Manito Life Center

My daughter, Mackenzie, has been a student at Manito Life Centers for just over two years. She is a very petite young lady with spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy. When Mackenzie started to mature, she became very depressed over being limited to a wheelchair and needing assistance for nearly every aspect of her daily living. One day I opened a flier from a non-profit organization which contained a little ad for a place called Manito Life Center. After speaking with Mackenzie, we decided to call to schedule a tour and to talk with the therapeutic Program Director. During our tour we were met with smiling and friendly faces from the staff and other riders and were greeted excitedly by all of the Manito horses. Then we were introduced to Raven. Raven is a beautiful black Morgan who Mackenzie immediately fell in love with and they were paired together as a riding team. Just a few days later we showed up for our very first lesson. We met seven volunteers who were responsible for helping Mackenzie to sit upright on Raven. Due to Mackenzie's spasticity, the first lessons were extremely challenging. She was in a great deal of pain. It took all seven people to hold her upright from her legs, to her sides and around to her back. She also had a staff member who led Raven. For quite a number of lessons Mackenzie could only rest her legs on Raven's shoulder blades and be supported in every direction by staff and volunteers. On her first lesson she only had the strength to stay on for three of Raven's strides. But it was a start. The most important start of anything she had ever tried in her life. Over the next month she persevered and eventually her spasticity began improving. Rides were less painful. Fewer and fewer staff were needed to hold her up. I began to see smiles returning to her face regularly and her depression very slowly lifted. The crying at night stopped. Hope and happiness replaced sadness and we found ourselves at Manito every chance we could get. Fast forward two years later and Mackenzie is now working on independent riding. She has started to walk independently at home out of her wheelchair. She is the proud owner of her very own horse, Rock, a 9 year old Morgan gelding who we board at Manito. Mackenzie and Rock compete in therapeutic riding divisions of Manito horse shows and Mackenzie was recently chosen to be a part of the Manito Travel Team! I have my daughter back, I have my life back, I have a new family at Manito. Just in case I don't say it enough (though I try to at every opportunity!), I need to thank God for the miracle he has given us in Manito staff members Lisa Schadt who's vision inspires us every day, Jennifer Lomastro who is Mackenzie's riding instructor and never sees the limitations in any of her riders, Alicia Pramik who makes it all look so easy (though we know better!) Thank you for giving us our lives back.