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INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — When you first meet Ariel and Mikey Salas, siblings ages five and three, respectively, they appear to be normal, active little children.
They both have beautiful blonde hair and sweet faces. They also both have a rare devastating disorder called hereditary hypophosphatemic rickets, which prohibits the body from absorbing vitamin D, causing bones to be weak and brittle. The condition results in bowed legs and pain in the legs, arms and back. It can affect hearing, teeth and anything and everything in the body that needs vitamin D.
Their mother, Yvonne Salas, was diagnosed with hereditary hypophosphatemic rickets when she was 13.
Ariel started wearing leg braces 23 hours a day when she was two years old. She did not have good balance. She would trip over herself all the time.
“I couldn't take her to the park, because with the leg braces she could not climb up the play equipment,” Yvonne said. “She couldn't keep up with the other kids her age. It was so painful to watch; she knew she was different. That's when I remembered hearing about Kids & Horses. I grew up down the street from the program.”
Ariel was put on the organization's waiting list. Kids & Horses gave the family a scholarship to pay for their riding lessons. Yvonne and her husband Danny could not afford the lessons. Danny was laid off in 2010 and currently attending college. The family was struggling to keep up with their climbing health care costs.
Shortly after Ariel turned three, she was riding at Kids & Horses.
“Ariel has become even more confident within herself,” Yvonne said. “She would brag to all her friends that she rode horses. Her balance got so much better; she hasn't fallen down in so long now. She doesn't wear leg braces anymore, and she has a lot more strength throughout her whole body. She has just blossomed. I knew that as soon as my son turned three, I would get him in the program,” she added.
Mikey doesn't wear leg braces, but he has trouble with his balance and can't run like other kids his age.
“I would have been very upset thinking that my baby boy is not going to be able to do normal little boy activities like climb a tree and play football, but just knowing that he is up on that horse doing what he loves makes me so proud,” Yvonne said.
Recently, Mikey was diagnosed with Craniosynostosis, a birth defect that causes one or more sutures on a baby's head to close earlier than normal. The early closing of a suture can lead to an abnormally shaped head.
Mikey will be taken to Oakland to have brain surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain over the holidays.
Yvonne is hopeful: “I am taking it one day at a time,” she said, adding that, “My family and I feel so lucky to be a part of such an incredible thing as Kids & Horses. This program focuses on the kids, and by doing that it, helps the whole family and gives us hope for the future.”
Kids & Horses is an Incline Village- and Minden-based nonprofit corporation that has offered therapeutic riding programs and a bridge for children and adults with disabilities since 1999. The Kids & Horses facility in Minden is a PATH (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International) Premier Accredited Center. It is the only center of its kind in Northern Nevada. Instructors are certified and have training through PATH, a national organization that provides leadership, operating standards, safety rules, regulations and insurance coverage for approved centers.
Donations also can be made to the Kids & Horses scholarships fund. To donate, visit www.kidsandhorses.org, call 775-771-5512 or send a check to Kids & Horses at 2869 Esaw Street, Minden, NV 89423.
They both have beautiful blonde hair and sweet faces. They also both have a rare devastating disorder called hereditary hypophosphatemic rickets, which prohibits the body from absorbing vitamin D, causing bones to be weak and brittle. The condition results in bowed legs and pain in the legs, arms and back. It can affect hearing, teeth and anything and everything in the body that needs vitamin D.
Their mother, Yvonne Salas, was diagnosed with hereditary hypophosphatemic rickets when she was 13.
Ariel started wearing leg braces 23 hours a day when she was two years old. She did not have good balance. She would trip over herself all the time.
“I couldn't take her to the park, because with the leg braces she could not climb up the play equipment,” Yvonne said. “She couldn't keep up with the other kids her age. It was so painful to watch; she knew she was different. That's when I remembered hearing about Kids & Horses. I grew up down the street from the program.”
Ariel was put on the organization's waiting list. Kids & Horses gave the family a scholarship to pay for their riding lessons. Yvonne and her husband Danny could not afford the lessons. Danny was laid off in 2010 and currently attending college. The family was struggling to keep up with their climbing health care costs.
Shortly after Ariel turned three, she was riding at Kids & Horses.
“Ariel has become even more confident within herself,” Yvonne said. “She would brag to all her friends that she rode horses. Her balance got so much better; she hasn't fallen down in so long now. She doesn't wear leg braces anymore, and she has a lot more strength throughout her whole body. She has just blossomed. I knew that as soon as my son turned three, I would get him in the program,” she added.
Mikey doesn't wear leg braces, but he has trouble with his balance and can't run like other kids his age.
“I would have been very upset thinking that my baby boy is not going to be able to do normal little boy activities like climb a tree and play football, but just knowing that he is up on that horse doing what he loves makes me so proud,” Yvonne said.
Recently, Mikey was diagnosed with Craniosynostosis, a birth defect that causes one or more sutures on a baby's head to close earlier than normal. The early closing of a suture can lead to an abnormally shaped head.
Mikey will be taken to Oakland to have brain surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain over the holidays.
Yvonne is hopeful: “I am taking it one day at a time,” she said, adding that, “My family and I feel so lucky to be a part of such an incredible thing as Kids & Horses. This program focuses on the kids, and by doing that it, helps the whole family and gives us hope for the future.”
Kids & Horses is an Incline Village- and Minden-based nonprofit corporation that has offered therapeutic riding programs and a bridge for children and adults with disabilities since 1999. The Kids & Horses facility in Minden is a PATH (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International) Premier Accredited Center. It is the only center of its kind in Northern Nevada. Instructors are certified and have training through PATH, a national organization that provides leadership, operating standards, safety rules, regulations and insurance coverage for approved centers.
Donations also can be made to the Kids & Horses scholarships fund. To donate, visit www.kidsandhorses.org, call 775-771-5512 or send a check to Kids & Horses at 2869 Esaw Street, Minden, NV 89423.
