“The benefits hippotherapy has brought to Tonya, is just amazing. Tonya is a deteriorated myelin, brain tumor, and stroke survivor. The left side of her body is paralyzed, and she is in a wheelchair with a leg brace.

Tonya started January 7th (evaluation day) and has spent every Sunday, except for one, doing hippotherapy. She started her first time on a horse, January 14th and thought she was going to throw up and was totally nervous. She did not throw up, however we learned she needs to make sure she drank more water during the week and make sure she was cool on the ride to the property. Her second time on the horse, she started to relax more and started gaining confidence in what she might be capable of doing. She slowly started to sit up straighter and relax her left arm.

Each time she has gone out on the horse, she has been able to gain more strength and endurance. This last weekend she was sitting up perfectly straight and rarely was leaning forward. I have not seen or heard my sister be this confident or happy in a really long time. This therapy has not only helped make her more mobile, but it has also had a great effect on her mentally. She has really come a long way in such a short time. She looks forward to coming out each week.

As a family, we are so grateful for this opportunity for her. We could not do what this horse has done for her. It has totally blown us away. We never thought she would come this far so quickly or at all. She has a real chance again at being able to put more movement into her body.”