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Mississippi College Family Volunteers With RideABILITY Center


MC English professor Steve Price is among the volunteers with the RideABILITY center in Rankin County. Rowdy is the horse giving Christina a ride.

Horses with names like Lilly, Prince, Rowdy, Peach and Toby are easing life’s challenges for special needs children.

Often confined to wheelchairs or walking with leg braces, Mississippi kids are getting help at the RideABILITY Therapeutic Riding Center.

Mississippi College faculty, staff and students enjoy serving as volunteers with the program in Rankin County.

Special needs children can “leave their equipment behind and go anywhere they want on horseback,” says MC English professor Kerri Jordan. “It’s incredible to see the riders and horses collaborating in these amazing, empowering ways.”

A RideABILITY board member, Jordan serves as coordinator of the 3rd annual RideABILITY 5K race on October 17 at Shiloh Park. The Saturday event in Brandon will include a one-mile fun run and help raise funds for the non-profit. It began with two horses serving special needs kids in 2007.

A horse rider since she was a ten-year-old girl, Kerri got hooked after volunteering with a similar program in Baton Rouge as an LSU graduate student.

Her interest in working with special needs youngsters on horseback continues to spread to colleagues across the Clinton campus.

English professor Steve Price loves to volunteer.

“That’s because of the amazing children that we work with and the wonderful horses I know that I get as much out of it as our riders,” Price says. “The riders teach me with their enthusiasm, energy and joy for riding.”

The director of the Mississippi College Writing Center, Price is a RideABILITY board member.

English instructor Lingshan Song also feels blessed every time she volunteers. “Volunteering at RideABILITY helps me realize that everyone is fighting a battle in life,” says the Writing Center’s assistant director. “Everyone is trying to support and help each other.”

Joining the growing team of MC volunteers is physician assistant student Cedric Ruffin. RideABILITY showcases teamwork, promotes wellness and lifts the spirits for scores of children, says the Alabama native. It’s a pleasure to be around the children, and a treat to work with the horses, he adds.

Located on a farm 11 miles east of Brandon High, the program seeks to improve the minds, bodies and spirits of special needs children. Thanks to therapeutic horse riding three days a week, kids build their confidence, enhance their coordination and have a little fun.

For more information, go to www.rideabilityms.com or call 601-750-6735. Kerri Jordan can be reached at 601-925-3334 or jordan01@mc.edu