Providing championship results on regular basis

Defining the Best

Children with disabilities are really angels in disguise. They teach us what’s important.

Working with people with disabilities, especially children, has become one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. It took many years of education and training, but the hands-on interactions with riders at Centaur Stride taught me so much about the meaning of life. I shared in their challenges and accomplishments and witnessed unconditional love in the purest form.

To me, unconditional love is acceptance as you are, with a reciprocal love, expressed in whatever way it can be, sometimes just that sparkle in one’s eyes. Eyes can talk!

In developing programs, we tried to provide a level of challenge for our riders. Challenge is good, research says. Trying to figure out how to make horse shows a fair competitive challenge demanded creativity. Methods were revised constantly, trying to reach a greater level of fairness with each revision.

We had Special Olympic Equestrian competitions, Games for the Physically Challenged (I never before knew there was a difference), inclusion with modifications in local horse shows, and the greatest challenge, the training camp for the US Paralympics in California in 1995. Each of these quests was a learning experience and each has its own chapter in my book.

Over time, it became apparent that many people with disabilities did not want to be competitive! Is it that they knew how unfair it was to compare one person to another? Does losing make someone try harder or give up? Does winning make you feel superior to someone else?

How does it feel to be the last one chosen to be on a team?

Does it feel the same as never being invited to a birthday party or watching everyone around you talk to others but not to you?

As much as we tried to make the shows fair, everyone has different strengths and abilities.

Remember that famous footage of a Special Olympic race where two runners are nearing the finish line side by side, and one falls. The other passes him, takes a few steps, not as an after-thought of what is the right thing to do, but because it takes that long to slow down to stop, turn around and go back to help him up. They cross the finish line together, hand in hand. The motto of Special Olympics, “To finish is to win”.

The difference between Special Olympics and Paralympics is the cognitive component! What is really being taught with competitions?

We ended up just having fun shows at Centaur Stride. The horse they rode was a lottery drawing. We had leaders and sidewalkers as needed, relay teams with random partners, and tickets were given out for each game, but winning had more to do with luck than skill. Some of the horses had their own mindset in these games, hidden skills, developed by previous owners and were not apparent until the fun shows! Then everyone would laugh from surprise! The horses were having fun too! With the tickets, in which all riders accumulated because they were given away for various categories, the participants could then trade in their tickets for prizes at the end of the show. Back then, Toys for Tots would donate repaired toys for our horse show events. It was like Christmas in July!

Life is not about being the best or even about self-esteem. It is about the joy of inclusion, belonging, unconditional love, and companionship.

The healing power of the horses at Centaur Stride takes that truth to even greater levels. I am always learning from the horses and the people I aim to help!

We no longer have the fun shows. Budget cuts! They were labor intensive and we provided them for free.

Please help us to continue to help others. Send donations to: Centaur Stride, Inc., PO Box 174, Westfield, NY 14787; call to volunteer (716) 326-4318. Visit our website at: www.centaurstride.org and please like and follow our Facebook page: Centaur Stride Therapeutic Horseback Riding facility. Comments can be emailed to: claudiamonroe@centaurstride.org

https//linktr.ee/centaurstride . Thank you for your support!

Claudia Monroe is president of Centaur Stride.