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The trip is designed to provide students with physical and emotional therapy, according to special needs Instructor Kate Johnson.
“We get to work on following directions and as well as core strengthening,” she said.
Johnson received a grant from Rotary to take her students to the riding center twice in the fall and twice in the spring. The field trip has been provided to students every year since she started working at Possum six years ago.
“We marked it on our calendar and we had been counting down the days to our horseback riding trip,” she said.
Springfield Rotary has been working with the riding center since 1998 and has been providing grants to special needs educators since 2002.
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Students are taught safety skills and are acquainted with the animals before riding them.
Therapeutic horseback riding provides students with a positive experience, said Carolyn Bailey, head instructor for the riding center, while also strengthening their muscles.
“They are getting physical therapy without feeling that they are in a physical therapy room,” she said.
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