March 2022: Laura Cadenhead
Laura Cadenhead
Laura Cadenhead started working with Stride Ahead in 2010 as a typical volunteer helping with therapeutic riding lessons, but that relationship has blossomed over the years into something much more.
These days she rides her bike to the barn very early in the mornings before she goes to work and again after work to muck stalls, walk horses, and even give them a massage. Laura is always looking for ways to make it easier and safer for the horses.
For example, we have her to thank for the rainy-day-walkers white board outside the tack room that allows us to keep up with who’s been walked and who needs a walk – she sees a need and acts on it.
Two memories stand out for Laura over her years of service as examples of how horses can bring development and growth to our clients.
Once a 3-year-old boy arrived for a lesson screaming and continued to scream throughout the entire session. His horse, Brubeck, considered a grumpy older fella, immediately sensed the boy’s anxiety and became an alert and gentle companion. At the end of the session the boy was heard, between screams, saying “Can I come back tomorrow?”
Laura also remembers a woman with a spinal cord injury in a wheelchair. Prior to the lesson, the woman expressed a great deal of fear but after a successful session she stood up next to her wheelchair, stabilizing herself by holding the handle which apparently was quite remarkable for her. She simply used the inspiration of the session to push through her physical abilities and glowed with pride as she rolled out of the barn.
Laura credits Stride Ahead founder Anne Preston, Program Director Pam Smith and Jenny Rachelson as having taught her so much about horses. She says what they’ve taught her far exceeds what she learned earlier in her riding life. Now she says being in the presence of horses comforts her as she has learned to comfort them.
It’s no surprise that Laura’s favorite part of volunteering is being near the horses and she loves to learn their individual personalities and tune in to their intuitive healing abilities. The duties Laura does are often unseen and not acknowledged which is why we want to spotlight her work that makes life for our horses, the people around them and the work we do that much better.
Thank you, Laura!
If you would like to make a donation in honor of Laura and all of our wonderful volunteers who make Stride happen, thank you.
