Kim Moudy grew up in Raytown, Mo., and like many children her generation, watched Gunsmoke and other westerns on television. She didn’t have a horse, but dreamed of owning a ranch where she could ride horses.
“I never had them, always wanted them,” she said.
Kim is now the owner of the RusticM ranch in Osceola, where she not only wrangles a herd of horses but also runs an equine assisted program for children and youth called LEAP.
“I think it’s one of the best kept secrets in town,” she said.
Kim said she didn’t learn to ride horses until a niece wanted to take lessons in 2001. Kim had spent two decades in California working as a child councilor, she said, including teenagers who had behavior problems and substance abuse issues. She also served in the Army for seven years.
But after she returned to Missouri, her niece, Samantha Roberts, came to her one day and said, “Aunt Kimmie, I want to take these riding lessons at a barn.” The barn was the Pendragon Equestrian Center in Liberty.
“I found out they were going to work with kids, which is my passion, and with horses,” Kim said.
She found a ranch after she met Larry and Ruth Lewis at St. Alban’s Episcopal Church in Bolivar, where Larry was the priest. The Lewises owned 19 acres in Osceola. Ruth had a sister with Down’s Syndrome, and had alway wanted to start something in her sister’s memory.
So Kim made them a promise: if they would sell her the property, she would start an equine assisted therapy program and name it after them.
“And I am a person of my word,” Kim said.
Kim, who volunteers her services, had to complete 25 core hours of training with PATH INTL., the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International. She’s still training Raz, a paint, and Nonie, the ranch’s “official greeter.” Butter, a buckskin, was a barrel-racer, and had to be calmed down for therapy work.
“I don’t put riders up until I’m sure the horse can handle anything,” Kim said.
Young riders take riding lessons in the fall and spring after school. Kim doesn’t take anyone younger than 5 years old, she said, the age she likes to start children riding. By learning to ride, do exercises and play games on horseback, young riders develop physical strength, coordination and balance. Riding increases their self-confidence, augments social, emotional and mental skills, and enlarges their world. Riders also learn how to take care of horses and tack.
One young rider went from needing several people walking on either side of his saddle for balance to riding with a person leading the horse. The rider is now learning to use the reins, Kim said. Kim also has a participant who is a Special Olympics athlete at school. She is getting the student ready to ride in the Equine Special Olympics next season.
“It’s a lot of work,” Kim said, “but the rewards are plenty.”
Dixie, a trained therapy horse, is also a part of the RusticM herd. A Chestnut, Dixie is almost 30 years old, and has arthritis, Kim said, so has been retired for the past three years.
“She’s the ranch ambassador,” Kim said. “She’s good with kids with autism.”
LEAP has two more therapy animals. One is a celebrity mule named Sissy, whose claim to fame is portraying a pack animal in a commercial.
Kim was working to get LEAP ready to launch the November before the COVID pandemic hit, she said, which prevented her from bringing any riders to the ranch. She set it up as a non-profit charitable organization, and recruited a board, who she asked to serve for one year.
All told Kim they wanted to stay on a second year to get the program off the ground.
Mark Alderfer, a retired architect, is board president. Betty Roth, former Osceola police chief, is vice-president, and Karen Hubbard, a St. Clair County circuit court clerk, is secretary.
St. Clair is the third poorest county in Missouri, Kim said. To keep the cost of lessons low, LEAP gets scholarships and donations, including from Bear Creek Church in Osceola and the Osceola Optimists. Ozark Community Foundation gave LEAP a generous grant for helmets, Kim said. Dusty Gibbs, the mayor of Osceola, loaned the ranch a handicap-accessible portable toilet. Every donation helps stretch the budget to cover insurance and other costs.
“We work very hard with very little,” Kim said.
To raise money, LEAP holds a tack sale in the fall, and last June, threw a barn dance in the Lowry City Community Center. The event featured music by Campfire Cowboy Randy Polson, line-dancing, a children’s corral play area, a chicken dinner and a silent auction, with donations from regional businesses.
Kim has a crew of volunteers, the youngest of which is Jodie Yates, 17. Jodie, a senior in high school, is active in her church, works at the Amish Trading Post and is job-shadowing a vet tech. But Kim said when she calls and says “I need you,” Jodie says ‘I’ll be there.’”
In addition to working with young riders, LEAP sets aside one day a week for senior citizens. Most don’t ride, Kim said, but sit on chairs in the paddock, pet the horses, and talk to them. They can also groom the horses and walk them. Many of the seniors live in apartments across the street from the ranch, Kim said.
Kim doesn’t appear to ever sit down. She spends most of her time training horses, she said, and is also building trails on the property. She’s involved in the Saddle Club of St. Clair County, and last week, had her livestock trailer hitched up to her pickup truck and was heading out the gate to get ready for the Labor Day Rodeo.
LEAP is planning a fundraiser for next spring to buy posts to build an enclosed outdoor arena on the ranch, Kim said. For now, the program is held in the paddock, where participants use a mounting block to get on horseback. That makes it easier on the horses also, Kim said.
LEAP is alway looking for more volunteers— the more she gets, the more riders she can take on, Kim said. Horse experience is not necessary. The next two training sessions for volunteers are Sept. 7 and Sept.11.
“We’ll have riders up on the 18th,” Kim said.
Call Kim Moudy at 816-506-6825, go to leapmo.org or check the LEAP- Lewis Equine Assisted Programs Facebook for more information.
