Riding, teaching can be healing

"Growing up, I had some special needs as well. I was dyslexic and I have ADD (attention deficit disorder), and I recall that the horses are what got me through that period in my life," said Draper, a Marana resident.

Now at age 50, being with horses and teaching others how to ride at her business — located at Adamcin Quarter Horses, 9015 N. Camino de Anza — is still healing for her.

"When I'm out here, I'm not thinking of anything at home. The only thing I'm thinking about is the horse and just being with the horse, so it's really a nice place to be," Draper said.

Alexis Braunreiter, 13, one of her students, would definitely agree. Alexis, a seventh-grader at Tortolita Middle School on the Northwest Side, said she enjoys everything about her lessons with Draper. "I just really like horses," she said.

Draper maintained her own childhood interest in horses, training two of her own and participating with them in Utah horse shows, until age 15.

But then she sold them and rode infrequently until she got back into the saddle as a Tucson-area mother of four, when her children became interested in riding. Draper's youngest daughter began taking riding lessons with instructor Luanne Reiter-Leslie about five years ago — a decision that became a turning point in her own life.

A working partnership grew out of that teacher-parent relationship.

Reiter-Leslie encouraged her to teach, Draper said, and so she became certified through the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association Inc. and began teaching with the instructor in May 2005.

"I found when I started teaching, I enjoyed so much giving the kids and adults the opportunity to be around horses because I feel that they are very healing," Draper said.

When the owner of that facility decided to close the riding school, Draper and Reiter-Leslie bought four horses from the school. Draper opened Rolling Hills Riding Academy in October 2006 at Adamcin Quarter Horses, in Oro Valley.

Rolling Hills and Reiter-Leslie's Desert Rose Therapy — which does therapeutic riding — share the horses and the tack. They have about 10 horses between them. They both board their horses and give lessons at Adamcin. And they also teach for each other, Draper said.

Rolling Hills Riding Academy gives private, semi-private and group lessons to students ages 5 through adult.

It is a little harder to learn to ride as an adult than as a child because children are more athletic, less stiff and have better natural balance, Draper said.

Paris Stegall, 10, takes semi-private (two-student) lessons at the riding academy, mostly with Alexis.

"It's pretty fun because you get to saddle the horses and you learn a lot of stuff," said Paris. She's a fourth-grader at Khalsa Montessori School in the Foothills.

And her mom likes the lessons, too.

"She gets great attention," said Denise Stegall. "They're very safety-conscious and conscious of not pushing them too fast."

The riding academy loans helmets and boots to students who don't have their own, Draper said.

Northwest

Rolling Hills Riding Academy

Located at: Adamcin Quarter Horses, 9015 N. Camino de Anza.

For ages: 5 through adult.

Lessons offered:

• Private: $40 per 50-minute lesson.

• Semiprivate (two students): $35 per 60-minute lesson.

• Group (three to four students): $30 per 60-minute lesson.

• Group lead line lessons: $35. In these group lessons, a student — usually a child — rides a horse while a riding academy employee holds the lead.

• One-week day camps: $175 per student. The next camp will run today-Friday.

For more information: Call owner Donica Draper at 401-6516.