CLEARLAKE >> It wasn”t the English-style horseback riding she was once accustomed to, but Virginia Abel held her smile the entire time as she rode in a horse-drawn carriage around the block Tuesday morning with the help of her son and staff of Emeritus at Orchard Park, her assisted living facility.
Abel, now in her 90s, had a career working with horses that spanned decades. Son Steve Abel said she started riding in the 1930s and began owning horses in the ”40s.
She worked as an instructor and competed in the Olympic tryouts for horse jumping.
Steve said the last time he saw his mother ride horseback was in the ”60s.
“This is fantastic,” he said with his camera ready to take a photo as he waited for the carriage to come around again. “I think we pulled off a good surprise.”
Abel, still a lover of horses, surrounds herself with items decorated with the animal. Her bedroom has oil paintings of her old horses, and the bag on her stroller is adorned with horses as well.
Christy Clark, life enrichment director, said the surprise was part of the care home”s Ageless Dream program, which gives residents the opportunity to choose one thing to do.
Through donations, the care facility staff coordinate activities, which have included sky diving.
“We just wanted to get her close to a horse,” Clark said.
For more information on Ageless Dream, call the assisted living facility at 682-4761.
