Special Olympics 2010

One Heart riders have participated in Special Olympics since 2003. The state offers one competition each year which is held near Des Moines. Kris has been a Special Olympics Equestrain coach since '03 and Dani and Jennifer are coaches as of 2010. To qualify for the One Heart Team, riders must participate in either session 1 or 2 of the year of the event. Special Olympics specifies that athletes should be coached 10 times prior to the competition. The One Heart rider must also meet the qualifications of Special Olympics. The One Heart coaches restrict the roster to those riders we can safely mount in an arena that is unfamiliar to us and may not have the facilities to support our riders. Even with those restrictions, more and more riders find they LOVE being in Special Olympics! When our team roster hit 20, the coaches faced a delimma; how can we possibly mount 20 riders in 2 classes each? We frequently have 3 to 4 or more riders in each class. From experience we knew that it was impossible to mount and dismount riders, get them through the class, watch the awards ceremony and keep tack changed and volunteers in place. The least of our worries was volunteers. One Heart volunteers eagerly sign up to accompany the team. We know they play a huge part in our success. First and foremost, One Heart volunteers know our horses and riders. This gives the horses, athletes, coaches, parents and staff more confidence and keeps us relaxed.

Following a meeting of riders, families and coaches it was decided that all qualifying riders could participate if they would only enter in one class each. That still is 20 mounts for the day. We were all happy that everyone could participate and we didn't have to have a qualifying show. One Heart also proudly supplies horses for two athletes from Iowa City and has coached two riders from Wildwood Hills Ranch.

This year the United Way of Story County arranged a "Make a Difference Day" for which One Heart applied for volunteers to help pack for Special Olympics. We had a couple from the ISU student center and several hard workers from ISU Vet Med. Boy, did they tear into the job and in short order had everything clean, organized, and packed. It was a great help!

Later that day 4 horses were loaded for the trip to Jester Park. The horses are stalled overnight and volunteers show up early on the big day to get set up. One of our sponsors, Brekke's Town and Country, our local Purina dealer, provides bedding each year in support of the team. Thanks, Brekke's!

When the dust cleared, One Heart had entered the arena 33 times. If you have been doing the math, let me fill you in on part of the missing equation. The riders have discovered that Coach Kris has a soft spot for riders wanting to really test their skills in horsemanship. If they select horsemanship, I "let them" also enter a game, or timed event, like barrel racing. Barrel Racing and Ball Drop have been two of the most popular events for the One Heart Team. The athletes also get to ride in two classes if they select to be on the relay team. So, it's sliding scale :) All of our riders aren't coached for horsemanship due to the extra challenges of riding and the subjective nature of the judging. Everyone loves the races. Even the horses. Most new volunteers are astounded that Bri (the Norwegian Fjord; slow and steady) even goes to the Special Olympics. Once there, they are astounded that she really gets into it! She's turned into quite the barrel racer!
I wanted to put in more pictures but I am not abel to insert pics at this time for some unknown cyber-reason. I will include more later. Blog soon, Kris