ON EAGLES WINGS INC
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Mission Statement
Our mission is to provide a safe environment for individuals with disabilities, enabling them to enrich and enhance their lives through equine-assisted activities and therapies. Our participants include children and adults with physical, cognitive, emotional and social disabilities and challenges.
About This Cause
The therapeutic horsemanship program at On Eagles' Wings enables the children and adults with disabilities in our community to experience independence during their lessons/sessions for perhaps the only part of their day. On Eagles' Wings, located in the Morgantown/Fairmont area of north-central West Virginia, emphasizes ability versus disability, and each participant is encouraged to reach their full potential. Direct physical benefits are seen in the strengthening of muscles, prevention of bone weakness, building of coordination and memory skills, and improvement of posture, balance, sensory skills, mobility and muscle tone. As an outdoor-based facility, On Eagles’ Wings Therapeutic Horsemanship Center started a pilot program in the fall of 2007 in the founder’s backyard with two horses and five riders. Based program was offered from May through November. In June of 2016 a new year-round facility was completed and has allowed for growth in programming options. On Eagles’ Wings currently accommodates 49 individual riders for therapeutic riding lessons and hippotherapy sessions in their new year-round program. Another 30 individuals participate in our ground lessons and equine-assisted learning program. Participants in our therapeutic riding and hippotherapy programs often need three volunteers per lesson, one as the horse handler, and two on each side of the rider for assistance in positioning and safety. Some riders are unable to currently ride because of extreme physical issues, so we also provide ground lessons that involve grooming and stable management skills. We are currently serving quite a large range of types of disabilities, including autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, developmental delays, ADHD, cardiac issues, stroke, traumatic brain injury, Rett syndrome, multiple sclerosis, learning/intellectual disabilities, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s and muscular dystrophy. Our community service areas include north-central West Virginia and parts of southwestern Pennsylvania. Our riders range from two-years-old to seventy-four-years-old. Programs: Therapeutic Riding: Since 2007, On Eagles’ Wings has provided weekly therapeutic (adapted) riding lessons to those with disabilities. Through the use of certified PATH riding instructors, riders’ progress through skill levels with the goal of becoming independent. Hippotherapy: On Eagles’ Wings offers hippotherapy services as part of their programming. Hippotherapy is therapeutic strategy that uses the motion of the horse as part of a treatment plan by a physical therapist, occupational therapist or a speech-language pathologist. This is a pilot program that started in the fall of 2011, and we successfully served sixteen participants per week in much of 2020. Mini Wings: On Eagles’ Wings started a pilot program to increase literacy and attendance in local elementary schools in the fall of 2015 with the use of their mini horses, Tigerlily and Tinkerbell. The program includes introducing year-long curriculum with educational goals. The mini horses brought books to all first graders that attend Skyview Elementary in Monongalia County. Educational goals are addressed in the curriculum, the first graders earn a trip to On Eagles’ Wings to see the minis at home on their farm. With our newest “mini star”, Stormy, we have also successfully visited many other schools and libraries in the last few years, as well as the West Virginia University Children’s Hospital on a monthly basis. Wingin’ It: Since 2016, On Eagles’ Wings has been the home of a project to use horsemanship to help at-risk youth with skill building involving leadership, trust, communication, boundaries and relationships. We average eight to ten students at each daily session, three days a week. School groups from Monongalia, Preston, Marion and Harrison Counties visit On Eagles’ Wings for field trips on a regular basis, as well as Girl Scout, Boy Scout troops and Disability Action Centers. Partnerships: West Virginia University: -Davis College: We have a major partnership with West Virginia University’s Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design. WVU has designated On Eagles’ Wings as their partner in their new equine studies minor, with their equine-assisted activities and therapies minor track of studies. On Eagles’ Wings Executive Director Dr. Carol Petitto is employed by WVU as an adjunct professor for this 19 credit minor, and the classes are held at the new On Eagles’ Wings facility. We have been the reason many students who had an unfocused career path have chosen a healthcare based major and/or graduate program. -WVU School of Medicine: We have a multitude of WVU Medical students volunteering with us on a regular basis. We have been designated as a community shadowing site for students, and we are in discussions to offer an elective for students at our facility. Monongalia County Schools: -Literacy: Through the use of curriculum-based activities, On Eagles’ Wings has started a literacy and attendance program with Monongalia County Schools with the use of their mini horses. -Alternative Learning Center/FocusMon: In the fall of 2016, we began a partnership with the Alternative Learning Center to bring high school and middle school students who have behavioral and emotional issues to our center two days a week. Students attend school at our barn, and we work on horsemanship skills that promote character development to address some of the issues that have brought them to the alternative school. Marion County Schools: -Alternative Learning Schools: We have a partnership with Marion County Public Schools to bring students to the farm one day a week that started in early November, 2018. Research: We are partnered with West Virginia University’s Department of Psychology on several research projects. One has reached publication in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis “Comparing Training Methods to Improve Volunteer Skills during Therapeutic Horseback Riding: A Randomized Trail. We are also optimistic in receiving a grant from the National Institute of Health for our proposed study on “Effects of Therapeutic Riding on Children Exposed to Opioids.”