By GERRY GALIPAULT
A weary mother looking for something, anything, to help engage her son turns to Prospect Riding Center. Maybe therapeutic horse riding will help him turn a corner, she thinks.
Her son has a form of nonverbal autism; he can’t talk but he can communicate with others by typing. The mom notices right away that her son is enjoying riding horses; gradually, each session has a calming effect on him … that is until the end of each ride. As his favorite horse, a mustang named Tank, trots back to the barn, the boy starts to cry and flops to the ground, and then the mom struggles to get the boy back into their car to return home.
This is how it plays out every time they come to PRC. Eventually, the boy’s therapist types him a question, “Why do you cry after each ride?”
He replies, “Because Tank is my friend,” and he doesn’t want to leave him. She explains to him that Tank needs his rest. “Would you want to sleep next to him in the barn at night?” The boy types, “No, it’s too smelly.”
With the help of the therapist, PRC founder and instructor Susan Tambone comes up with a plan: As each riding session comes to an end, she tells the boy, “OK, it’s time for Tank to get some sleep. Let’s take him back to the barn so he can go to bed.”
The plan works. The boy no longer cries about leaving his friend.
This kind of progress in a child with a disability is what drove Tambone to open her own therapeutic riding program, and seeing such positive results is what fuels her passion.
Tambone knows where the weary mother is coming from; she’s been there herself. She had personal experience with special needs with her own children: a son with Asperger’s and a daughter with a form of epilepsy that she eventually outgrew. It was while she was helping her daughter cope with epilepsy that she was introduced to therapeutic riding.
“I quickly developed a strong passion for it,” Tambone says. “When I get hooked on something, I go all out. I started to volunteer and then I became a certified instructor. We also hosted and trained a few Southeastern (Guide Dogs) service dogs, so I got to see the bond between my kids and animals first-hand.
“It was great for me, too, because I developed more patience and empathy.”
Tambone then decided to go out on her own. In 2011, she opened Prospect Riding Center on her sprawling 40-acre Three T’s Ranch in Myakka City (with 20 acres devoted to the riding center). Prospect has three arenas for private or small group lessons, a round pen for individual instruction and loads of trails.
“It’s a gift, who wouldn’t want to do this?” she says as she gazes out on her menagerie of horses, cows, chickens, turkeys, Indian Runner ducks and a pair of barn cats. “I was a stay-at-home mom for 25 years, who knew that I could do this? But I’m not afraid to fail. Having this ranch, once I realized how all this worked and getting things in order, I just love it here. It’s a blessing.”
Prospect Riding Center’s future is bright. Tambone and her crew of volunteers have added two new buildings: an office and a classroom to be used when the weather goes south, and they are expanding the availability of recreational riding. PRC has also hooked up with No Margin No Mission, a national consulting firm, with support from The Patterson Foundation. No Margin No Mission helps nonprofits diversify revenue, expand impact and develop other strategies.
Prospect will also be part of The Giving Challenge, a 24-hour giving event supporting more than 600 nonprofits throughout Sarasota, Manatee, Charlotte and DeSoto counties. The 2018 Giving Challenge is scheduled for noon Tuesday, May 1, to noon Wednesday, May 2.
Tambone is all smiles.
“I just hired our first instructor,” says Tambone, hoping to pull back the reins on her own daily involvement so she can focus on fundraising, networking and follow-ups with clients. “Our big goal is to get a covered arena so we can still do lessons when it rains.”
At the end of a long day, Tambone says, she still turns to her staff and says, “ ‘That was fun.’ That’s what it’s all about.”