A child walks for the first time. Another says their first words.
As children who have struggled with disabilities, the odds have oftentimes been stacked against them. But they found aid in an unfamiliar place — horseback riding helped them learn to walk and talk.
This was possible due to Surf and Turf Therapy, an Orange County-based nonprofit focused on equine and surf therapy dedicated to helping children with disabilities conquer their struggles.
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Founded by Julian Stewart in 2018, she is dedicated to bringing patients and families comfort as they navigate challenges associated with disabilities.
“It’s amazing being a part of first steps and first words,” Stewart said in an interview at the organization’s barn headquarters in San Juan Capistrano.
One patient, a young girl about four years old, attends weekly equine therapy lessons. She had once struggled with selective muteness and learned to feel comfortable speaking through her time spent on horseback.
The Surf and Turf program gives patients access to physical, occupational and speech therapy — which all have their place in hippotherapy.
While horseback riding is the “turf” part of the organization’s programming, they also offer surf therapy lessons on Orange County’s beaches.
The Foundations
Coming from the Ancient Greek root word “hippo” — which means horse — hippotherapy is treatment that strengthens skills in the rider’s brain and body.
As a method that has been seen to improve foundational skills — like balance, muscle strength and motor skills as well as sensory regulation — clinics all over the U.S. like Surf and Turf are helping people with all sorts of disabilities.
The reason it has seen a lot of success is due to how patients sit on the horse.
“It’s the way a horse walks — it mirrors how our pelvises walk as humans,” said Payton Forche, staff member for Surf and Turf.
“When the kids are on it, it gives them the rotations as if they were walking,” Forche continued. “If they’re learning to walk, being on the horse for 30 minutes, it’s going to give them more repetitions than if they were in a normal therapy clinic.”
Surfing also gives a similar effect, as it challenges patients to work on balancing. As they navigate the uneven waters, they become more confident with their movements.
Working on physical balance also helps many children overcome cognitive challenges and become more confident in their speech.
“We had a little girl surfing with us, and she said, ‘I love you mom,’” Stewart said. “ That was her first sentence, and it was after surfing.”
The Founder’s Story
Hailing from Holland, Michigan — Stewart attended Northwestern, where she got her doctorate in physical therapy in 2014. She later collected her HPCS, which makes her a hippotherapy clinical specialist.
Her story starts when she was nine years old; Stewart started volunteering her horse to be ridden by children with disabilities in their own special class.
“She was always fabulous when I would take her over and let these other kids with disabilities ride her,” said Stewart, when referring to her horse.
After becoming a physical therapist, she found interest in continuing hippotherapy but didn’t think it could be a full-time option.
Following her experience earlier in her career at a different hippotherapy clinic, she noticed there was a large swath of patients that could benefit from surf and equine therapy.
“That’s what really got me thinking about the parallels between sitting astride a horse and sitting astride a surfboard,” Stewart said, “and how our nervous system responds, and how our balance, our strength, all those things can be addressed using these non-traditional ways.”
“I kind of took everything out in hippotherapy and applied it to a surfboard.”
The Organization
Now with a nonprofit built behind her, it’s become popular in the community.
Paula McCloskey has worked in equine therapy for 14 years and has been a volunteer at Surf and Turf for four. As a volunteer, she said she donates her time and energy to the program because she believes it works.
“It gave me a place to give back,” McCloskey said. “I’ve seen people step out of wheelchairs and take their first step because of this therapy.”
Within her average of 20 hours a week she gives to the nonprofit, McCloskey does anything the organization needs from her. This can include simple chores around the barn like feeding the seven horses and two ponies but also includes two lessons a day.
Forche, an executive assistant for the organization, has worked with Surf and Turf for two years and takes care of many tasks for the nonprofit.
She works with the sibling program, which is dedicated to giving a chance for siblings of the patients to also ride horses or surf. Forche said this program gives the siblings something to bond over and gives parents a break during therapy sessions.
Forche is also dedicated to helping grow Surf and Turf; this includes helping the organization on its journey to expand to another location.
With plans to expand the organization, there’s a tight rope to still walk.
What draws people to Surf and Turf is the small atmosphere it brings for its patients, McCloskey said, and it gives them a chance to feel seen in the community.
“I love the fact that it’s a small operation,” McCloskey said. “It’s small, but mighty.”
Expansion of the operation does not necessarily mean growth in the amount of people it assists.
With already 113 hours of service hours dedicated per week, finding ways to grow the clientele can only come with more volunteers.
The main purpose of the expansion is to see better facilities used.
“The move is more about sustainability than growth, because we really pride ourselves on the quality of what we’re offering,” Stewart said. “It’s never been my goal to just be a mega center cranking out 1,000 people and not knowing who we’re helping.”
That intimate feel is seen as patients are given individual care.
For the four-year-old girl who is growing in her motor skills, the lessons gave her an opportunity to get out of her comfort zone and trust her body and its movement.
With three aids to her — Stewart, McCloskey and another helper — the little girl was given a series of tasks on horseback, all with the fun game of collecting rubber ducks added to it.
The lesson put her in some challenging situations as she was required to reach out to grab the ducks and trust her balance on the horse. The horse would make small jumps where she once again had to speak up on how she felt about it or what she didn’t like.
“A child might not be able to walk, but they’re commanding a 1,200 pound animal,” McCloskey said. “And seeing that shows this is a valid form of therapy.”
