Vision-impaired students saddle up in Haskell

By Cathy Spaulding
Phoenix Staff Writer

August 22, 2008 12:51 am

— HASKELL — A week of anticipation ended Thursday morning with the soft touch of a horse’s mane and a few rides around a corral.
Thirty-eight elementary and preschool students from Oklahoma School for the Blind petted and rode quarter horses Thursday morning during a visit to the Barefoot Ranch northwest of Haskell.
Members of the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Association came, along with their horses, from different parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas to give the children a hands-on experience with the horses.
“That’s all they have been talking about all week,” said Cindy Lumpkin, who teaches first and second grades at Oklahoma School for the Blind. “It’s just an excellent opportunity for them.”
OSB Elementary Principal Carolyn Shepperd said the school wants to give students “the opportunity to experience everything a sighted child could experience.
“I liked it,” Muskogee first-grader Tommy Phelps said after his ride. “I liked petting it and riding it.”
Some students had to battle some fear of getting on a horse, but got warm hugs once they finished.
Second-grader Jillian Matthews from Eufaula showed no fear at all, grinning brightly as she rode around the corral, a black riding helmet protecting her blonde hair. An OQHA volunteer led the horse while other volunteers stood close by.
“I liked going around that way,” Jillian said after her ride. “Now I want to fish.”
OSB students also got the opportunity to cast a fishing line into the Barefoot Ranch pond and wait for a bite. They also got to eat a chuckwagon lunch.
Association member Don LaPorte, who is blind, introduced the kids to some of the horses he keeps on his ranch in Kingfisher County. As an adult brought each child to a horse, LaPorte guided the child’s hands across the horse’s mane and neck. He told them how he could tell one horse apart from another.
“Feel the long mane,” he said as one child ran his fingers across a horse’s tan mane. “That’s how I find out I have Salty.”
Some students got to lean over and feel LaPorte’s spurs.
Association member Donna Janssen said about 30 OQHA members helped out with the students’ visit.
“Some came from Arkansas,” she said, adding that she came up from Duncan.
Barefoot Ranch owner Lowell Hobbs said opening his ranch for the “horse day” gave him the opportunity to share with others “what God has blessed us with.”
“We have met some pretty great people on trail rides, and we were thinking about what a neat place we’ve got,” he said. “We thought it would be neat to share with others.”
The 7,500-acre ranch, located in woodsy hills where far west Muskogee County touches Wagoner County, has been a family owned and working ranch since 1932.
“I couldn’t help thinking that the adults got as much out of it as the kids did, just watching the kids enjoy themselves,” Hobbs said.
Janssen said this was the first time the association had hosted such an event.
“It was awesome, just watching the kids’ faces ,” she said. “One of the teachers even said she had been scared of horses, but got a chance to ride.”

Reach Cathy Spaulding at 918-684-2928 or Click Here to Send Email

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