Bolingbrook Students Care for Horses at Ready Set Ride

Submitted by Valley View School District 365U

Photo: Jane Addams Middle School 6th grader Caitlyn Barbour feeds a horse during a visit by the Addams Builders Club to Ready Set Ride.

Seven Jane Addams Middle School Builders Club members and a parent spent three hours last weekend mucking stables and feeding horses at Ready Set Ride therapeutic recreation facility near Plainfield.

The students learned about lessons for special needs children that revolve around everyday tasks, including one lesson that involved playing baseball while riding a horse. They learned how to hit a ball while riding, trot to the “bases” in the arena and return to home base to give high fives to their teammates

Another lesson was a Halloween game of matching socks. Various Halloween socks were mounted on poles throughout the arena. The children are given a sock and expected to match the sock with one found on a pole. They then need to make the pair into a ball or bundle so they can return home and be able to help mom or dad with matching socks on laundry day.

A few students also walked alongside a horse as if they were “walkers” helping support a special needs child.

The facility relies on donations from individuals and groups in the community.