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SMI Member MI-SWACO operates a mining and production
facility in Greybull, WY.
Over the years, MI has
been a generous and enthusiastic supporter of the Greybull
community.
Greybull Centennial
Celebration
M-I SWACO donated
money towards the celebration activities, and many of
the employees volunteered to help with the events throughout
the long weekend.
Body and Spirit is a
nonprofit organization providing therapeutic riding
activities and hippotherapy to individuals of all ages
with emotional, cognitive, physical and/or psychological
disabilities with the Big Horn Basin.
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April 13th 2006
Article By Brenda TenBoer,
Photo (Immediate Left, Brenda TenBoer)
Greybull
Standard
Body and Spirit Gets New Outdoor Arena
Hippotherapy Program Growing Thanks to Donations
The Body and Spirit Hippotherapy program
has a new addition — a large outside riding arena
that physically challenged clients can now use when
weather permits.
The 100-by-120-foot outdoor arena project
includes a door that allows horse and rider to travel
from the inside arena to the outside riding arena without
dismounting, according to occupational therapist Cindy
Hinckley.
“That
really means a lot for our clients,” Hinckley
said. “It’s a huge deal for us.”
Physically challenged clients can now climb
atop a horse, which serves as a tool for the rider,
from a loading ramp located inside the steel building
that houses the indoor arena and stalls.
The new arena was made possible through
a collaboration of volunteers and built entirely with
donations, according to Sandy McFadden of the McFadden
Ranch where the Body and Spirit program is located.
“It was just amazing. Money
was raised at a Curt Pate Horsemanship Clinic, the Powell
company Cross Panels donated the panels for the corral
and even sent two people to help with labor for an entire
day,” Hinckley said during an interview at the
ranch.
The Outlaw 4-H group of Basin raised $504 to purchase
the posts and Keegan Foote, as a project towards his
Eagle Scout badge, donated his time to the project along
with other scouts, according to Hinckley.
Bill Hunt of Hunt’s Construction
laid a concrete ramp for the therapeutic riding program,
donating time and materials.
“That loading ramp enables
people in wheelchairs to unload directly at the inside
ramp to get on the horses,” Hinckley said. “He
just showed up one day and said, ‘I’m going
to build this.’”
The new additions are important because
they add to the riders and handlers ability to be safe,
according to Hinckley.
“We
stress safety. No one gets on a horse without a handler.
Everybody wears helmets,” she said.
The program has 25-35 volunteers with 10-15
being very active, according to McFadden.
A goal for 2006 is to recruit more volunteers.
Volunteer testimonies and pictures of the horses and
clients at work can be viewed on the Web at www.bodynspirit.org.
MI-Swaco has been a strong supporter of
the hippotherapy program and has donated consistently
to help make it a success, according to McFadden.
On March 30 three representatives of the bentonite mine
arrived at the riding arena to personally present a
check for $2,000 to the program. Plant manager Tim Fagley
of Basin, and Billy Berryhill and Bob Bailey of Houston,
Texas were the MI-Swaco representatives.
“The money will go into our
scholarship fund,” Hinckley said. “It will
pay for the cost of each riding session for clients
who can’t afford to pay.”
“We have three programs a year
each lasting 8-10 sessions. There are generally 15 to
20 clients in each program. The program also has six
wonderful and patient horses that are loaned or owned
by the program,” McFadden said.
Each session costs $15 and lasts for about 45 minutes,
according to Hinckley.
“There are actually two types
of programs here. The therapeutic riding and the hippotherapy,”
Hinckley explained. “The hippotherapy is for disabled
clients and they really benefit from bonding with the
horses. The horse is actually the tool. You should see
the look on some of those faces when they experience
it for the first time.”
Therapeutic riding is more for those learning
about riding the horses, and how to take care of them,
according to Hinckley.
The summer therapeutic riding program begins
June 6, 2006. It is an eight-week afternoon program.
The summer hippotherapy program begins June 8, 2006.
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