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A step closer to hippotherapy in South Charleston
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 A horse barn goes up at Steps To Your Dreams, a non-profit that aims to use horses for therapy for individuals with disabilities.
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 Danielle Brueckman, an occupational therapist assistant, works with Destiny Shepherd, a youngster from Springfield who has developmental disabilities. Since signing up for Steps To Your Dreams’ transitional therapy nine months ago, Destiny has made great strides in her motor skills, said her mother, Randi Shepherd of Springfield.
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 Ebony, General and Skyla are Steps To Your Dreams’ first horses.
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They have horses. They have clients. Soon, they will have a barn, too.
Steps To Your Dreams, a non-profit foundation based in the South Charleston area, is just steps away from using horses as treatment intervention for individuals with disabilities.
The brainchild of Ralph and Amanda Shearer, Steps To Your Dreams opened in 2009 with a transitional therapy pro-gram. Licensed therapists from Alpha and Omega Staffing Solutions, Ralph’s company, treat clients through physical, occupational and speech therapy in a traditional indoor setting.
Once the horse barn is complete, they will transition clients into the hippo-therapy program. Hippotherapy uses the movement of horses to stimulate the pelvic motion of walking in individuals. It strengthens a person’s core and helps them to develop balancing techniques.
“By placing an individual with a walking deficit on horseback, they will be able to feel what it is like to walk, which is something many of us take for granted each day,” Amanda said. As a person be-comes more comfortable on the horse, they also further refine their verbal communication and fine motor skills.
Ralph has completed courses in this unique therapy through the American Hippotherapy Association. Alpha and Omega’s primary therapists are taking courses, too. They are working to prepare Ebony, Skyla and General—horses donated to Steps To Your Dreams—for clients.
“Our main goal is to help patients realize their highest potential,” Amanda said.
Currently, Steps To Your Dreams serves 75 individuals in its transitional therapy program, with room for more. While there are no age limits, most of the foundation’s clients are children between the ages of 5 and 18. Clients’ disabilities cover a broad range, from autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy and Down syndrome to scoliosis, learning and language delays, and sensory disorders. Steps To Your Dreams also offers family support groups.
Alpha and Omega Staffing is covering the cost of the barn. Pro Plumbing and Excavating is building it. The exterior should be finished this month, with interior work to follow.
Buy-a-Brick Fund-raiser
Through grants, donations and fund-raisers, Steps To Your Dreams offers its services at no charge to individuals and families who have financial hardships.
The newest fund-raiser features bricks. For $100, a sponsor gets a personalized message engraved into a brick that will become part of a sidewalk between the foundation’s parking lot and the horse barn. The bricks measure 4x8x2.25 inches; messages can contain up to 18 characters on three lines. Order forms are available online.
Steps To Your Dreams is located at 6276 Plattsburg Road, South Charleston. For more information, call (937) 717-6741 or go to www.stepstodreams.org.
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