TCH News

Issue date: 5/15/06 Section: News

Media Credit: Donna Fitzpatrick Katie Farrie takes Lady D for a ride.

Media Credit: Donna Fitzpatrick Annie Fox on Saber with Coach Karen.

Media Credit: Donna Fitzpatrick Lauir Vuolo on Gulliver with Dennis Spry.

Media Credit: Donna Fitzpatrick Teresa Kelly riding on Lady D.

The Water Wheel Handicapped Olympian Athletes, better known as the W.H.O.A. Riders, is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year. These rider-athletes are part of Special Olympics N.J.-Area 3 (SONJ), which includes Morris, Sussex, and Warren Counties. And with heartfelt thanks to farm owners Jeannette & Willard Klemm, the team has joyfully benefited from the use of the facilities at the Fredon farm for two award-winning decades.

Formed in the spring of 1986 by Karen Bernhardt Toolan, a certified Special Olympics (SO) Program Director and Head Coach of equestrian athletes, the non-profit 17-rider program provides seasonal equestrian training and athletic competition to duly registered SONJ athletes. It teaches equestrian skills and sports training to mentally challenged individuals who seek the fun, enjoyment, and outdoor opportunities that horseback riding provides.

Spring and fall coaching sessions make-up the team's 15-18-week outdoor season, with four 45-minute classes that run from April-June and September-October (a 6-8-week winter session is run when indoor facilities are available). Assisting Toolan are two additional SONJ-certified coaches, Sheila Fitzgibbon of Hopatcong and John Kelly of Franklin. Operated strictly on a volunteer basis, nearly a dozen new and seasoned volunteer students and adults from the tri-county area also lend their help, taking time from their own busy lives to work with these special riders. And last but not least, 5-7 quiet equine athletes are leased to the team by local boarders (including Toolan's Gulliver and Saber, who has been with the team since its inception). Gulliver seems to be a favorite among the riders.

Toolan's team begins to arrive as early as 7:30am every Saturday to lend their help to the busy morning. And it's not an easy task, but everyone knows his or her job. Prior to the first athletes' arrival, the horses must be brought to the paddock from three neighboring boarding barns (up to one-mile away), groomed, tacked, warmed-up, and made ready to ride.

The paddock equipment has to be laid out in formation, the saddles and other tack carried from the farm's tack shed, and the morning lessons and games are coordinated. There is no prior horse knowledge or experience needed to be a volunteer - "just come with a willing heart," asks Toolan. As one volunteer added, "It's really fun and easy to volunteer here. Everyone helps one another, and it's like a big happy family." And as a rider offered, "It's a little hard getting used to all the newer volunteers, but just smile, be friendly, and be a bit patient with us riders. We're trying hard to do our best."

Working together, the excited equestrians reap continuing opportunities to develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage, experience joy, and participate in the sharing of friendships with other Special Olympic athletes, their families, and the community.

The style of riding provided at W.H.O.A. is English, or hunt seat, with Western riding offered during the winter session. Occasionally, if it's more comfortable and enjoyable for an athlete to sit a Western saddle, accommodations are readily made. Several of the riders have been with the team for nine years or more, with each of them winning a myriad of colorful ribbons of blue, red, or yellow as well as gold, silver, and bronze SONJ medals.

While learning their sport and having fun is important to these special riders, the opportunity to demonstrate and show their skills is equally so. Joined by riders from several other statewide therapeutic riding programs that comprise HRH-NJ (Horseback Riding for the Handicapped-NJ), this year the W.H.O.A.

Riders are again looking forward to competing in three major events: Somerset Hills Riding Club's June show in Oldwick NJ, the NJ State Fair in Augusta in August, and the annual SONJ/HRH-NJ event in October at the NJ Horse Park in Jackson NJ.

While other statewide therapeutic riding programs include Special Olympians, the W.H.O.A. Riders team is NJ's only handicapped riding program that serves just Special Olympics equestrian athletes. Founded and operated as a non-profit program, the W.H.O.A. Riders continually seeks grants and donations to fund its continuing needs to replenish and repair equipment and pay for trailering needs.

In celebration of its 20th anniversary, the W.H.O.A. Riders invites former riders and their families, volunteers, friends, and supporters to their annual spring picnic at the Klemm Farm on Saturday, June 24.

For further information on this event, please call Toolan at 908-362-1194 or contact her by e-mail kbtwriter@earthlink.net.

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