DENVER — There is work happening on the National Western Center that lasts way beyond the stock show and it's changing kids' lives.
At the core of Temple Grandine Equine Center is a place of second chances and incredible firsts.
The horses, like Chunka Whisper and Buckey, were donated by their owners to become therapy horses. They had interesting first lives, per say.
Joseph O'Day, president of the Roundup Riders of the Rockies, donated Chunka Whisper.
He said he used to chase cows and work on trails with him, but started to slow down and get hurt. So O'Day found Chunka a second home at the equine center because he had the right temperament.
"We've got this horse that owes us nothing," O'Day said. "He did everything we ever asked him, and now he's here. He can settle down, he can have a nice day. They pamper him, as you can see when you look around here. So, it's a great place for him, and it's a great place for kids to be able to find out what it's like to be around a horse."
Pat Grant donated Buckey. He said Buckey is 30 years old and he has known him for 25 of those.
Grant said they used to do roundup rides, riding 100 miles over a five-day period. Grant said he and his family are grateful Buckey is spending his golden years at the equine center.
"A lot of times older horses and ranchers would take their horse out to the end of the pasture and put them down. And I thought, I'm not going to do that. I won't do that because he has many years to give comfort and solace and happiness," Grant said.
While horse owners say it's been a wonderful place for their horses to live, the therapy these horses help with are showing some incredible results.
"I get to observe children say their first word, right, their lungs have finally got the capacity," said Adam Daurio, director of the Temple Grandin Equine Center. "They sit up straight and they say that very first word. I've seen a child that didn't have the ability to crawl literally learn to crawl by putting on their hands and knees on the horse's back. I've seen children — many, many children — take their first steps in our arena."
Blake Hutchison, president and CEO of Hutchison, helped grow the program that works in partnership with clinicians.
"You get to see this magical therapy abilities that these horses do. They're great therapy. They're great therapy for me," said Hutchison. "Obviously, they do wonderful things for kids. Some of these kids — this is the only time they get out of a wheelchair. And that's a big deal. That's a huge deal and shouldn't be taken for granted. A place like this gives that kind of an opportunity.”
These horses mostly work with kids with autism and different developmental and physical disabilities.
Daurio said with the help of research from Colorado State University, they worked to change the law in Colorado.
"What we did is we used the data from the research that Colorado State University has done, and we went and advocated for a bill that mandates Colorado Medicaid reimburse the use of a horse in therapy similar to other tools," Daurio said.
"If there's an individual who has Medicaid as an insurance, then they can use equine assisted therapy," he added. "Just like any other physical occupational or speech therapy that they may receive through other venues, medical health care, they can come here and receive equine assisted therapy."
Daurio said they worked for 15 years to get this change and it finally happened in 2024.
There is so much demand for this kind of therapy, the wait list between the Denver and Fort Collins facility is around 300 people.
