Zip Trips: Young Hearts Therapeutic Riding in Sumner

Guys, this is Pickles. We're at Young Hearts and Young Hearts is more than just a barn. It's a place where therapy and horses meet to help out local kids. Watch your fingers. Are you sitting up tall? Yeah. Good turning. Okay, do you want to brush up on his neck? I've always had a passion for kind of people in general and then especially people with special needs or just kind of a Henry, good boy. Good boy. Good. And what about behind you? Can you stretch back and pet him? Good boy. Good. As a social worker, it just really wasn't for me. And I just really loved the idea of the speech therapist and what they were doing. And so I decided to pursue a career in speech therapy. And when I got to see the connection between how horses or animals in general can impact our way of communicating, it was just a perfect match. I went for speech therapy for a long time. And then after a few years, I learned how to speak properly. And now I'm just riding without therapy now. Are you proud of yourself? Yes. Okay, we're gonna go around the cone. It's very rewarding. It really is worth it to see the kids excited to see their horse. They look forward to working hard to building that confidence and they really are becoming just overall more confident in themselves and feeling like they can do different things outside of just this environment. It helps me, it helps the horse and me make a connection. And it makes me feel good. It makes the horse feel good too. Are you feeling strong? Okay, good. Our goal is just to be able to allow some of these different individuals an opportunity to express themselves with horses. So they come and they learn how to ride. They learn how to build a connection with the horses. They learn how to communicate with them. And we're just teaching people how to ride, but with extra support. Oh, eating the green and all. Do you eat the green part of your carrot? No. No way. The riders are the heart of Young Hearts. You know, the horses are what normally draws people. But once you get to meet the riders and interact with them and see them grow, it's a special place to be. Big deep breath. Lotus high five. Nice shot. Young Hearts is always looking out for community partnerships. And if you'd like to volunteer, they would love to have you here. You can check out their social media or their website. In the meantime, I'm going to hang out with Pickles for a little while. We'll send it back to you guys.