“EMMA TAKES ME PLACES I CAN’T GO ALONE.”


sue watt, age 65 H North Andover, Massachusetts


“Wherever i go, i look for horses,” Sue Watt says—and she means it. From the roadside pastures near her home in Massachusetts to the open country of her relatives’ farm in New Zealand, they are always the first thing to capture her eye and her heart. At 62, Sue looked forward to enjoying her lifelong passion for horses well into her retirement. “I was thinking I would ride forever,” she says. The horse that put Sue in a coma was named Scout. She


doesn’t remember what exactly happened that day of the accident—only that Scout spooked. Sue suffered a trau- matic brain injury, emerging from the three-week coma without mobility in her legs. If anyone thought the fall would put an end to Sue’s


enthusiasm for riding, they were mistaken. Getting back in the saddle was a top priority, and Windrush Farm was just the place. Set on 35 acres of woods and fields in northeast


Massachusetts, the farm is also surrounded by 160 acres of protected land perfect for trail-riding. Windrush offers therapeutic horseback riding classes as well as hippo- therapy, which uses equine movements to aid posture and balance and improve mobility, flexibility, and fine motor control. It is one of the oldest such programs in the country, and hosts equestrian events for the state’s Special Olympics. Three times a week, one of Sue’s helpers wheels her up the ramp of the farm’s indoor arena, where Sue’s favorite


42 · LAND&PEOPLE · SPRING/SUMMER 2014


horse, Emma, awaits. Even on days when she doesn’t have class, Sue likes to visit Emma in the stables, feeding her carrots from her wheelchair. If she can’t make it to the barn, she’ll check in by e-mail: a quick note to ask the staff, “How’s Emma?” Sitting atop Emma, it’s as if Sue has strong legs again. “I


feel empowered,” she says. “Emma takes me places that I can’t go alone.”


Sue Watt atop Emma in the indoor arena.


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