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Illinois Valley News, Cave Junction, Ore. Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Illinois Valley Equestrian team commemorates Autism Awareness Month
By
Annette McGee Rasch
IVN Senior Contributing Writer
Unexpected rewards often
come from volunteering.
For just over a year now, Selma
resident Michelle Olson has donated
the use of her son’s horse, Bubba, to
the Illinois Valley Equestrian Team.
In the process, team members bonded
to Olson’s 14-year-old autistic son,
Eric. As a result, all involved found
their lives enriched.
After learning that April was
Autism Awareness month, the team
decided to use the Southern Oregon
High School Equestrian District Meet
as a vehicle to raise awareness.
“We all decided to order au-
tism awareness T-shirts to wear while
competing at the meet,” said Illi-
nois Valley High School sophomore
Holly McKenzie. “But they wouldn’t
let us wear them due to rules about
dress during the competitions, so we
decided to decorate our horses. And
then we wore the shirts to the awards
banquet.”
The IV Equestrian Team mem-
bers put colored hand prints all over
their horses bodies and they shaved
out the autism symbol, which is a
heart with a puzzle piece in the mid-
dle, on the horses’ hips. The kids got
that idea after Olson had shaved Bub-
ba this way at a gymkhana competi-
tion the week before.
“Everyone loved our decora-
tions,” Mc en ie said. “At first, they
ily chablach left), Alia ar er, ach ar er, Meghan Flores
Holly McKenzie
were kind of confused and asked what
is this was for, so we explained it and
they all thought it was so cool.”
“I was so proud and taken back
by this idea of kids making the deci-
sion to do this,” Olson said. “The in-
uence that Eric and have had on
them and their families is obvious.
These kids are absolute sweethearts
and education about disabilities is so
important to impress on our younger
generations.”
“When the Olsons first moved
here, we were lucky to keep Eric on
Bubba for 20 minutes,” said McK-
enzie, who goes trail riding with
the Olsons. “We’ve worked him up
to being able to ride for four hours
and he loves every minute of it. He
smiles and laughs. You can tell when
he’s done, because he can say fin-
ish.’ Originally, they said Eric would
never walk or talk and now he runs
and rides and he’s got a pretty good
vocabulary.”
“It’s hard to explain, but when
Eric smiles it lights up my entire
world,” McKenzie added. “It’s very
rewarding and it’s so important that
people recognize how people with
autism are still regular people, and
while they may not be able to express
themselves like most of us can, it’s all
inside there. My own belief is that au-
tism is a special kind of genius. Now
I want to study this and work with
special needs people, so meeting Eric
changed my life. A lot of people think
we changed his life, but it’s more that
he changed our lives.”
Another teammate, Mehgan
Florez, currently rides Bubba in Cow-
Pining events, because her horse is
scared of cows; and last year, a for-
eign exchange student from China
rode Bubba.
“The way Michelle lets us use
Bubba for the team really inspired us,
and getting to know and understand
Eric has been awesome,” Florez said.
“You have to be really patient with
kids who have autism. They learn
in different ways than ‘normal’ kids
and it’s very cool to learn how they
learn.”
For example, when Olson is
planning to take Eric somewhere the
next day, she puts up a picture of the
place they’ll be going. The Olson
family also uses pictures of the toilet
or of certain foods, etc., to communi-
cate with Eric, Florez explained.
“And you know what?” Florez
said, “Eric rides Bubba really well.
He also gets on the quad now. At first
he didn’t like the sound, but now he
loves it.” During the recent meet,
McKenzie took second place in both
Steer Dobbing and in Figure 8’s and
earned a fourth in Poles, qualifying
her for the state level meet in Red-
mond on May 14, where she’ll com-
pete in three events. The team took
fourth place overall in the district’s
Team A Bi-rangle event, and Lily
Schablach and McKenzie made it
into the top ten in this category. Other
team members include Zach Parker,
Alia Parker, Shane Garcia and Flo-
rez. “Over all, these kids did great
at the meet,” Olson said. “They’re a
very small team out here in the IV,
and they’ve got a lot of compassion
for others. I think it’s very sweet that
a group of kids, coaches and parents
took it upon themselves to spread the
autism word during this last meet.
Coaches Desiree Eddy and Alicia
Kinsey have done an excellent job in
making sure the kids have fun in this
sport that can be so competitive.”
This team’s cohesive spirit is
exemplified in its current plans to ac-
company McKenzie to the upcoming
state meet so they can all support her
in person.
(Courtesy photo for The Illinois Valley News)
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