Introduction

The goal of the Documentary unit was to explore a topic we’re passionate about and document it into either a magazine or book. Throughout all my classes, they were all focused on creating my documentary book or video.

Documentary

My documentary topic was on the Westwind 4-H: Riding for the Handicapped program up in Los Altos Hills. It was started in 1978, and it’s a program that allows disabled children to ride horses as a form of therapy known as equine therapy. Volunteers come and help out with the program, from being side walkers to leading horses. I was inspired to choose this topic because I have been volunteering there since fall of 2017, and I believe it is a wonderful place that everyone should know about.

Writing the book was quite a unique experience, since I had never written a proper book before this. There are so many elements that go into making a book that surprised me. There were some ups and downs to the project, such as problems with scheduling my interviews thanks to the weather, as well as finding enough research to use in my book. I ended taking a lot of photos and having to choose just a few from that many was difficult to do, but in the end, I put all my effort and hard work into making this book and I believe that it turned out great.

My interviewees are…

Nancy Couperus – She’s the founder of the 4-H Riding for the Handicapped program at Westwind, and she has stuck with the program since it was first founded in 1978.

Roxanne Raksnys – She is the instructor for the program, and she owns one of the therapy horses in the program.

Sandy Staricha – She is one of the volunteers of the program who has been helping out for a long time. She leads one of the horses during the sessions.

Diana Galstyan – My sister who started volunteering at the program with me since spring of 2018. She has been really interested in trying out the program, and we both have a lot of fun while we’re there.

Buy my book here: http://www.blurb.com/b/8819464-equine-therapy-at-westwind