In Horse Therapy, Delight Reigns

Miliken Bartlett, 6, walks along the lake with Barn Brat youth volunteer Coley Stelter at the Bakas Equestrian Center. There are more than 670 of these centers across the United States and Canada devoted to children and adults with disabilities.

By NATALIE SHULTZ / USF

By NATALIE SHULTZ Special to The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 13, 2007

ODESSA - Dressed in blue jeans, black boots and riding helmet, 6-year-old Miliken Bartlett is beaming. She shades her sensitive eyes from the sun and gazes up at the horse she'll ride today, Little John. With a boost from some volunteers, she's planted onto his back and is ready to ride.

For the next 30 minutes, Miliken's blurred vision won't matter. Little John will be her teacher today, and she doesn't have to see to learn confidence.

"Sitting on the horse makes me feel like a cowgirl," she says.

At the Bakas Equestrian Center in Odessa, and 670 similar centers across the United States and Canada, horses such as Little John work with disabled people every day. Since 1987, the local center's Horses for Handicapped program has provided free horseback therapy to clients older than 4 who have mental or physical disabilities.

Bakas will celebrate its two decades June 2. Center employees are seeking past riders and volunteers for the reunion.

Riding Helps With Balance

Miliken's mother, Anne Bartlett, said her daughter was born with a birth defect that caused partial blindness. Miliken wears corrective lenses that allow her see up to about 12 feet and uses magnifiers to help her see up close. The horse therapy helps Miliken's problems with balance, depth perception and color recognition, Bartlett said.

"The concept is fabulous," she said. "The personnel is highly trained and highly professional, and I just cannot say enough good about the horses, the staff and the people there."

According to the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association, therapeutic riding began in Europe in the early 1950s.The original John W. Bakas Jr. Equestrian Center opened in Lake Park off North Dale Mabry Highway just south of Van Dyke Road. It reopened in 2001 on donated land off Race Track Road in Odessa.

"The program has evolved as we went along. It has turned into an internationally known facility and one of the premier centers in the state," senior recreational therapist Patrick Vannetta said.

A Special Little Girl

Among various plaques and photos in Vannetta's office hangs his framed cowboy poem about his experience with 6-year-old Katie Dorsal on the last ride before she died. She suffered from leukodystrophy, a form of brain degeneration.

It reads: "I am sure little 6-year-old, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, frog bellied angels that can carry Special Olympic torches are in high demand, and I know her pony was waiting for her."

Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation and the nonprofit organization Horses for Handicapped sponsor the horse therapy program.

Bakas instructor and volunteer coordinator Gina Edwards said volunteers care for the facility and the approximately 90 students who ride at Bakas each week. The center requires parents of riders to put in the amount of volunteer time equal to the time their children ride per week.

Edwards said students with more severe disabilities, even those who can't speak, show excitement when they come to Bakas.

"When families turn down the road, even nonverbal children start laughing or smiling," Edwards said.

Anne Bartlett said the compassion and memories at the Bakas Center will leave lasting marks on both her and her daughter's lives.

"She has reached another level of self awareness and confidence that has really come through," Bartlett says. "And, I think she would be heartbroken if she ever had to stop riding here."

ABOUT THIS REPORT

This report is part of a multimedia project produced by a University of South Florida journalism class in cooperation with The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and News Channel 8. The students work for a semester with professionals from all three media.

WANT TO GO?

For details about the Bakas Equestrian Center reunion, call the center at (813) 264-3890 or e-mail horsebakas @yahoo.com.

Reporters Chris Oxford, Julie Salomone and Kevin Smetana contributed to this report.