Vote to help this physical therapist open a therapeutic riding center in Oro Valley

Melani Byrnes squats, hands raised above her head.

It's Creepy Crawly Yoga, and in this pose, she's a spider. 

About a dozen kiddos in Copper Creek Elementary School's special needs preschool class follow along, scrambling up from their carpet squares to mimic Byrnes, the physical therapist who visits their class weekly.

The kids gasp and giggle each time a new bug is projected onscreen and a new move is demonstrated.

These are the kinds of activities that integrate functional movement with real life. They are currently learning about caterpillars in class.

This is what Byrnes has learned in 22 years of practicing physical therapy: When therapy is creative and collaborative, it sticks.

So she's dreaming big.

Byrnes envisions starting a low- or no-cost therapeutic riding center in Oro Valley and is competing in a nationwide grant contest organized by the USA Today Network to score some funding for her new nonprofit SeaBiscuit Therapies. (USA Today is owned by Gannett Company, Inc., a joint-owner of the Arizona Daily Star).

Winning the competition — A Community Thrives — is a two-prong process. First she has to secure enough popular votes to land her in the top 10 of her category, Wellness. Then a panel of judges will pick first, second and third place. The winners could take home as much as $100,000.

You can vote for Byrnes’ project every day until May 12 using your email address. Go here to vote.

“You can’t have a child do 50 squats or 20 bicep curls, but even children that have significant delays, you can put them on a horse and it’s multi-sensory,” Byrnes, 45, says. “It’s multi-sensory because there are smells and there are movements and the heat of the animal. There are a lot of kids that have communication delays but will talk to an animal before they talk to another peer or another adult, so being able to give them some of that environment, where it’s not as scary, and we have other opportunities on how to reach them and get them to open up and explore the world.”

The Steam Pump Ranch possibility

Earlier this year, Byrnes spoke with representatives from Oro Valley’s parks and recreation department about the feasibility of bringing therapeutic riding to Steam Pump Ranch, on North Oracle Road between North First Avenue and East Tangerine Road.

“Basically they said, ‘It’s about pounding the pavement. If you can get the money to try make some of these renovations happen, we can look at long-term contracts in doing some of that stuff,’” Byrnes says. “It’s all in the beginning phases.”

If the dream became a reality, Byrnes’ therapeutic riding center would correspond with a rebuild of the ranch’s historic corrals, says Lynanne Dellerman-Silverthorn, the recreation and cultural services manager for Oro Valley.

In the town’s final draft of the ranch master plan, a projected 3,500 square-foot equestrian center is proposed in later stages of the restoration and estimated to cost $307,500. It would most likely be operated by a private agent, according to the plan. 

Because the town purchased the 15-acre historical property with about $4.5 million in county bond money in 2007, everything has to follow the current master plan and be approved by the county, says Dellerman-Silverthorn.

Dellerman-Silverthorn was part of that meeting with Byrnes, and while she doesn’t have the authority to give Byrnes the OK, she does believe in what the physical therapist is trying to do.

“We as a community are really trying to embrace and create opportunities for any individual with any form of special needs or disability, emotional, mental, physical, whatever,” Dellerman-Silverthorn says. “We want to provide opportunities for those people to recreate and have the same enjoyments in life that all the rest of us get, and this would provide that while also providing therapy.”

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Nothing that is not already under construction at Steam Pump Ranch is budgeted for at this point, Dellerman-Silverthorn says. Potential funding for the corrals would come from whatever Byrnes can raise plus grants matched by the town. Dellerman-Silverthorn adds that Byrnes' efforts make the town council more likely to contribute. Lots of constituents have ideas, she says. But not as many put in the work to move them forward. 

“If it doesn’t work out here, we’re committed to helping it function somewhere in the community,” Dellerman-Silverthorn says. “I can’t say this is the place, because it hasn’t been approved by the various entities, but Oro Valley is committed to helping her realize her dreams, whether at Steam Pump Ranch or another property in the town.”

The early phases of Byrnes' plan — whether at Steam Pump Ranch or somewhere else — involve building a round pen and covered riding arena for children who struggle with the heat. 

Beyond equestrian therapy, she'd also like to provide functional therapies through aquatics and a community garden. This would be a place for anyone who needed it, not just kids. 

And although the property has captured her imagination, the initial support of the town is all Byrnes can ask for. 

“I like to be able to fix things and integrate things and make things better,” she says. “Steam Pump Ranch just seems like it needs some love and care and purpose … because it already has a history, but right now, that potential is not being realized, and that’s how I feel about a lot of the kids that I work with. A lot of people see a child that’s in a wheelchair or can’t walk and they’re older than 2 and don’t think they have potential … so being able to see that potential in Steam Pump Ranch and what it could do and what it could bring, that’s my best guess as to what draws me there.”

Getting the community involved

Byrnes began her physical therapy career working with adults in clinical settings. 

As a student studying physical therapy at Langston University in Oklahoma, she never thought she could work with children. Too sad, she thought.

But after taking a number of traveling assignments and ending up at Tucson Medical Center, she transitioned into pediatrics, where she found children often more receptive than adults.   

She spent about a dozen years working with kids in home and community services and has been doing physical therapy with children in the Amphitheater School District for the last seven years. She currently travels between five schools each week. 

"What makes her amazing is she's about kids," says Tanya Wall, the principal of Copper Creek Elementary School. "Everything she lives, eats and drinks is about kids. It's about: What can she do to help all kids she comes into contact with be successful?" 

When possible, Byrnes prefers to work with whole classes of students rather than just individuals, leading them through yoga and obstacle courses. 

"Every student benefits from it, especially the littles because they're developing gross motor skills, and that impacts their academic abilities..." Wall says. "It also benefits students who have special needs to be in the classroom with mentors and role models to visually see what something looks like and model it after a peer, which is often more effective than modeling after an adult. 

At Copper Creek, beyond working with the special needs preschool class, Byrnes works with classes of kindergartners and first graders and then individuals up to fifth grade, Wall says. 

"I'm the cheerleader," Byrnes says. "I'm going to provide you (the parent) the information, and you're going to see me do it, but you're going to make the difference. My one hour that I get to do therapy a week is not where the difference is going to be made ... That's pretty empowering to give a parent the ability to change their own child's life." 

That's the dream for SeaBiscuit Therapies — a place open to the community, families and the kids they love. 

Other spots in Tucson that offer therapeutic riding include Therapeutic Riding of Tucson, 8920 E. Woodland Road, and Rolling Hills Riding Academy, 9015 N. Camino de Anza.