SHELLEY — Many a young boy has dreamt of riding through the wild west on his trusty steed. Many a young girl has had her breath taken away by the sight of the majestic mane and powerful frame of a stallion. 

The bond between human and horse goes back thousands of years. Some evidence seems to show humans domesticated horses as far back as 3,500 BCE. 

Throughout the centuries horses have played many roles in mankind’s development: They helped us travel farther and faster than our own two legs could. They carried us into war and helped us build enormous structures. Could they now be used to help us heal?

In 2016 Larry Cudmore was diagnosed with a serious form of pancreatic cancer. Larry had been a pastor in the Lutheran church in Idaho for 39 years. He was just three years away from retirement. 

“They told me if I didn’t get treatment right away, I had 18 months to live,” Larry told Community Pioneer.

He spent the summer of 2017 in the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Salt Lake City, Utah. 

“I met a young girl by the name of Emily in Salt Lake City, Primary Children’s Hospital while I was at Huntsman’s Cancer Institute. She was from Ashton and some friends asked me if I would befriend her because she had a death sentence with her cancer,” Larry said.

Emily was 18 and had a rare form of cancer that only around 80 people in the United States get per year. The cancer almost exclusively appears in the elderly.

“I made a promise to her that when we both were back home and feeling better, whether it was winter or summer, I would bring Champ to Ashton and give her a buggy ride if it was summer or a sleigh ride if it was winter,” Larry said.

Champ was Larry’s horse. A Missouri Fox Trotter, Champ was a two-time world champion show horse. Larry got Champ from his friend Mike Bargelski for one Dollar when Champ was 18 years old.

Emily never got to meet Champ. She passed away in December 2017. At 29 years old, Champ died in May 2018. Larry’s friend Mike also passed away.

“I lost Mike, I lost Emily and I lost Champ,” Larry said.

Before Larry’s diagnosis, he had taught Champ how to pull a buggy and had been giving buggy and sleigh rides to some of the children in his church.

“I had eight kids in the sleigh,” Larry remembered about one particular winter. “It was just a two-seater and I had one child left. So I took this little girl and put her on top of Champ. So she was sitting on top of Champ while the eight other kids were in the sleigh going for a ride. They just fell in love with Champ.”

It wasn’t until after Emily’s and Champ’s deaths and Larry’s retirement from the pastorship that Larry really began realizing that his horses could actually help kids.

“In the fall of 2018, I was asked by Hospice of Eastern Idaho if some grieving children, who lost moms or dads, could come out and just spend some time with my horses,” Larry said.

Larry agreed. Seven kids were scheduled to come. Seventeen kids showed up and Champ’s Heart was born.

Champ’s Heart, named after the horse that started it all, is a non-profit that provides “healing encounters” for children with disabilities.

Children with any kind of disability can spend an hour riding, petting, working with and even painting on horses for absolutely free. Their parents and siblings get to come and participate too.

Larry is working on providing a similar service for veterans suffering from disabilities such as PTSD, traumatic brain injuries and other injuries.

“It’s about giving children and veterans a 50-minute horse experience every week where they don’t have to think about all the garbage they’re going through,” Larry said.

Champs Heart currently has 75 kids attending each week and more than 60 volunteers helping out.

Healing Horses

“I could see that it made such a significant difference. Having tried medication and counseling and just to see her back there and just so relaxed, it was amazing,” Michelle Cramer said.

By the time Michelle’s daughter Lily turned one, she’d had 10 ear infections. Those infections led to tubes in her ears, a hole that wouldn’t heal and multiple surgeries. By the time she was five years old, she’d had four different surgeries.

“That’s pretty traumitic on a little kid to constantly be on medication, constantly be having surguries and just feeling like life is out of control,” Michelle said

Due to that trauma and also having ADHD, Lily was struggling with bad behavioral issues. 

“It got to the point where we had tried everything we could think of. We were just kind of at our wit’s end,” Michelle said.

Katie Bugbee has three children with disabilities. Her oldest is nine and has an executive functioning disorder and ADHD. Executive function is what governs the ability to plan ahead. Katie’s six-year-old has apraxia, a speech disorder. Her five-year-old has bilateral dyspraxia, a disorder affecting his ability to control his hands.

When Katie’s six-year-old was diagnosed, Katie and her husband began searching for ways to help her. One form of treatment a therapist recommended was Equine Therapy.

Equine Therapy or Equine Assisted Therapy is a type of treatment that involves activities with horses and a licensed professional.

“Equine Therapy tends to be very expensive, especially if you don’t have insurance,” Katie said. “I really thought it would be great, but I didn’t really pursue it because of the cost.”

Michelle received a similar recommendation from a counselor.

“The counselor said having her on a horse somewhere would help with her anxiety, help her to relax with some of her ADHD stuff she’s got going on, it would help get rid of some of these negative behaviors,” Michelle said.

Michelle and Katie struggled to find a place that offered the kind of service they wanted for their children. Then they found Champ’s Heart.

It’s important to note that Champ’s Heart does not offer, nor do they advertise that they offer any kind of equine therapy. Instead, Champ’s Heart offers children with disabilities and their families the opportunity to spend time with horses.

Katie said she asked members of a special education parent’s group on Facebook if anyone knew of any kind of service that would allow her children to work with horses that was cheaper than Equine Therapy.

“Somebody mentioned Champ’s Heart. It turned out that they were just around the corner from us. And it’s been a wonderful, wonderful blessing ever since for the whole family,” Katie said.

Michelle said they went every week consistently for that whole first year after discovering Champ’s Heart.

“My little girl Lily is a non-stop chatterbox, energy, center of attention all the time,” Michelle said. “We went and we rode horses for an hour and she chatted with the volunteers and everything. But when we got back in the car after that first time she was so silent. I looked back at her and I said, ‘are you OK?’ and she said, ‘yeah, I’m just feeling relaxed.’ I mean, she’s never said that in her whole life.”

Katie said her nine-year-old, with the executive functioning disorder, has had a tremendous increase in her confidence level.

“She rides the horses on her own now. She doesn’t have to be guided,” Katie said. “She is learning how to do the planning like, ‘OK, I want to turn this way,’ so she knows her hands have to be this way and ‘I have to do this if I want the horse to do that.'”

Katie said her son with bilateral dyspraxia gets to practice his fine motor skills with the games that they play at Champ’s Heart.

“They’ll do games where you have to put a ring on a target or throw a ball in a basket. So if he’s keeping his balance on the horse he also has to focus his muscles in his hands to be able to play the game,” Katie explained.

Michelle’s daughter Lily just turned 11. She has been going to Champ’s Heart for two years and graduated from therapy last August.

“She stopped most of her negative behaviors that she was doing. She still has her days and moments, but we have noticed a significant difference because when she goes, she has a better week. When she goes, she’s happier and more relaxed,” Michelle said.

It isn’t known exactly what it is about spending time with horses that helps these kids so much, but it’s a question that Melissa Child hopes to answer someday.

Melissa is a licensed master social worker and certified therapeutic riding instructor who is working with Champ’s Heart to begin offering services to veterans.

While earning her Master’s in Social Work from Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho, Melissa studied the effectiveness of equine-assisted services in treating veterans with PTSD and Traumatic Brain Injuries.

“Through the study, we saw anywhere from a 45 to a 69 percent increase in brain function,” Melissa said. “The occupational therapist who performed the study said, ‘I’ve never seen that big of an increase, even with other techniques that they do to increase brain function.'”

Melissa is now in a doctoral program and hopes to answer the question of why horses have such an effect on people dealing with disabilities or recovering from trauma.

“(Horses) have that sixth sense. They understand how you feel without you having to tell them. You also receive some somatic work which helps regulate your nervous system by being around horses,” Melissa explained.

Whatever it is about horses, those like Melissa, Katie, Michelle and the volunteers at Champ’s Heart have seen first hand the effects horses have.

“Pictures are worth a thousand words,” Melissa said. When you see the smiles on the participants’ faces it makes all your hard work pay off. Or you see the light bulb go off when they finally understand what it is you’re asking them to do. Picking up the reigns for the first time and getting that horse to turn, for some people that is a huge step.”

Even the volunteers helping with Champ’s Heat have noticed positive changes in themselves.

Daryl Allred is a professional Cowboy who volunteers for Champ’s Heart working with the horses.

“I’ve seen a lot of change in myself,” Daryl said. “The kids are just amazing. You can have the worst week of your life, go out to Champ’s Heart and be with those kids and they just change your whole perspective.”

Finding a home

Over the short time since Champ’s Heart began, the program has grown at an incredible rate. But with that growth, Champ’s Heart has had trouble finding a permanent home.

“The problem is, I haven’t had my own property. I’ve been on borrowed property, rented property. We’ve been in four different arenas,” Larry said.

Champ’s Heart was working on purchasing its own land, but land was sold so fast after going on the market that Champ’s Heart never had a chance to make any offers. Finally, they were able to work on a deal to buy some land north of Idaho Falls. It was going to cost $300,000 just to buy the land, not including the extra cost of having to build an arena.

In February, a friend of Larry’s, who had service missionaries volunteering at Champ’s Heart, was visiting people in Shelley, delivering valentine’s gifts. She happened to stop at Joan and Mike Winston’s home.

Mike Winston is the man behind the North Bingham County Historical Park just off of W. Fir Street in Shelley.

Larry said that while Joan and his friend were talking, Joan asked her to tell her more about Champ’s Heart.

“Before I knew it I got a call from my friend saying, ‘Larry, have you bought that property yet?'” Larry said.

Joan had told Larry’s friend about some land near the North Bingham County Historical Park that might work for Champ’s Heart. The land has an outdoor arena that is used occasionally throughout the year and another large portion that is bare.

Not long after, Larry had a meeting with the Bingham County Commissioners to discuss Champ’s Heart using that land.

“Before the hour was up, when I told them about my program, they asked me, ‘would you consider a 99-year lease?'” Larry said.

Bingham County Commissioner Mark Bair said Champ’s Heart will have a 99-year lease on the land and only have to pay about $1.00.

“It’s a great addition to North Bingham County Park. I think that what he’s doing with Champ’s Heart is — I just think it’s a great fit and a great idea. And to help those kids and the veterans, I just can’t think of a better fit than right there at North Bingham County Park,” Mark said.

On Thursday, March 18, Larry and a large group of volunteers headed out to the park and began cleaning.

“The rodeo arena, we’re going to maintain it. It looked really sweet when we left it on Thursday. We cleaned up all the shrub all the way around,” Larry said.

Larry explained that while Champ’s Heart will maintain the land and the arena, the arena will remain open to the public. He hopes to create a schedule so that Champ’s Heart and others wanting to use the arena will be able to share it efficiently.

“We want to be an asset to the community. We are not making any money on this. It’s all for the children, all for the veterans,” Larry said.

Champ’s Heart also plans on building a $700,000 state-of-the-art indoor arena. However, that arena won’t be open to the public. Larry explained the reason is that it will be constructed specifically to accommodate the children and veterans with special needs that will use the facility.

Champ’s Heart received a $25,000 grant from the Murdock Foundation to hire a consultant to help them raise the money to build the facility.

“Hopefully, the way these miracles have been coming along, I’m hoping by winter we’ll have an arena to use in the winter,” Larry said.

Anyone wishing to donate to Champ’s Heart can do so by visiting champsheart.org.

For anyone who would like to become a volunteer for Champ’s Heart, there will be a training on April 6. To sign-up call 208-589-4082.

“Larry is an angel. Just pure goodness,” Katie said. “He is so accomodating and just really wants your family to have a good experience. He’s just so thoughtful and giving. And the volunteers are awesome.”

As much as he loves helping the kids that come to Champ’s Heart, Larry said it’s really the horses that make the difference.

“(The horses) act differently around these kids,” Larry said. “They’re the miracle workers of Champ’s Heart.”