At home on the ranch

Adaptive horse program builds strength, confidence and relationships

Standing on a box in jeans, a t-shirt and white riding helmet, 13-year-old Kate Ukropina screamed in loud, shrill bursts. When the screaming stopped, her face was calm, although clearly not happy. A horse, named Wayne, standing in front of Kate was not impressed but was equally unfazed by the ruckus. 

“I don’t want to ride,” Kate whined. The enthusiasm she’d had while watching the other kids ride had somehow dissipated between the corral panels and the box. Somewhere she’d passed reluctance and was in full-on refusal.
It takes some gentle coaxing from the three Adaptive Sports Center (ASC) instructors who surround her before she starts to reconsider.
Kate has spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy, along with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder that contributes to some erratic behavior. This wasn’t her first time around a horse, but she hadn’t ridden in more than a year and in a way she was starting over.
“I really don’t want to get up there,” she said, tensing every muscle. She started to shake and tears were coming—it was only a matter of time. It was also a cue for Cara Bosco, the ASC horse program coordinator, to move in.
Bosco has been around horses since she was five, and she participated in equestrian competitions into her college days. She is unfailingly persistent and has a steady demeanor that the horses and the would-be riders seem to respond to.
After hearing the ASC had received money to start a horse program from a defunct backcountry operation in Ft. Collins last year, Bosco hurried to get something started.
She quickly found help in ASC development director Ella Fahrlander and Ella’s father, Mike Fahrlander, who owns a ranch in the Cochetopa Valley, a vast area of rolling hills and small creek valleys southeast of Gunnison.
“I felt like I had such great luck with my kids. Nothing bad ever happened—they all have good jobs and they’re responsible adults,” says Fahrlander. “We had a great time together. Part of my motivation was just having this place and the experience I had with my kids, and I was feeling like I’ve gotta give something back a little bit.”
The one getting the major share of that giving on a sunny Thursday afternoon was Kate, although she wasn’t willing to show any appreciation at the time.
“We really want you to ride, Kate. You’re so good,” Bosco said. “But if you want to get down, James will get you down.”
James Eger, who is usually leading adaptive rock climbing and kayaking adventures, was on horse duty that day in the Cochetopa. He stood with his arms extended on the opposite side of Wayne from where Kate was perched on the box.
Wayne stood motionless, chomping a bit and letting his eyelids sag.
“Come on over, Kate,” James urged. “Just put your leg on the saddle so you can slide easier.”
Kate wasn’t easily fooled, but saw the ploy as her only way onto terra firma. Cara wasn’t going to budge except to put Kate’s foot onto the saddle.
Wayne, whose registered name is Mona Rainmaker, isn’t your typical drowsy riding horse. At more than 15 hands tall with a flowing black mane and tail and kind eyes he, like the other five horses used in the program, is an athletic working horse.
“Wayne is one of the quickest horses around and gets the cattle as fast as anything in the valley,” says Mike Fahrlander, Wayne’s owner. “But you wouldn’t know it when he’s with those kids. Any of our horses are capable of winning on any given day.”
When they aren’t standing next to the box, waiting for a rider or walking figure eights in the arena, the horses are being ridden, quite successfully, in roping competitions around the state or on backcountry excursions.
“I’m not sure what makes the horses willing to do it,” says Bosco. “I think they get some reward, not on same conscious level like a human, but they seem to enjoy it and are willing to work. They like to be caught in the pasture, pampered and taken care of.”
If Wayne was feeling the reward of having Kate slide into the center of his back, he didn’t show it, but she did. After James had withdrawn his offer to get her down, she settled into the idea of riding. She perked up but still wasn’t thrilled.