LIFESTYLES
WEEKEND, JUNE 24-25, 2017
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Brasen Newsom mounts Libby, a Norwegian Fjord horse, as volunteers Obie Ford-
ice and Tessa Irvine look on Wednesday at Dream Catcher Therapeutics in Pendleton.
Ashley Haapla, left, watches her son, Brasen Newsom, 10, during a riding lesson at
Dream Catcher Therapeutics on Wednesday in Pendleton.
Healing with horse power
Nonprofit provides therapeutic horseback riding for children
By ANTONIO SIERRA
East Oregonian
Ashley Haapla started out as a
skeptic of therapeutic horseback
riding.
The Pendleton resident described
herself as “super not country” who
was more familiar with the buses and
trains of her native Seattle than equine
travel.
But her mind changed when
Sherwood Heights Elementary started
sending her 10-year-old son, Brasen
Newsom, and other special education
students to Dream Catcher Therapeu-
tics.
“There’s something about the
power of a horse,” she said.
While still not an avid horsewoman,
Haapla is now a Dream Catcher board
member as it looks to expand its reach
at a new location.
This summer, Haapla decided to
take Brasen to Dream Catcher for
personal therapy sessions twice a
week at the nonprofit’s ranch south of
Pendleton.
As a child with autism, Brasen is
non-verbal and is still learning to read
and write, but words aren’t needed to
see that he’s enjoying himself.
A broad grin occasionally bursts
from Brasen as he clamors aboard
the sandy-colored back of Libby, a
Norwegian Fjord and one of four
horses used for therapeutic riding by
Dream Catcher.
Dream Catcher Executive Director
Morgan Matteson and two volunteers
guide Libby as they direct Brasen to
stretch his arms, play a catch and drop
rings onto cones.
He sometimes fussed with his
helmet or smacked himself in the head
when a ring bounces off the cone, but
it was otherwise a smooth ride, with
Brasen silently raising his hands in
the air in victory when a ring found its
way around a cone.
Haapla said Brasen is normally
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Norwegian Fjords Libby and Smily are holdouts from the previous
Dream Catcher program and are used in therapy programs due to their
mild temperament.
even more cheerful when he straps
on a saddle, but his mood might have
been a little dulled from a sleepless
night inspired by the news that he
would be going to Dream Catcher the
next day.
“He gets pretty happy up there,”
she said. “If he could stay up there all
day, he would.”
Matteson said therapeutic horse-
back riding has a calming effect on
people with autism, which opens up
time to develop motor skills through
the exercises like ring-and-cone
activity.
Autism isn’t the only condition
riding therapy can help treat. Matteson
said riding therapy has helped students
with Down syndrome, multiple scle-
rosis, cerebral palsy, post-traumatic
stress disorder and other conditions.
Matteson said not any horse can
work for therapeutic riding, which
requires a docile animal with the
ability to meet the ridership needs of
the student. She referenced one horse
that allowed a student to steer it with
her teeth because she didn’t have any
arms.
Dream Catcher’s mission isn’t
new, but the scope of its ambition is.
Rebecca Adams
co-founded
Dream Catcher in 2001, motivated by
her own son’s cerebral palsy.
The original incarnation of Dream
Catcher was a “mom and pop” opera-
tion, Adams said. The activities were
run out of Adams’ house near Mission
and were overseen by a three-person
board.
Although a smaller board meant
they had greater control over oper-
ations, Adams said it also meant
that Dream Catcher went through
extended periods of closure when life
got in the way.
At the beginning of 2017, Dream
Catcher re-organized with the inten-
tion of becoming a more professional
organization.
The ranch moved south, the board
was expanded and the nonprofit turned
to a face from its past to become its
new director.
Matteson was a volunteer from
Dream Catcher’s early days, a time
that inspired her to pursue a degree
at Rocky Mountain College’s ther-
apeutic horsemanship program in
Billings, Montana.
Matteson worked at therapy
centers in Siletz and other Oregon
towns before deciding to return home,
where she got the call from Adams to
return to Dream Catcher as the execu-
tive director.
With Matteson at the helm and
Adams on the board overseeing the
transition, Dream Catcher’s goal is to
become a more permanent presence in
the area.
Grants from the Wildhorse Foun-
dation and the Pendleton Foundation
Trust helped pay for new equipment
and Matteson is looking into gaining
access to an indoor facility to keep
Dream Catcher operating during
inclement weather.
Dream Catcher currently has seven
students and eight volunteers and is
looking to expand both pools.
Matteson said volunteers are
crucial to the organization, especially
since some students require assistance
to stay on the horse while its in motion.
Equine experience isn’t needed,
which was evidenced by the two
volunteers who helped Brasen through
his ride.
Although volunteer Tess Irvine
spent her life around horses, Obie
Fordice was actually intimidated by
them until he started volunteering for
Dream Catcher.
“Money isn’t the only thing that
makes (Dream Catcher) run,” Adams
said.
People interested in volunteering at
Dream Catcher can contact Matteson
at 541-377-1479.
———
Contact Antonio Sierra at asierra@
eastoregonian.com or 541-966-0836.
Staff photo by E.J. Harris
Brasen Newsom, 10, gets help picking a horse’s hoof with Dream Catcher Therapeutics executive director Morgan Matteson before starting a
riding lesson Wednesday in Pendleton.