On Eagles' Wings

On Eagles’ Wings Therapeutic Horsemanship Center provides equine-assisted activities and therapies for those with physical, cognitive, emotional and social disabilities in order to make positive, profound changes within all aspects of their lives. We are a Premier Accredited Member center of the international therapeutic horsemanship governing body called PATH (Professional Association for Therapeutic Horsemanship International), and strictly adhere to their guidelines for administrative structure, facility design and participant safety.

We currently have four PATH registered instructors, two physical therapists and one occupational therapy assistant involved with our primary programs that provide therapeutic riding lessons and hippotherapy. Therapeutic riding instructors focus on teaching children and adults with disabilities (from four-years-old and up) riding skills. Hippotherapy specialists use the horse’s unique motion as a treatment strategy with children and adults from two-years-old and up. The benefits of using the horse as a real type of “therapy” have been documented through peer-reviewed research and the success stories of riders participating in therapeutic horsemanship programs at PATH centers across the country.

The horse and its dynamic, human-like three-dimensional movement causes beneficial stimulation and corresponding significant positive changes in riders that far exceed conventional types of therapy-based interventions used with people with disabilities. A typical 30- to 45-minute riding session produces 3,000 to 5,000 repetitions of vertical and horizontal movement with rotation of the axes that is imparted from the horse to the rider’s central nervous system. This fact alone has created the setting for the many major improvements we have witnessed in our participants. Those who couldn’t walk independently when they started the program are now running to see their horse when they arrive, and there are others who have literally spoken their first words on the horse’s back.

There is also the special bonding and corresponding love and affection that our participants show their non-judgmental equine friends. And what better self-esteem and confidence booster exists than successfully learning to ride a 1200 lb. animal?

The success of our therapeutic horsemanship program is measured by the ability to attract and retain volunteers, as they are essential to our programming. We have over sixty volunteers that work within the program, logging over a combined 2,00o hours of volunteer time per year. Volunteers are all ages, as we have volunteers as young as fourteen-years-old to eighty-two. It is important to note that we also have welcomed any of our horsemanship participants and community members with disabilities to participate in our volunteer force. Many of the younger riders set a goal of becoming a volunteer when they become fourteen.

On Eagles’ Wings has recently been honored by the selection of one of their horses, Blaze the Wonder Pony, as PATH International Region 3 Therapy Horse of the Year for 2012. This is a great honor for one of our horses to be selected as one of the nation’s top therapy horses among the more than 6,000 equines that help serve PATH centers nationwide.

         On Eagles’ Wings Therapeutic Horsemanship Center started a pilot program in the fall of 2007 and has been able to serve the north central part of West Virginia for the past ten years. With the  new facility that was inducted in May of 2016, On Eagles' Wings has become a year-round program.

         On Eagles’ Wings currently accommodates 54 riders for therapeutic riding lessons and hippotherapy sessions. Each rider requires the use of a specially trained horse that has been screened and evaluated for temperament, gaits and reliability.

         Participants in our therapeutic riding and hippotherapy programs often need three volunteers per lesson, one as the horse handler, and two on each side of the rider for assistance in positioning and safety. Some riders are unable to currently ride because of extreme physical issues, so we also provide ground lessons that involve grooming and stable management skills. We are currently serving quite a large range of types of disabilities, including autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, developmental delays, ADHD, cardiac issues, stroke, traumatic brain injury, Rett syndrome, multiple sclerosis, learning/intellectual disabilities, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s and muscular dystrophy. Our community service areas include north-central West Virginia and parts of southwestern Pennsylvania. Our riders range from two-years-old to seventy-three-years-old.

Programs:

Therapeutic Riding: Since 2007, On Eagles’ Wings has provided weekly therapeutic (adapted) riding lessons to those with disabilities. Through the use of certified PATH riding instructors, riders’ progress through skill levels with the goal of becoming independent. We were able to accommodate approximately 34 riders in the seasonal (May to November) year of 2015.

Hippotherapy: On Eagles’ Wings offers hippotherapy services as part of their programming. Hippotherapy is therapeutic strategy that uses the motion of the horse as part of a treatment plan by a physical therapist, occupational therapist or a speech-language pathologist. This is a pilot program that started in the fall of 2011 and has grown into a partnership with Pediatric Physical Therapy LLC. 

Mini Wings: On Eagles’ Wings started a pilot program to increase literacy and attendance in local elementary schools in the fall of 2015 with the helf of everyone's favorite mini horse, Stormy. The program includes introducing year-long curriculum with educational goals. The mini horses brought books to all first graders that attend Skyview Elementary in Monongalia County in September of 2015. When the educational goals are met in the curriculum, the first graders will earn a trip to On Eagles’ Wings to see the minis at home on their farm.

Since 2015, the program has greatly expanded to serving three counties, including the WVU Children's Hospital and WVU.