BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (AP) — Anthony Bunton sat astride his horse
at New Beginnings Therapeutic Riding and gave it a command.

“Back!” the 15-year-old Boys & Girls Club participant, who
was riding a horse for the first time, said.

At that point, the horse remained standing still in the
sweltering heat. Soon, however, Anthony and four other students
from the Boys & Girls Club were riding forward with the help of
New Beginnings volunteers.

“It was fun. I was a little bit scared at first,” he said after
the riding lesson was over. “I hope to come back.”

The riding lesson was part of the launch of a new project called
SKY Riders, which is designed to help urban teens connect to
horses. Dancer’s Delights All-Natural Horse Treats owner Denise
Anderson, who helped coordinate the event with the Boys & Girls
Club and also volunteers at New Beginnings, said other equine
projects — including Horses in the Hood in California and City
Slickers in Connecticut — work in a similar way.

“A lot of kids never get to be around them. I would like grow
this program,” she said. “I think it does a lot for a kid’s
self-confidence, responsibility and communication skills. We hope
to be able to do this again next month.”

During the program, the students met the horses, groomed and
tacked the horses before riding them. New Beginnings executive
director and founder Julie Peterson sat in the center of the riding
area as five teens from the Boys & Girls Club of Bowling Green
circled her on horses.

“Turn your belly in the right direction,” she advised them.
“Look out where you’re going; don’t look down.”

New Beginnings, which provides a recreational outlet and
therapeutic benefit for people with all types of disabilities, also
works with several different school programs, Peterson said.

“This is the first time we did it with the Boys & Girls
Club,” she said. “It has been a great day. We look forward to doing
more.”

For New Beginnings’ regular riders, the lessons are geared
toward the their disabilities, Peterson said. They do as much of
the entire process of working with the horses as they can.

“We try to stretch the individuals out,” she said. “Our goal is
to teach them how to ride to the best of their ability.”

Sandy Hernandez, 12, and Erin Harris, 15, have some experience
riding horses. They were happy to be back in the saddle again.

“I ride once in a while when I help on my dad’s friend’s farm,”
Sandy said. “I came to have some fun.”

Training and riding the horse were the best parts of the lesson,
Sandy said.

“I felt like I was in control when I was riding,” she said. “I
would really like to come back some day.”

Erin definitely plans to come back. She is in the process of
completing paperwork so she can volunteer at New Beginnings.

“I used to ride every other day, but my horse was sold. I’ve
asked to volunteer,” she said. “I like getting to work with the
horse. It’s enjoyable.”

The younger Boys & Girls Club students won’t be left out of
the SKY Riders program. Greg Shea of the Bowling Green Horse and
Carriage Co. will introduce a group of children ages 10 to 12 to
his horses at Tommy Loid Stables and give them a carriage ride to
Chaney’s Dairy Barn. The youngest students will get activity books
donated by Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Inc. and the
Tennessee Walking Horse Breeders and Exhibitors Associations and
presentations and puzzles from the Kentucky Equine Education
Project.

When it comes to the benefits of the relationship between horses
and people, Anderson quoted the late British Prime Minister Winston
Churchill: ” There is something about the outside of a horse that
is good for the inside of a man.'”