Close to 30 years ago, Julie Craig and her husband bought a run-down, 5-acre farm in Mattapoisett.
Fast forward to the present and not only did Craig and others transform the land, they used the farm to transform the lives of many families and people with autism-spectrum disorder and other disabilities. It didn’t take long for Craig and her friend Debbi Dyson to start the nonprofit Helping Hands and Hooves.
Julie Craig’s son Ian, now 23, has autism and was nonverbal. Craig’s friend Dyson has a brother Brendan, now 55, who also was nonverbal and autistic. Now Brendan and Ian are Special Olympic medalists, thanks to their horse-riding skills.
Ian earned two silver medals and Brendan earned a silver and a bronze medal at a September 30 equestrian Special Olympics competition at Briggs Stable in Hanover. Craig’s 12-year-old student Julia Cabralk won a gold and silver medal.
Craig said, despite the Special Olympics being a platform for people with disabilities, the competition level is still high.
A horseback rider and teacher originally from Atlanta, Craig began teaching horseback riding on her Mattapoisett farm shortly after buying it. Somewhere along the way, she and Dyson learned that horses have an almost magic effect on people with ASD and other disabilities.
Dyson’s brother Brendan was one of Craig’s first students with a disability, and she said that Brendan’s balance, self-confidence and social skills, just to name a few, improved dramatically and almost immediately after riding a horse.
Brendan’s horseback riding journey was not planned. He came to watch a family member and instead became quite the equestrian. Many nonverbal ASD kids, including Craig’s son Ian, became verbal once riding on a horse. Ian started at the age of five, and it has made a difference.
“Ian is mostly nonverbal but not if you put him on a horse. He will count or sing a song,” Craig said. “It’s an interesting thing – riding a horse. You see some amazing things.”
Craig had many more stories of people who were transformed on the backs of horses like Teddy, the farm’s gentle quarter horse. One 38-year-old man with balance challenges was soon standing up in the stirrups with his hands in the air.
Craig recalls one nonverbal woman who would sing whatever song she last heard on the radio whenever she was riding a horse. The singing would go away once she was off the horse, but the awe of the bystanders would have a lasting effect.
The decision to turn her farm and Helping Hands and Hooves into a nonprofit was to help people who cannot afford lessons, which can be expensive. Craig also said that developmentally delayed adults are not as supported by the state once they turn 22, another reason why she started the nonprofit.
Developmentally delayed adults from different day programs in the area visit the farm. Not everyone rides a horse, but almost all enjoy the scenery. Craig says people from Fall River, New Bedford and other cities visit and always enjoy visiting the chickens, goats, and other farming activities.
For more information, log onto Helpinghandsandhooves.org.
By Jeffrey D. Wagner
