Founded by Karen Cuneo, Wings and Hooves Therapeutic Riding, Inc. is the realization of a lifelong dream. With the purchase of Kingswood Farms in 2001, Karen began paving the long road to attaining her dream. Fixing the barn, acquiring appropriate equipment, becoming a local legend, and battling through a third kidney transplant, Karen set the foundation for a premiere therapeutic riding facility destined to change lives.
Karen officially incorporated Wings and Hooves Therapeutic Riding, Inc. (Wings and Hooves) on June 6, 2009. However, Karen had been changing the lives of individuals with various challenges since 2005 when she decided to informally provide therapeutic riding services to local community members. Word of Karen’s accomplishments with her riders spread rapidly in the community. As each family approached Karen and each rider achieved small successes, Karen realized her impact in the community could be much larger.
One of Karen’s most compelling reasons for incorporation and application for 501(c)3 status is Taylor, a nonverbal Autistic 4-year old whose mother learned of Karen through word of mouth. Taylor arrived to Karen with a wide array of challenges associated with the Autism Spectrum Disorder. Taylor’s mother shared stories with Karen regarding the child’s inability to talk, severe tantrums, anger management issues, lack of visible emotion apart from anger, and use of gibberish. It was as though Taylor was stuck in her own world of which no one, including her family, was a part. Doctors weren’t, and still aren’t, able to fully diagnose what Taylor struggles with on a daily basis. When Taylor and her family arrived to Karen, like many of Karen’s riders, modern medicine had failed them.
Taylor walked into the barn for the first time, hunched over, looking down to the ground, unable to make eye-contact, and extremely apprehensive towards people, as well as the horses. Her body language exuded a lack of desire to take part in any activity, much less horseback riding. During the first mounting of Tiffany, the half-Arabian pony selected for the lesson, Taylor ran away in disgust, throwing a temper-tantrum in the middle of the barn aisle. After some time and much persuasion, Karen and her volunteers were able to place a very disgusted Taylor on a very patient Tiffany’s back. Fearing the child would throw herself off the horse or refuse the sidewalkers supportive touch, Taylor surprised everyone when she immediately calmed down, looked up to the arena’s rafters and pointing to the birds, exclaimed, “Duck!”
The second week seemed a small triumph when Taylor mounted the horse with less apprehension. Little by little and lesson by lesson, Taylor achieved small victories. Over the course of the first month, Karen was bitten, spat at, and hit less often. In only two months, Taylor used words like “Whoaaaaa” and “Trot” while riding “Tiff,” as she so affectionately referred to the pony. After three months, Taylor began to verbalize words both at the barn and at home. In five months, she began to prepare her riding clothes and point to her riding boots, mumbling “boots boots boots,” before leaving for her weekly lesson. At some point, Taylor even began to show excitement when driving through the farm gate. After six months, Taylor verbalized additional words. Most remarkably, she showed love and compassion towards the animal – insisting on helping to tack Tiff up or help put Tiff away. She even pet, hugged, and kissed Tiff. Each week, Karen carefully planned lessons that incorporated sequencing tasks, speech therapy practice, and social activities. As time continued to progress, Taylor was grabbing her reins, placing her feet in the stirrups, and rocking her body to move Tiffany all on her own – exhibiting the correct sequencing tasks for mounting and cuing a horse to walk. Taylor would sit straight as an arrow on her horse, unlike her typical hunched stature. She eventually refused the assistance of sidewalkers, pushing their hands away from her legs. She yelled words like “walk” and “trot.” She excitingly gave out high fives to Karen, later taking her hand after lessons. Within the year, Taylor was applying the lessons she learned each week on Tiffany to her behavior at home. According to Taylor’s mother, riding “humanized” Taylor.
Most remarkably, Karen noticed a change in the pony, Tiffany, during the course of Taylor’s development as a rider. A pony plagued by intestinal issues that resulted in three stomach surgeries, multiple hospitalizations, and an early show retirement, Tiffany often appeared sad and irritable in the barn. With a limited exercise regimen and her former rider busy with high school, Tiffany was most likely bored and lonely. Taylor’s arrival, however, provided a new purpose for the once daily-ridden Regional Champion show pony. Karen watched as Tiffany’s health steadily improved, her demeanor changed, her eyes filled with life, and years left her face. Although Tiffany’s role as a therapeutic riding horse was drastically different from that of a show horse, it appeared as though Tiffany embraced her new job with enthusiasm and seriousness. Tiffany, when once she may have spooked in her show years, knew to stay still when Taylor threw a temper tantrum. When Tiffany’s owner would take the pony for her weekly gallop in the pastures, Tiffany bucked and kicked at loud noises, and yet she stood still for Taylor during thunderstorms. The mare understood that her behavior with Taylor had to be different than her behavior with able-bodied riders. The vet approved Tiffany’s limited activity for the lesson program and commented that since the lessons with Taylor had begun, the twenty-three year old pony looked ten years younger. Karen slowly discovered that the therapeutic riding lessons she found so beneficial for Taylor were helping the pony, as well. It was as though they had needed each other.
However, Karen experienced several health-related challenges that impeded the program’s natural progression to incorporation. Diagnosed with Lupus at 20 years old, Karen lost both kidneys at 31. After fighting for her life when her first transplant failed, Karen immediately found herself in the same situation as the second transplant failed in 2006. While waiting for a third kidney donor and attending dialysis, Karen continued to ride horses to stay “calm” and “hopeful.” Karen even conducted Taylor’s weekly riding lessons, refusing to impede the progress Taylor had already made. Assisted by dedicated volunteers, Karen gave lessons from a chair, also providing her the opportunity to forget about a failing kidney. Karen underwent a third kidney transplant in April of 2006. While on the long road to recovery, she continued to teach Taylor from her chair in the arena, becoming more and more determined to open Wings and Hooves in order to help others with challenges. Later that year, Karen enrolled in University of New Hampshire’s Equine Science program where she earned her North American Riding for the Handicapped Instructor Certification and will receive a BS in Equine Science with a concentration in Therapeutic Riding in 2010.
Additional riders arrived through word of mouth recommendations. When Tiffany eventually passed away, Karen enlisted the help of other retired show horses living in her barn. Riders continued to arrive, retired show horses continued to prove reliable and dedicated mounts, and success stories continued to unravel. Throughout it all, Karen remained steadfast in providing her services free of charge. Before she knew it, Karen had realized her dream.
Incorporating and applying for 501(c)3 tax exemption status was the next step for Karen. With a growing demand for her services, Karen decided she could help more people like Taylor if she enlisted the support of generous donors, the opportunity for federal grants, and most importantly, the advice of a diverse and experienced Board of Directors. When combined with passionate staff and a motivated volunteer base, Karen discovered that Wings and Hooves could be limitless.
Wings and Hooves is the culmination of a 169 acre farm in East Kingston, New Hampshire, months of dialysis, long trail rides in the woods, the Taylors, the Tiffs, ducks, “boots boots boots,“ three kidney transplants, the mysterious intelligence of Arabian horses, and a genuinely compassionate woman with a dream. It is a nonprofit dedicated to enhancing the lives of individuals with physical, emotional and developmental challenges by building confidence through equine-assisted activities and partnerships. It offers others, including retired show horses, the opportunity for a second chance. It allows volunteers to help others to fly hoof by hoof. And, it is only the beginning.
