Page 22 - Flathead Beacon // 5.20.2015

22 | MAY 20, 2015 COVER
FLATHEADBEACON.COM
Eric Fisher leads Sonny as Lynnette Holmes, right, works with Jonathan Jacobs during a session. GREG LINDSTROM | FLATHEAD BEACON
They developed programs for Flathead Industries, working with adult clients on their own time, and also developed a successful program in Eureka, which they drove to once a week for 13 years.
“We weren’t successful monetary wise, but we were very successful at it,” Bob said.
Bob left the CDC to pursue horse therapy full time after 16 years. He and Timi fell in love and married, liv- ing and working to keep the program afloat.
“We were charging $10 a session. It was ridiculous, because we had no business sense at all. The cost that we incurred in order to do this was ridiculous,” Timi said. “But it was out of passion and we could just see the good in what was happening with the kids.”
Both took jobs to supplement their income, and eventually bought a house for the land. They operated SAMS Riders from 1991 until just recently, when Bob went in for a checkup after feeling crummy.
“They had found a tumor on my spine and I needed to start seeing an oncologist,” Bob said.
The tests found stage-4 cancer, requiring immedi- ate chemotherapy and radiation. No longer able to do the work required of running the facility, the Burmoods started looking for buyers, and Holmes showed up.
“It always has been God’s program, and I think the cancer was God’s way of getting me out of the pro- gram,” Bob said.
Aggressive radiation and chemotherapy have re- duced the tumor by two-thirds, Bob said, but he also believes the prayers and thoughts from so many people had a hand in the healing as well. The couple said they hadn’t realized how many people they had helped until the letters from former clients and their families start- ed pouring in once word of Bob’s illness got out.
“One thing I heard a lot from the parents is they would come in and say, ‘There’s such peace here,’” Timi said. “I like to think of it, and I still feel this way, every- body that came through that door was like part of our family.”
Still, the Burmoods consider the horses to be the true miracle workers. They pulled kids from their shells and brought them to life, just by being kind.
7 acres, but the couple still feels the hangover from sell- ing the business they built and ran for 25 years.
On May 2, at one of the largest fundraisers HTH puts on each year, the Burmoods were honored for their work. Goguen offered to send a helicopter to transport them from Missoula to make the trip easier, Bob said, but Timi is afraid to fly.
They drove instead, passing through the land they once called home, where they found their calling and meaning in their lives. It’s not the end, they said, mere- ly a new chapter as Bob continues to fight back.
They may have passed the reins, but without them, there would be no reins, no saddles, no horses at all. That is a scenario they refuse to entertain, because their dreams have already come true.
“It’s very bittersweet because it’s going on, the pro- gram is going on, and it will be even better than what we had. It’s going to be different than what we had, but it’s got that youth and enthusiasm and imagination,” Timi said. “It’s awesome that something we helped build will carry on.”
For more information on SAMS Riders and Human Therapy on Horseback, visit www.hthflathead.org.
[email protected]
“We had some incredible horses,” Bob said.
n Missoula, the Burmoods live in a condo, and are
I
close to necessary medical care for Bob. He’s got-
ten used to getting up without having to attend to the backbreaking work required of horses and maintaining