With deft and easy steps, the five horses walked slowly in a line.
From the tall and strong Magic to the gentle painted Tigger to fancy-bred show pony Duke, the animals followed the trainers around the outdoor riding arena at Dr. Bob and Julia Oliver’s farm.
The horses have been molded and trained by the Olivers and their team of volunteers to work seamlessly with a wide range of people, from children with disabilities to adults struggling with substance abuse.
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]
Click here to purchase photos from this gallery“They’re especially gentle and well-trained. They’re not like ordinary horses. They play with so many props, and many of the children are only being held on their by the helpers on either side. I can’t have a horse that’s going to jump or be spooked or get mean,” Julia Oliver said. “We have winnowed these horses down to the perfect animals.”
For Bob and Julia Oliver, the horses and their horse therapy center, Meadowstone Therapeutic Riding Center, have been at the center of their lives for years. They opened the riding center 11 years ago after their retirement, and have introduced the physical, emotional and spiritual benefits of riding horses to the Johnson County public.
But even in retirement, they’ve discovered the need to branch out and touch people’s lives in new ways. Earlier this year, Bob Oliver started Home Pet Euthanasia, or HOPE, providing compassionate pet euthanasia in-home for animals at the end of their lives. At the same time, Julia Oliver wrote and published her first book, a historical romance revolving around horses.
Retirement hasn’t slowed down the Olivers; rather, they’ve founded new businesses and embraced new opportunities at an age when others start taking it easy.
“We’re keeping ourselves busy. These are all retirement things,” Julia Oliver said.
<strong>Therapy through horses</strong>
The Olivers have lived in Johnson County for close to 50 years, moving to a rural Franklin farm shortly after their marriage in 1970.
Two years later, Bob Oliver established his veterinary practice, the Franklin Animal Clinic. Over the next 36 years, he primarily provided care to large farm animals as well as pets throughout Johnson County. Julia Oliver was a teacher at Martinsville High School until the 1980s, when the Olivers decided to adopt three older children and she stayed home to manage the household and the farm.
When Bob Oliver retired from his practice in 2008, the couple were looking for new ways to serve the community. They found an outlet to this desire after encountering hippotherapy. The practice involves using horse riding as a means of therapeutic or rehabilitative treatment.
They had horses on their own farm, and thought they could provide that ministry and therapy themselves. The Olivers established the business using their own riding facilities, went through the lengthy process of getting licensed and certified, and opened up in 2008.
Meadowstone has become a popular facility for residents throughout the southside. Sessions are nearly always filled, and the largest challenge for the Olivers is finding enough volunteers to provide support and assistance while they ride with a client.
Many of their clients are children with disabilities, as the process of riding horses helps stabilize and strengthen core muscles. But in recent years, the facility has also worked with Tara Treatment Center, which sends its clients to Meadowstone for weekly equine psychotherapy.
“When we get to see God bring any kind of healing or relief to suffering children or adults struggling with addictions, it is always a great blessing to our own lives,” Julia Oliver said.
Yet despite the massive amounts of time and work needed to operate Meadowstone, both Bob and Julia Oliver were compelled to seek out other opportunities to enrich their lives.
<strong>Compassionate housecall</strong>
For Bob Oliver, that was assisting pet owners and animals in their most difficult moments.
As a veterinarian, he would often got to clients’ homes to help put their animals to sleep when a dog or cat was in pain at the end of their lives.
“I found out that after I retired, people would still call me to come out and put their pet to sleep if they asked me to,” he said. “I’d do it for free, just to help them.”
But Bob Oliver had seen over the years how badly people wanted that service, to have their pets’ final moments be in their own bed or home. He couldn’t keep doing it for free, and in early 2019, he founded HOPE.
“It’s built up quite a bit over time. Especially people with large dogs who are in a lot of pain and they don’t want to move or get in the car,” he said. “Instead of stressing the animal out getting in the car, I can go to their home and give them a little anesthetic under the skin. It’s very stress reduced for the clients.”
Oliver has had renew his narcotic license to acquire the needed anesthetics and drugs to perform euthanasia. When he makes a call to a client’s home, he’ll speak with the pet owners, get to know the animal and learn more about the situation before starting the procedure.
At such a difficult time, it’s important to help the clients and animals in the most caring way possible, Bob Oliver said.
“Most of the dogs I go see are quite ready to go, and I believe they’re thanking me. They’re in pain,” he said. “And people really seem to appreciate it. It’s kind of a ministry and a service.”
<strong>Realizing a dream</strong>
At the same time her husband was putting his compassion to use in a new business, Julia Oliver was embracing her own passion for an endeavor of her own.
She had always been interested in writing, having penned several articles for horse-oriented magazines such as Practical Horseman and other publications related to raising, training and showing horses. In the past decade, she had also published two books, focused on therapeutic riding and carriage driving.
But her dream was always to write a novel. Last winter, she sat down and did it.
For nine months, Julia Oliver wrote, edited and re-edited her work. The novel, “Dream of the White Stallion,” tells the story of Kathryn Alexander, who, through her personal journal, describes her coming of age as a shy teenager living in 18th-century England, dealing with childhood bullies, a dying mother and the love for a local aristocrat.
She had outlined the plot of the book, so she knew the story. More time consuming was doing the research and background work to perfect the details.
But she finished it. In August, the book came out on Amazon and in e-book form. It was exhilarating and daunting at the same time.
“That’s the scariest thing — to put your heart into something, then put it out there for other people to judge,” she said.
[sc:pullout-title pullout-title="At a glance" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
Home Pet Euthanasia
What: A service providing compassionate euthanasia service for pets at the end of their lives, in the pet’s own home.
Who: Dr. Bob Oliver
Where: Franklin
Information: 317-964-3108 or HOPE-Home Pet Euthanasia on Facebook.
[sc:pullout-text-end][sc:pullout-title pullout-title="At a glance" ][sc:pullout-text-begin]
"Dream of the White Stallion"
What’s it about: Kathryn Alexander, writing in her personal journal, describes her coming of age while dealing with childhood bullies and a dying mother in 18th-century England.
Author: Franklin resident Julia Oliver
How to get it: Available at Amazon.com in paperback and e-book.
[sc:pullout-text-end]
