JEDDAH, 6 May 2007 — The Open Skies scheme for helping autistic and disabled children return to a full and productive life through working with and riding horses received a hand up over the weekend.
The middle school — years 3 to 6 — British International School in Jeddah (BISJ) officially signed up to “adopt a horse.” The support the children give to the scheme will directly help disabled children toward a better life.
“It is very moving to think that it is children helping children in this way,” said Judy Houry on confirming the adoption. “These youngsters, who also help out with our client children in a very practical way, have shown a tremendous sense of social responsibility to people who are less able than themselves and who really deserve all the chances they can get.”
The Open Skies scheme is run entirely by voluntary help from the public, the families of the children who attend and give much of their leisure time to help the riders and lead the horses.
The “adoption” was signed by Joumana Malecki, house leader at the BSIJ, Tim Robinson, head of year five, together with year five and six student council representatives and a jubilant gathering of middle school pupils who celebrated with their new friend.
Malecki said that the scheme not only benefited the disabled children who rode the horses, but generated strong and caring links between the pupils in the school and their less able counterparts in the community.
“Our baccalaureate students help out here on a regular voluntary basis,” she said. “They come back to school glowing with the understanding that they have helped change somebody’s life for the better by making contact on a deeply personal level.”
Malecki said that it was as a result of the contacts that the baccalaureate made that the school decided to help the riding scheme. “I have seen children who cannot physically control themselves in their normal circumstances transformed into smiling and alert young people when they are on a horse,” she said. “Something magical happens between the child and the horse. I can’t explain it, but I see it.”
Close contact by disabled children with horses and the disciplines of interacting with them has well-established benefits. It is widely used as an effective way of bringing a richer life to challenged children both in the UK and the US. Based on the interaction between horse and rider — in this case, children with quite severe mental and physical setbacks and sometimes both, it includes equine activities such as handling, grooming, riding and vaulting.
A horse’s soothing rhythm, strength, warmth and three-dimensional movement patterns provide healthy exercise while improving circulation and muscle tone for physically limited children. The discipline associated with working with horses and the social interaction between peers benefit the child’s mind and spirit, raise self-esteem and develop levels of self sufficiency through accomplishment. The unconditional love of the horses which flows from the children is proven to reduce anxiety, encourage interaction and give challenged children a sense of empowerment.
“This is such valuable work,” said Houry, “and it transforms the children we are able to take on. The long association that the Kingdom has had with horses somehow makes it fitting that they should be the source of so much benefit to the challenged children who visit us.”
