JDAIM: Riding horses offers life-changing therapy in Israel's desert

Volunteers at Red Mountain Therapeutic Riding Center, located on Kibbutz Grofit. 

February is Jewish Disabilty Awareness Inclusion Month (JDAIM), and Jewish National Fund proudly supports efforts to make sure people with special needs and disabilities are fully included in Israeli society. 

By Eric Narrow

The trip along Israel's Route 90 includes views of sand, mountain terrain, and expansive vistas. Turn onto a small road toward the picturesque hills of Jordan and you'll also see a desert oasis filled with the smiles and laughter of hundreds of children and adults with special needs. 

They come from all over the region to the Red Mountain Therapeutic Riding Center at Kibbutz Grofit. 

“Horse therapy transcends the spectrum of all types of special needs,” says the center’s founder, Jill Oron. Participants come from all ethnic and religious backgrounds, and the services help those with social, cognitive, physical, and emotional disabilities.

Happy days for boy with autism: How horses are changing my son's life

Photo: Jonathan Kaplan

Rafi Osmo, creator of the Red Mountain Therapeutic Riding Center, supports 4-year-old Mattias, who's 
on the autism spectrum. The two stop to play language and coordination games as Mattias rides a horse 
around a riding ring as therapy on a weekday morning. 

At Red Mountain Therapeutic Riding Center on Israel's Kibbutz Grofit, children with special needs ride horses to improve their coordination and behavioral and social skills. Sometimes this therapy has a dramatic impact, as evidenced by this letter from the mom of a child in the JNF-supported program. "Words alone could never express how grateful we are, which is why I have tried to share with you our experience so that you can perhaps see where your money goes and how wisely you have given," she says. 

By Li Jackson

My son, Isaac, is autistic. He was diagnosed in August of last year, and as a result, on September 1, he started to attend a special-needs gan (kindergarten). As part of his curriculum, he and his fellow classmates are taken to Kibbutz Grofit once a week for a morning of therapeutic horseback riding. 

Until recently, Isaac was not keen on animals. Animals are unpredictable, they scare him and they confuse him. In the best-case scenario, he would shut his eyes and shake his head vigorously until the animal was taken away. I was not optimistic about him enjoying the whole horseback riding experience. Not optimistic at all. 

Every Tuesday, off they went to the kibbutz, and the staff would relay back pictures of the day. There he was, my son, ON A HORSE!!! We were speechless! Not only was he sitting on a horse with a riding hat (another unfavorite thing of his). He was SMILING!