Disabled Riders Put Old Horse Out Front

Standing calmly next to the wheelchair ramp, Rocky and three assistants wait for Carleen Denley.

The petite, 22-year-old Denley is wheeled up. She braces herself against the assistants as she is placed in the saddle.

With Denley safely on board, Rocky, an 18-year-old appaloosa, and his handlers – two supporting Denley and one with the reins – slowly walk around the fenced corral. One lap and it’s over.

The ride lasts five minutes.

The results can last a lifetime.

Denley has Down syndrome, scoliosis and slight paralysis from a stroke. But regular rides on Rocky since September have strengthened her back and abdomen.

“And her confidence has increased,” her caretaker, Kelsey Vetter, says. “Even when we go out in public and people try to talk to her, she doesn’t get all agitated like she used to.”

For Rocky, it’s all in a day’s work at Quantum Leap Farm in Odessa in northwest Hillsborough County.

And people have noticed.

Recently the Florida Animal Health Foundation, a statewide veterinary and animal health organization, honored Rocky for his work with mentally and physically disabled adults.

He won in the category of ambassador of the human-animal bond.

Rocky was one of 11 award winners out of about 40 animals to be nominated, said Larry Schmaltz, the president of the Florida Animal Health Foundation.

Rocky also is the first horse to win an award from the foundation, which honors animals for contributions to society and the animals’ owners.

Rocky stands about 4 feet 10 inches from the ground to the highest part of the back and is gray and spotted. He began giving therapeutic rides after a lifetime of strenuous equestrian competition, his owner, Edie Dopking, says.

“He’s done hunter-jumpers and dressage competition,” which Dopking describes as “almost like ballet on horseback.”

“He’s also fox hunted,” she adds.

His then-owner, Harriet Henry of Tampa, was seeking another, younger horse for competition, but “she didn’t want to put him into retirement,” so she donated Rocky to Quantum Leap Farm, Dopking says. “Doing some light, frequent work is the best thing for older horses,” she says.

Guy Hancock, a St. Petersburg veterinarian and Florida Animal Health Foundation board member, says the organization solicited nominations from veterinarians, breeders and other people and organizations in Florida that work with animals.

Winners receive a plaque, a T-shirt and about $300 worth of animal health and beauty products.

Dopking says she started working with the disabled about five years ago.

“Part of it was me arriving at the point in my life where I felt it was important to give something back to the community,” Dopking says.

Rocky arrived at the farm almost a year ago. Appaloosas are a good choice for working with the disabled because of the breed’s patience, Dopking says.

“They are truly an American breed who were bred by the Nez Perce Indians out West,” Dopking says. “They were used as war horses because they are able to remain calm under stress. That’s good because he is willing to put up with uncoordinated riders where other horses might not.”

Dopking and Quantum Leap Farm donate their services for the disabled.

For Rocky, his special reward is a carrot at the end of a ride – along with an opportunity to live out the rest of his life in comfort. And with lots of love.

“He’s really glad to be here,” Dopking says. “When it’s dinner time, he’ll be at the south end of the field, but he’ll be the first one here, running through the drainage ditch and come out of the hole kicking a leg this way and that way.

“He’ll take anyone anywhere and he’s really happy to do it,” Dopking says.

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