Jean Kelley

Adaptive Rider, Volunteer, Staff

Jean Kelley has been a part of Little Bit since she started participating in the Adaptive Riding program in 1993, when her family heard about the program through friends. In 2015, she became a volunteer and started as a staff member in 2016. Being an adaptive rider herself, Jean really appreciates the program and understands what it can do for people over the course of years, having been able to ‘grow up’ with Little Bit herself.

Today, Jean is an adaptive rider, class assistant, volunteer schooler, barn staff, horse handler in the Therapy program, onsite caretaker, and unofficial caretaker of everyone’s favorite barn cat, Dakota. She relishes all these roles, but especially enjoys her time as a class assistant, “trying to explain horses to humans, and occasionally explaining humans to horses.” 

Jean explains that the Adaptive Riding program is empowering for people with disabilities. “You’ve got to understand when you grow up with a disability, as a parent, there’s a lot of paperwork, there’s a lot of looking at someone’s shortfalls, what standards are they not meeting. Depending on your level of awareness, that can really get old, that can be a really ‘you can’t’ message. Little Bit never, never in all the time I’ve been here, have they given me that.”

Little Bit has had a very positive impact on Jean’s family. Her parents were thrilled to find something accommodating that helped Jean gain confidence without having to modify her to fit the activity, in addition to the ‘you can’ messaging, and Jean finding success as an employee.  

“As a special needs preteen and teenager, you don’t have a lot of control in your life,” says Jean, explaining that unlike the education system where you get messages such as ‘you can’t do that’, ‘you didn’t meet this milestone’, etc., Little Bit doesn’t do that. They help you learn the skill. “You learn that you can do something, and you get to carry that out into the rest of your life. That’s a really great thing. That aspect gets overlooked sometimes and it’s something to really be aware of.”

Jean loves learning to ride at Little Bit and developing the relationship with her horse. Jean has been riding musical freestyle for about the past six years, a type of riding involving a dressage routine set to music that matches the pace of your horse. For Jean, she really enjoys this style of riding because it carries back to a Little Bit rider she rode with as a teenager, who she considers a role model, Margo O’Callaghan (also the namesake of Little Bit’s annual dressage show). Jean has worked with many horses over the years, and is especially fond of Nelly, who she refers to as her main girl, Loki, and Sherman. “Loki is the kindest critter you will ever meet,” says Jean. “Sherman is also very kind, but he is also the smartest horse I have ever met. He has his own sense of humor and will play that on you if your attention wanders. I really enjoy working with him.” One of the things Jean loves most about Little Bit is that there’s always something to learn – something about horses, people, best practices – and there’s always wonderful people who are willing to teach.    

“Horse riding is not simple. Not everybody can learn to do it. Learning that fairly unique skill is a really great thing.”

What is special about Little Bit? According to Jean, it’s the people. Everyone is kind and engaged in what they do, both staff and volunteers. “For many of our clients with disabilities, there’s all sorts of cool services out there until you turn 21 or only until you turn 18. We don’t have that. You can come as an adult.” Jean continues, “we provide a really nice sense of community for both our riders and our volunteers as well. This was especially apparent during COVID when we reopened, the volunteers and riders were delighted to see one another. That was pretty cool. I think we really provide community. We are a home away from home for people.”    

During Jean’s time at Little Bit, both the Adaptive Riding and Therapy programs, but especially Therapy, have expanded. There are more employees, more horses. She feels everyone has learned to work together and be more adaptable. One example is the community holiday drive-through and developing six-foot long treat feeding poles to allow participants to see the horses after the long closure while still maintaining distancing for COVID precautions.       

What is special about Little Bit celebrating its 50th anniversary? “I think it’s wonderful. I think it’s a sign of longevity in an uncertain world. We made it through COVID, through various budget things, through changes in the world economy, and a change in location. It makes me feel happy we made it this far and we’ll be around for many, many more years.”  

Find more 50th anniversary stories HERE.