First Impressions

When I pulled up to Kopper Top for the first time, my anticipations were not as high as I had hoped for multiple reasons. First of all, I had heard less than enthusiastic responses from a few of my peers who had gone previously, and also the overall appearance of the facility was less than uplifting. It became clear rather quickly how desperate the need for service was at this site, not so much for the actual purpose of the clinic, but more because the owners were clearly having difficulty both running a program and maintaining a facility. Kopper Top is primarily a program that allows mentally and physically handicapped as well as otherwise ill children to work on basic skills through communication with animals, primarily through horseback riding. Before arriving to the site, I had anticipated assisting with a lesson, and to be honest I was terrified by this notion. Personally, I rode casually for about four years when I was an adolescent and have not continued to do so for the past four or five years. At no point did I ever consider myself an expert and the thought of being given the responsibility to watch over another life, while having to work a skill I do not feel confident about, was horrifying. However, I feel it’s important to conquer such fears, and in response I planned to perfect any previous knowledge I had of horses and continue to build on it so I could become a beneficial asset to the facility. Upon arrival, I quickly realized that I was not expected to assume such a great responsibility and I also realized that the program was not solely for the clients who rode the horses and interacted with the cats, dogs, and ferrets, but in actuality it was greatly for the volunteers to learn life lessons beyond simply helping others.