Riders show their talents at RED Arena Round-Up

On May 16 and 17, RED Arena of Dripping Springs held its 15th Annual Round-Up. It’s the group’s largest fundraiser, and a chance for their riders to show off what they have learned throughout the year.

One of this year’s Round-Up contestants was Dorothy Devane, who has been going to RED Arena since she was 11. RED, which stands for Riding Equines for the Disabled, is a Dripping Springs nonprofit founded in 2008. Devane won Rider of the Year at the event.

“It's just about passion. I just can't be more grateful,” Dorothy said. “It’s fun, just me on my horse. I wish I can do this again any year, and it makes me feel great inside.”

Dorothy’s favorite event of the Round-Up was the egg challenge, where the riders have to balance an egg on their spoon while completing different challenges on horseback.

“I got second place,” Dorothy said. “The hardest part was keeping it above my helmet because it’s so high up to my head.”

Rider Noah Dunn also said his favorite event was the egg and the spoon. The Dunn family has been involved with RED Arena for about 15 years, and some of Noah’s siblings have also been through. His sister Isabella volunteered and is now an employee.

“Noah also volunteers at the arena,” Andres Dunn said. “He comes with his sister and helps with chores.” Andres said that has been one of the best parts for Noah, because he loves to work. Brothers Eli and Seth Dunn were also at the Round-Up to cheer Noah on. Seth attended some of the summer camps when he was younger, and he was volunteering for the Round-Up.

“I've always felt like RED Arena had a home-like feel to it, just welcoming,” Seth said.

Andres said the friendships that the kids develop are also important.

“If Noah sees somebody with a RED shirt out in public, he's automatically approaching them and talking to them and excited,” Andres said.

Wynnie Hunter is another RED Arena rider. She’s been coming to RED Arena for five years.

“I competed in drill team,” Wynnie said. “It went well. I think every year I do better.”

She rode Tuck for her event.

“There's so many good things about him, but I would say it's that he challenges me and he is funny and he's a nice horse,” Wynnie said. “They're all really nice horses.”

Wynnie and her parents found RED Arena during COVID, and were immediately sold on it. Wynnie’s mom, Nicki Hunter, said horse riding is an incredible thing for anxiety.

“RED Arena is a gem, truly. It is really lifesaving for a lot of families, and we're incredibly blessed that they're in the area,” Nicki said. “And it's nice to be with other families who have, you know, if not the exact same, at least similar, struggles and strengths.”

Wynnie said RED Arena helps people with self confidence.

“This place really helps if you sort of doubt yourself a little bit. If people say that you can't do things and you start to believe them, I think you should probably start horseback riding at RED Arena,” Wynnie said. “And you might find your favorite horse here. Unless if you already have a horse, then it'll be your second favorite horse!”

It takes a lot of people to keep everything running smoothly at RED Arena, and that includes not just employees, but also volunteers. One of those long-time volunteers is A.J. Hazarabedian, who has been involved for about six years. He has a son with autism, who used to ride with a different outfit before they moved to the area.

“We came and interviewed with Jen to put our son into this program,” A.J. said. “It never worked out from a timing perspective, but Jen always looks for opportunities to recruit new volunteers, so that's how I ended up here.”

A.J. is a sidewalker. Most riders have three people supporting them - a horse handler, a therapist and a sidewalker.

“Sidewalkers help with the activities, things like ring toss where agility and stability of their core is important. So I might be helping with somebody who needs to reach or somebody who needs to to be able to stand up on the horse or somebody who just needs balance,” A.J. said. “It really varies from rider to rider.”

A.J. said the therapist figures out what each rider needs.

“You see some of these kids in particular - you see some of them who are maybe nonverbal, and five minutes of being on the horse and they're talking,” A.J. said. “It's just crazy. It's like, okay, there's really something to this.”

Jennifer Young is the physical therapist who founded RED Arena. Originally, she used traditional methods with her patients, but soon found her way to equine therapy.

“I didn't know anything about horses as a kid. I was terrified of horses,” Young said. “But as a physical therapist, I would see some of my patients the day after they rode their horse at ROCK in Georgetown - that is a program just like ours, they're amazing - and their body was so relaxed. That's what piqued my interest in it.”

A lot of Young’s patients had cerebral palsy, and they have really high muscle tone. It makes stretching very difficult and painful. So Young started referring her patients to ROCK.

“Not only does it relax that tone, it helps just sitting on the horse - working on strength, balance coordination and they love it. They talk about how they love their horse and they had so much fun,” Young said. “Then they would see me and they would be crying, and they didn't want to do anything.”

So Young started volunteering at ROCK to see what the program was all about.

“I was just blown away. It's such an amazing dynamic movement when you're just sitting on the horse. It engages your entire body,” Young said. “But aside from that, or almost more importantly, the confidence, the self-esteem, the communication that comes out when they're on the horse is incredible.”

Young initially approached ROCK about potentially opening a second location, but when they declined, she started exploring the idea of starting a program herself.

“I thought, well this is my science, I can figure it out. So I started taking riding lessons and went and got certified,” Young said. “I started with just my couple of patients that I was seeing, and it was really incredible to see the change.”

She was hooked. She started looking for a location and found a place in Dripping Springs that she thought had potential. She and her husband went to look at it, and decided to make the jump.

“We moved our family to Drip. My boys were little and it was great,” Young said. “Best thing we ever did.”

Soon, what started as Young’s “little side project” was growing like crazy.

“Between all the programs that we have, there’s just a huge need, but the community support has made it possible,” Young said. “Every turn, every challenge we have, the community would come in and help us to build this program up.”

RED Arena now has two locations - one in Dripping Springs and one in San Marcos - and the nonprofit owns both outright thanks to a variety of grants, donations and sponsorships.

“There's no debt on the organization with that, which is great because all the money we raise goes straight into programming,” Young said.

For more information on RED Arena programs, visit www. redarena.org.