Fairgrounds Access is Important

Dear Editor:

I am very concerned about the looming loss of use of the fairgrounds to horseback riders. Our adult daughter, impacted by cerebral palsy since birth, has just begun riding every Sunday afternoon. It is the day of the week she most looks forward to because of her love of horses and riding. She enjoys her teacher, Leanne and her helpers and appreciates how they've helped her improve her flexibility and mobility.

Megan's ability to stand, walk, separate her legs, unclaw her toes, or flatten her feet are limited by her CP. Horseback riding helps that. Straddling the horse, developing core strength and balance, and using muscles she can't use in normal living conditions helps her.

Before moving here, Megan, rode for many years with Equi-Friends, specialists in helping developmentally disabled kids and adults by putting them on horseback. When Megan left there, she was able to ride unassisted and trot and control her horse. That helps her spirit, self esteem and her mobility in the rest of her life. Until happening upon Leanne Literal, we'd been unable to find any similar, consistent program here that could accommodate Megan .The fairgrounds is ideal because training can happen rain or shine and Megan is already showing improvement in mobility and spirit. Although she's lost most of her independence on the horse in the intervening years and has to have someone with her at this point, I feel confident she can regain her rider independence if we could consistently depend on having her weekly lessons. Told we were going to have to discontinue those lessons and lose that chance again because some improvement to the fairgrounds is coming up was most disappointing. I don't see why fairgrounds improvements needs to affect Megan's or anyone's lessons

Road improvements are made all over, all the time, but they don't shut down life around them. They impact them certainly and adjustments may need to be made, but totally eliminating the use of a public facility and all the benefits it provides users, is totally unnecessary. It doesn't have to be this way. Reasonable people CAN reach a compromise that would serve the needs of construction while allowing the fairground's many users to still have needed and consistent access. Please find an alternative to closure. Megan and all other users deserve your best efforts to find a compromise that can keep the fairgrounds open and useful.

Jan Piercy

Walla Walla