L-R (adults): Walid Soussou ’95, Brian Tsu ’00, Lissa Tsu ’00, Lori Mahler P’11, Joe Mahler ’74 P’11, and Bill McDonald ’68. (I sprained my back a little that morning, accounting for my list to starboard.) Walid’s son is left of him and my granddaughter is blocking the W in the sign. Wonder why both kids have their hands on their hips.
Several San Diego Eagles spent Saturday morning weeding, mulching, and otherwise beautifying the entrance to REINS, a therapeutic horse-riding program in Fallbrook. (REINS is the acronym for Riding Emphasizing Individual Needs and Strengths. They deal with students ranging in age from 2 to 85, providing equine-assisted therapy. They also provide such therapy to active duty and veteran military, as well as first responders.)
I’m a volunteer at REINS, one morning a week. When I learned they sponsored group functions, I realized this could be a service activity for the chapter and others agreed.
Clip-Clop Lane, according to REINS, “is the heart of our property. Named after the sound our horse’s hooves make ambling down it, it is the way folks enter our property for the first time. The long paved pathway leads you right to our welcome sign. Our students look forward to taking their horses down Clip-Clop lane every lesson.”
You can get a sense of that sound with this video (9 seconds) I took while assisting on a lesson.
That’s where we spent most of the morning. When we wrapped up weeding and mulching, Allison Solander, volunteer coordinator at REINS, gave us a tour of the facility, including the tack room, where bridles, saddles, stirrups, etc., for each of the 23 horses at REINS are stored. And then we visited several of the horses, some in stalls and most in paddocks, on their “lunch break.” Saturday is a regular class day, so four times during the morning, four students on horses, accompanied by a therapist, horse leader, and often a side walker (to assist in physical safety) walked and sometimes trotted in 30-minute sessions. We were told there was a two-year wait list for Saturday sessions.
Here’s a gallery of some scenes of our activity on Clip-Clop.
Most of us, post-activity, went to nearby Casa Estrella Cocina de Mexico for lunch. Muy bueno.
We’ll be looking to do another event at REINS.