'Therapeutic Riding': Windsor doc premieres on Land and Sea

A new Windsor documentary will air across Canada on CBC's Land and Sea program.

The documentary goes inside the Windsor Essex Therapeutic Riding Association, an organization which uses horses and horseback riding to aid in recovery and rehabilitation for people with mental and physical disabilities.

Local producers Ted Bezaire and Mike Staskohave worked together for years. Bezaire took the lead on editing and Stasko took the director role.

"Before working on this documentary I didn't understand this kind of facility existed in our area," said Bezaire about WETRA."Seeing what it does for the community and the help that it brings to these people every week. It's been amazing."

Stasko said WETRA "checked a lot of boxes" when he and Bezaire were deciding what to cover.

"Land and Sea is a very family-demographic kind of show, so they wanted something positive, to be seen by a lot of different people," said Stasko.

Bezaire said as local filmmakers, their goal is to shine a light on Windsor-Essex.

"This facility here is a perfect candidate to show we have some great things going on in our community," said Bezaire.

WETRA takes in clients from many different backgrounds and offers therapeutic riding, therapeutic driving and a summer camp program.

Some benefits of therapeutic riding or driving:

• Improvement of balance and development of coordination.
• Muscle strengthening and normalization of muscle tone.
• Increased confidence and self-esteem.
• Improvement of attention span and social integration.

According to Stasko, finding a story amongst the clients at WETRA wasn't difficult.

"Every story was a home run," said Stasko. "It made our jobs easier to construct that narrative."

One person featured in the documentary, called 'Therapeutic Riding,' is an employee at WETRA but first, she was a client.

"I was having some struggles and my doctor suggested I do therapeutic riding here at WETRA," said Christina Pacitti, program assistant at WETRA. "I started to feel more comfortable and began to volunteer here."

After being a volunteer for a few years, Pacittiwas excitedat the opportunity to work at WETRA.

Listen to Christina Pacittitalk about how WETRAhas made a difference in her life:

WETRA changed Christina Paticci's life

6 years ago

Duration 0:25

WETRA changed Christina Paticci's life. Now she gets to give back to the organization that helped her.

"I don't exaggerate when I say WETRA has changed my life," said Pacitti."I've built self confidence, I've made friends. I feel so lucky to know the people I've met here because they've made a difference in my life. I couldn't be more lucky."

Pacittithinks having been a clienthelps her empathise with people she works with.

"I know for me it makes a difference and I just hope it makes a difference for them too," said Pacitti, who loves horses because they're non-judgemental.

"They like you no matter what. That's a good opportunity to have," said Pacitti. "They're like a friend that can neigh back to you instead of talk to you."

For Pacitti, filming the documentary was an "awesome opportunity."

"It was kind of exciting because I've never been on TV," said Pacitti. She hopes it will help WETRA expand to offer more services.

"The more lives they can touch the better."

'Therapeutic Riding' premieres on Land and Sea at 11:30 a.m. Sunday.

Watch the trailer: