Mecca rider Skyler Leonard is a full time student, a restaurant manager, and an avid trail rider with his Percheron mare Kyrie, but he still finds the time to volunteer once a week at Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center.

I recently spent a few hours there following him around with my camera.

If you aren’t already acquainted with it, Little Bit has been around since 1976, when it began as a five-student program at the Woodinville Riding Club, the brainchild of Margaret Dunlap, a Multiple Sclerosis sufferer, and Debra Powell Adams, when they noticed how horseback riding was helping control Dunlap's symptoms.

At that time therapeutic riding was in its infancy – there are now over 700 programs across North America, and Little Bit has grown into the largest, full-time therapeutic riding program in the Northwest. The labor-intensive nature of the program (it can take up to three people to assist a disabled rider) means it would be unaffordable for most families without the over 300 volunteers who participate each year.

Skyler has been one of those volunteers for over a year.

He is grooming Spencer, a lovely Fjord gelding, when I ask how he got involved with Little Bit. “I had just lost someone close to me, and I was in a bad place. I dropped out of school, and my mom said, why don’t you come to Little Bit.” His mother Paula Leonard has been a long-time volunteer there herself.

The reason it got him out of his personal black hole, he says, is “I was looking at these kids who have so much to overcome and their spirit just inspired me. Your own obstacles look so small by comparison. Plus you just develop a relationship with them. I’ve been working with M* for over a year now. His brother comes to help and they are just awesome together. We just have a great time. In fact, we are always getting in trouble for talking too much during class.”

I doubt Skyler really gets in too much trouble. He seems like an asset to the program and is considering pursuing further training. Should he become a Volunteer Captain, he would take on more responsibilities, like bridling the horses (this is not done by the volunteer handlers -- a dozen people, each with a different technique can irritate the horses). In fact, Melissa Dayr, the Volunteer Coordinator for Little Bit, says that sometimes it’s the people with no actual horse experience who make the best trainees, as they don’t come with a lot of strong opinions about the right way to do things already (of course we are different at Mecca, aren't we?).

It is clear when Skyler’s student shows up that tacking up and grooming the horse is the least significant part of the job. The success of the program is dependent on the social contact as much as the physical benefits it provides.

Because volunteers work regularly scheduled lessons with the same students and horses, a relationship quickly develops. As Skyler points out, the boys like to have a male volunteer in what can be a female-dominated environment. Skyler says that he would have been happy to have a male presence around the barn when he was learning to ride!

Whether it’s just a gender thing or a Skyler thing, it is clearly working. His student has someone to take notice when he succeeds and to help him through the rough patches. Also, because the kids are in a group, they can see other riders progressing in spite of their challenges. Of the four students in the lesson, two of them are now riding independently.
Central control is provided by the instructor Jessica McKenzie, who is working towards her next level of NARHA (North American Riding for the Handicapped) instructor certification. Her class today is being audited by Jenny Nell Schulte, Little Bit’s head instructor, who is preparing Jessica for the difficult evaluation.

You only get one chance to do things right at the test, Jenny says, but today, even an awkward mount by one of the students, where he clips the horse’s hip as he swings his right foot over. Fortunately for Jessica, this mistake is made up for by three good, well supervised and supported mounts, including when M* gets aboard Spencer, supported by Jessica, Skyler and another volunteer.

There’s a reason for the focus on mounting. Not only is it a potentially dangerous moment, it’s important to protect the backs of the horses from a sudden awkward landing – they are a very valuable asset.

On average Little Bit evaluates eighty horses for each horse that makes the program, seeking the right conformation for balance, stability and good gaits that are important for challenged riders. Candidates must also possess the physical and mental toughness of a school horse who works 12-14 times a week on average, a truly bomb-proof confidence and the patience of a saint with the many handlers and helpers that surround them, and that special something that makes certain horses treat their riders like precious cargo.

Some of the horses have quirky personalities, like Bear, who doesn’t like people around him in the cross-ties or even staring at him, but in the arena the balance and steady tempo resulting from his upper-level dressage training make him a star. The real high-profile horse in the barn is Valeur, a Danish warmblood, who will representing America at the Paralympics next year in Beijing (in the Olympic facilities) with rider Beth Levine. They try not to let it go to his head, though -- he still puts in arena time as a lesson horse.

Regular turnout in group paddocks, one day off a week, and a weekly tune-up ride by a trainer help keep the horses happy and performing. Little Bit is proud of the fact that most of their horses beat the average two years service lof a therapy horse by a substantial amount. Murphy, one of the golden boys of the barn, has been doing it for nine years. Like Spencer, he’s a Fjord. Four Fjords and Mahon, a Haflinger, make draft ponies over a quarter of the program’s horses – providing both wide backs and steady temperaments.

Spencer is demonstrating this now as he unwaveringly does his rounds, whether M is poised in two point at the trot, walking over the poles, or making frequent changes of direction. Jessica keeps her instruction cheery and positive, Jenny tells me that sometimes she has to discipline students by asking them to leave the arena when they can’t focus.

It is apparent why instructors need so much training – in addition to the knowledge of horses and handicaps they must have, they have to keep their students safe in a distracting environment. Still, in most ways it’s much like any other riding class – cheeks flushed, looks of concentration, and an occasional proud smile when a difficult task is accomplished.

Then there are some light-hearted moments – when a Fjord mare in training raises her tail and poops right in the path of the trainer holding the long lines, a ripple of mirth spreads through students and volunteers alike.

There’s not much time after the class, but M helps lead Spencer back to the cross ties. Some of the students are able to stay and enjoy grooming the horses, but Skyler has another class directly after, and M’s ride home is here. Fortunately Sifter, Skyler’s next horse, worked the last class also and is already tacked up and ready to go.

Skyler just has time to untack Spencer, greet his mother, Paula, who also works this class, accept a granola bar, some joshing, and some real estate advice and then he is greeting his next student. E* is already focusing --– through the lens of a plastic digital camera. With the fierceness of an auteur, he directs those around him to serve the lens, and you’ll be reprimanded if you try to steal his shot like I did!

Curiously, the little director disappears on horseback. There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of even a young man, especially after a tough day at school. There is excitement when it turns out today’s lesson is going to be extra special. All three students are going for a trail ride, something they haven’t been able to do since last October.

Little Bit backs onto the Tolt Pipeline Trail, a valuable asset. Once they are all out of the arena, with E in the lead, Jessica asks which way he would like to go. On a rock hunt, he responds. Well, there will be rocks, or gravel, anyway, on the well-maintained, wide path.

Like all trail riders, the students have to learn to manage the distance between themselves and the horse in front and negotiate real obstacles like gates. I drop back to visit with Paula and her charge, who is riding the reliable Sugar, a Belgian-Appaloosa cross retired from her dressage career. Her rider appreciates her broad back and the commanding height Sugar gives her. Although she can’t walk without assistance, the smile on her face now says she feels the same as I used to feel riding in Central Park – a princess amongst pedestrians.

The last light is fading, so we can’t go too far up the hill On the way back I walk with Skyler. E likes to hear about Skyler’s own horse, Kyrie, and the long trail rides they take together. When we return to the barn, I learn from E’s mother that he would like to visit Mecca and see Skyler’s world for himself, if they could only find the time.

He will find his special passion for photographing horse’s noses easy to indulge here. In the meantime, I try a few shots myself at his direction, sharing the results on the digital camera screen for his approval. This is Mahon, whose curiosity makes him a reliable volunteer subject.

The facility at Little Bit is well appointed and extremely well organized, with everything labeled so that the staff and masses of volunteers can use the tack with a minimum of confusion. Because there are also a lot of visitors, each stall has a picture of the horse and a short biography, and the hallway is decorated with pictures and tributes from partipants in the program.


* names of the students are withheld as part of Little Bit's confidentiality policy.


Mecca Equestrian boasts five riders who volunteer at Little Bit – besides Skyler and his mother Paula, Marilyn, Melissa and Rachel also give their time there.

If you are interested in volunteering, there are upcoming orientations and training sessions for new volunteers in March (Our own Rachel will be teaching the March 29th level two training) as well as an Open House on Sunday March 18th. See the
Little Bit web site

Other related links:

The International Paralympic Committee
North American Riding for the Handicapped Association