SIERRA MADRE EDITION

 
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2018 

VOLUME 12 NO. 40

SIERRA MADRE NEWS BRIEFS

ALTADENA STABLES...A BEAUTIFUL PLACE

COMMISSION VACANCIES

 The City of Sierra Madre currently has 3 commission vacancies;



 - Senior Community Commission 

 - Energy, Environment, and Natural Resources Commission

 - Community Services



If you are interested in filling any one of these vacancies go to: http://cityofsierramadre.com and 
download an application

SIERRA MADRE CERT

 Are you prepared for a disaster? What would you do if there were a major earthquake right now? What 
if you or a family member were injured? What if a fire started at your neighbor’s house? What if no one 
answered 911? Does it make you anxious thinking about this?

Sierra Madre CERT’s main purpose is to help you know what to do before, during, and after a major disaster, 
so you are an asset to the city and not a liability. Sign up for our free FEMA-Certified CERT Basic 
Training Class taking place October 13th-20th. For more information visit: www.SierraMadreCERT.org

2018 HALLOWEEN WINDOW PAINTING

 Who can participate? The Halloween Window Painting Contest is open to youth, ages 9 to 17. 

 Registration: Submit your registration form to Sierra Madre City Hall, located at 232 W. Sierra Madre 
Blvd. It must be submitted with a drawing of the proposed painting. No gory or politically motivated 
drawings will be accepted.

 Deadline: Deadline for submitting your application and proposed drawing will be Thursday, October 
11 at 5:00 p.m. at Sierra Madre City Hall.


Demonstration of Physical Therapy utilizing equine movement as a tool.

By Rebecca Wright

Next time you find yourself in the 
northwestern part of Altadena, you 
should stop in at Altadena Stables. 
The stables offer lessons for both 
English and Western riders with a 
focus on flatwork, so no jumping, 
reining, or barrel racing. There 
are shows occasionally, but the 
main focus is the pleasure and joy 
that comes from riding and from 
connecting with the horses. 

Perhaps the thing that makes 
Altadena Stables most special and 
unique is that Andrea Telleria-
Ruiz, the owner, and Janell Gruss, 
the operations manager, and the 
stables in general, partner with 
the program Leaps & Bounds to 
offer hippotherapy especially for 
children. Hippotherapy is a form 
of physical, occupational and 
speech therapy in which a therapist 
uses the characteristic movements 
of a horse to provide carefully 
graded motor and sensory input.

 Hippotherapy requires a 
licensed physical therapist and 
an occupational therapist. An 
advanced degree is required, 
usually a doctorate. And most 
places that offer hippotherapy 
work with insurance companies to 
make it low to no cost. 

 Leaps & Bounds works through 
USC to have access to clinical sites 
for physical therapy. During a 
session at the Altadena Stables, the 
child will be wearing a belt with 
handles on either side and will ride 
with a bareback pad instead of a 
saddle (a bareback pad is a fuzzy, 
fleece pad that looks like a saddle 
but has no stirrups). There will be a 
therapist on either side of the child 
to assist with balance if necessary, 
and a handler who leads the horse 
around throughout the lesson. The 
child has to do things like reach for 
rings or turn around on the horse. 
The goal is to help strengthen the 
abdominal muscles and improve 
balance and coordination. Andrea 
says that one little girl who does 
therapy at the stables could 
barely walk at all when she first 
started, and now she is able to get 
around with a walker. Janell also 
comments that a lot of kids start 
off as nonverbal but some of them 
start to open up as the sessions 
progress. 

 Andreaa. he current owner was 
first introduced to the stables when 
her daughter started taking lessons 
there. Her daughter’s trainer had 
moved to these stables and her 
family followed. She bought the 
stables in February of 2017. 

 Andrea says everything fell into 
place so quickly; she happened to 
get out of her car at the right time 
on the day that the owners were 
using a drone to take photos. They 
mentioned that the place would 
be going up for sale, and when 
Andrea went home she talked 
to her parents and was able to 
buy the place. She describes it as 
“so relaxing, a beautiful place to 
unplug…magical,” as well as saying 
that it is a “community investment,”. 
The previous owners wanted to 
sell the property to someone who 
would keep it public and make it 
a learning facility; someone who 
would appreciate the fact that there 
is, “lots of history and legacy to this 
place,”. 

 Andrea is both a nurse and 
a mother of a child with autism, 
so she understands better than 
most the need for therapy options 
outside of the traditional clinical 
office setting. She wanted to fill a 
local need and give parents like 
her an option that she did not have 
for her son when he was growing 
up. She says that when she started 
looking into partnering with Leaps 
& Bounds, everything just fell into 
place. 

 Currently Andrea’s horse, Callie, 
is the main horse used during 
the hippotherapy sessions, but 
there are two horses, including 
her daughter’s horse, Sparkle 
Marshmallow, that are also in 
the process of being certified. 
Leaps and Bounds has been 
operating at Altadena Stables 
since January of this year, but 
their official grand opening was 
September 15th. The goal was to 
introduce the community to the 
work that they have been doing 
by having a celebration, giving 
two demonstrations, and overall 
raising awareness. They want local 
hospitals and pediatricians to 
know about the services offered so 
that patients do not have to drive 
far away to get this kind of therapy. 

 To learn more, visit the Altadena 
Stables website at https://www.
altadenastables.com/. 


Dr. Cassandra Sander-Holly, Founder Leaps & BoundDr. Gabrielle 
Chipot, Dr. Megan Kinter, Janell Gruss, and Andrea Telleria-Ruiz


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com