MICHAEL RICHARDSON

by Dan Talbot

Lone Star Horse Report

Driving down a rural Illinois road late one night, Michael Richaardson topped a hill and froze a deer in his headlights. Swerving to avoid a collision, he plunged off the road and his Jeep rolled over in a ravine.

The doctors were doubtful he would survive the massive injuries: a shattered shoulder, splintered ribs, a possibly damaged heart and a crushed spinal cord.

But six weeks later the 20-year-old horseman rolled out of the hospital in a wheelchair. the accident had left him paralqzed for life, but only in the physical sense. It set his spirit soaring.

That brush with death 13 years ago reordered Michael's priorities and deepened his faith. "It was the beginning of my life," he says.

A visitor to his training barn south of Decatur in Wise County, Texas will be greeted by the magnetic personality of a challenged athete who never gave up.

Reared in Wayne, Illinois, Michael had started riding in Pony Club events at the age of seven. Through his teen years, he showed hunters and jumpers and rode to the hounds with his foxhunting father. He was starting young horses at the time of his accident.

"I really hadn't appreciated what a precious gift life is," he reflects. "I lived it in the fast lane, took chances. I thought I was immortal.

"Afterwards, I began to ask myself, 'Do I need to walk to be happy? How can I use the strengths God has given me to help others?'"

He was soon involved with the National Wheelchair Athletic Association, first as a competitive swimmer, then in wheelchair racing.

"Racing was a tremendous confidence-builder," he says. "I was an athlete just like the others. The only difference was that I sat down. I was extrmely visible. I thought, "I can take this opportunity and impact society in a positive manner."

Advancing to the national level, he attracted corporate sponsorship and competed across the U.S. and in England and Spain.

Training in Alabama as a member of the provisional team for the 1992 Para Olympics, Michael came round again to horses. He began to volunteer at a therapeutic riding center called Easy Riders and wound up as an instructor and a member of the board. Returning to his home state to train with the University of Illinois wheelchair team, he enrolled in an equine career program under Dr. Gayla Sargent. There he met Tiffany Airola, now his business partner.

Becoming active in the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA), he was certified as a horse judge and helped to develop an adaptive saddle, which he demonstrated at NARHA's 25th anniversary conference in 1994. The next year Michael graduated with an associate's degree in equine management and contunued his studies in behavioral psychology.

He came to realize the shortcomings of his former training techniques. "I had been forcing situations with horses. It was a manipulative attitude. But it should be a finesse thing - like dancing."

Michael's method is to communicate with the horse in a patient, positive and non-threatening manner. "Slower is faster, and less is more" is his slogan.

"It's not a dominant/passive approach. It's sharing. It's saying, 'Let's take your desires and my desires and meet in the middle'.

"Most horses are born followers. They're looking for reassurance. If you'll present tasks to them in an understandable way, they'll give you the world."

Michael moved to Texas four years ago to be closer to better horses and farther from Midwest winters. He started repairing tack at Mike Corcoran's shop in Argyle, then worked with trainers Dave Peters on behavioral problems and with Doug Lilly on futurity propects before launching out on his own.

At his Rafter Rocking R Ranch, Michael accepts horses of all breeds and disciplines for training. Most of his current clientele ride English. Recent enrollees include a 21-month-old Thoroughbred stallion for a course in manners, a six-year-old Arabian mare to be started under the saddle, and a six-year-old Quarter Horse mare that was orphaned at one month and did not respond to other training approaches.

He and Tiffany, a veteran eventer, also buy retired racehorses to rehabilitate and redirect to new careers. A number have been sold to clients in the Midwest.

Michael travels widely to give workshops and demonstrations on his program, which he calls "Unity Education." He has been invited to EQUITANA USA for several presentations in Louisville this June. Increasingly sought after as a motivational speaker, he comes across as articulate, energetic, joyful. And without a trace of pride: "I just want to share the experiences I have been fortunate enought to have had."