Polina Fenik, a research specialist in the Center for Sleep and Circadian Neurobiology, has loved horses since she was a child living in the Ukraine. She loved to ride them, but when she moved to the US more than 25 years ago, she was unable to continue, due to the high cost.
But she missed being with them. Five years ago, she found another way to connect with these gentle giants – volunteering at the Sebastian Riding Association. The SRA is an equine therapy center in Collegeville which tries to improve quality of life for individuals living with physical, mental, and intellectual disabilities. Roughly one-third of their population are on the autism spectrum.
Fenik serves as a jack-of-all-trades when she volunteers at the SRA. Sometimes she takes care of the horses themselves or their needs, e.g., cleaning stalls or cleaning harnesses. “My favorite thing is to bathe them, using a lot of foam and water and scrubbing them,” she said. “They love it! And you get close enough to scratch their ears.”
Other times she helps with the lessons. “There’s an instructor but two assistants are on both sides of the horse,” she said. “Safety is always first.”
While “even just being with horses is good,” Felik said there’s a special feeling seeing a child’s eyes light up when first put on a horse. “When they pet the horse, you see a spark… a smile. It’s all so rewarding.”
“Horses seem to understand that they’re helping. They’re so smart,” she said. Indeed, when she brought her friend’s daughter, who has learning and memory problems, to SRA, “one horse fell in love with her. It followed her everywhere, even putting his head on her shoulder.”
Because SRA helps such a large percentage of people with autism, it was pursuing certification to become an Autism Certified Center, which includes professional training for individuals working with an autistic population. Fenik’s Penn Medicine CAREs grant helped fund the costs for this training and it has paid off. Earlier this year, Sebastian Riding Associates because the first equine assisted activities and equine therapy program in the nation to obtain this certification!
“The SRA is filled with the most wonderful people who give their time and energy,” Fenik said. “I hope more people hear about it and want to volunteer.”