Maryland Therapeutic Riding needs money, horses and volunteers

Tough soldiers find gentle care at riding center
Annapolis Capital - Annapolis,MD,USA
Maryland Therapeutic Riding needs money, horses and volunteers
By EARL KELLY, Staff Writer
Published 06/21/09
A disabled soldier, back from fighting in Iraq, leaned forward and rubbed the small gray mare's neck. He whispered to the horse, as if confiding in a girlfriend.

Across the arena, another injured warrior, a larger man, was leaning back in his saddle and actually appeared to be dozing off as the gelding named Dakota walked along gently in the arena at Maryland Therapeutic Riding in Crownsville.

"Talk about being in the moment - when you are up there, everything else is blocked out, everything else goes away," the group's founder, Naomi Parry, said as she looked out over the riding area.

Tears came to Parry's eyes on one occasion as one of the disabled riders leaned forward and put his arms around the horse's neck.

"That's enough to make you cry," she said.

A week later, on the following Wednesday, these soldiers were back at MTR, ready for more riding therapy.

The soldiers were from Fort George G. Meade's Warrior Transition Unit, an outfit consisting of about 145 soldiers, half of whom were injured fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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