As Michelle DeVries of Sultan struggled in both the financial and health arenas, she gripped the reins tighter.
Life seemed awfully grim, living in a family shelter in Everett with her two children.
She is taking pony steps out of her predicament and even has an offer, as a rider with disabilities, to compete internationally.
The former program director for the EquiFriends therapeutic equestrian program in Snohomish couldn’t hold down a full-time job after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
“I realized it had been a year since I felt good,” DeVries, 41, said. “With MS, it takes longer to do anything. It’s a constant struggle.”
Divorced and sapped financially, she ended up at the homeless shelter. Her son and daughter were bused to their schools in Sultan from their one-room quarters.
As health permitted, she worked a little at EquiFriends and rode at Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center in Woodinville.
After a few months at the shelter, a Housing Hope spot opened up near her son’s school in Sultan.
That was good, but the next step was amazing: DeVries was invited to a clinic with a United States equestrian team trainer.
She was thrilled just to go to the clinic. Her heart raced when she was invited to compete on an international level at paraequestrian events.
“But I was in a shelter two months ago,” DeVries said. “I had no money.”
DeVries will need funds to get to and from qualifying events and for new clothes and other necessities. For information on contributing to her quest, call Little Bit at 425-882-1554.
Gretchen Wilson of Monroe is tickled for her friend’s opportunity.
“From woman’s shelter to world games,” Wilson said. “We hope.”
Jenny Nell Schulte, program director at Little Bit, said she sees DeVries on good and bad days, healthwise, and admires her drive to ride.
“She is amazing,” Nell Schulte said. “She is very talented.”
Nell Schulte said when DeVries finds the right horse, she will be a valuable member of the U.S. paraequestrian team.
“But finding the right horse at little or no cost is a trick,” Nell Schulte said. “We have several horses now that generous people have donated for riders at Michelle’s level to compete, so I know it can be done.”
At a recent dressage show in Canada, DeVries competed for the first time in 18 years and received the second-highest scores for any paraequestrian in the show, Nell Schulte said.
“Michelle is a gifted rider with a sensitive feel of the horse,” she said. “Michelle is the kind of rider every trainer dreams of working with; she is hardworking, empathic and an all-around nice person.”
At the Snohomish and Woodinville programs, DeVries found comfort, as disabled children do, from the swinging motion of a horse’s gait.
Listless muscles were stimulated through the back-and-forth, up-and-down rhythm of the horse.
Tough times softened in the saddle.
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com.
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