.”
Each session adjusts to participants’ interests. With one group, “I was talking about my love of horse literature, and everyone had a horse book that they loved,” Wallingford said. They discussed “Black Beauty” and “The Black Stallion.”In last week’s group, Wallingford brought out four model horses she had owned for half a century, purchased on childhood trips to the Museum of Industry and Science in Chicago.
Eliff, a former vice president of a lumberyard, tapped on a model palomino and pointed at Stetson. He tapped on a model pinto and pointed at Stella, a black horse with white markings.Then it was time to paint. Posie, a bay mare, was led to McGaughy, who uses a wheelchair. She reached out to touch the horse’s flank, and lit up with a smile.
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