Trauma turns visitor into farm regular
Paul Spiers's initial involvement with Windrush Farm was academic.
A neuropsychologist, he often visited the Boxford farm -- which works with riders who are physically, emotionally, or learning-disabled -- to share his knowledge of head trauma with members of the staff.
Also an equestrian and polo player, he later donated two of his polo ponies to Windrush, with his beloved Roland becoming one of its top mounts.
Then in 1994, Spiers fell from a horse while fox hunting. He suffered head trauma and a spinal cord injury that left him paralyzed from the chest down.
When he returned to Windrush, it was as a disabled rider himself. And he was reunited with his longtime mount, Roland, for therapy.
"Marj got me to ride," Spiers, 53, of Danvers, said of Marjorie Kittredge, who founded Windrush in 1964. "Then she got me on the board, and on the board of the national organization."
Spiers still works as a neuropsychologist; he is an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Boston University School of Medicine and a visiting scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's General Clinical Research Center and at Massachusetts General Hospital.
He is also president of the boards of both Windrush and the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association, which has 700 facilities across the country.
"I'm not quick enough to say no," Spiers said.
Roland was retired after eight years of service at Windrush. Following his death, he was honored for excellence in multiple disciplines with the 2001 Cosequin Equine Exemplary Service Award. He and Spiers also are featured in "The Healing Touch of Horses," a Handicapped Association book written by A. Bronwyn Llewellyn.
For their special relationship, Roland and Spiers were chosen by the United States Equestrian Foundation in 2005 for "Hoofprints from the Heart" honors.
Now, Spiers is helping launch the national Horses for Heroes program for disabled veterans, which is being piloted at Windrush.
"He's an amazing man," said Mandy Hogan, executive director of Windrush. "An inspiration."
WENDY KILLEEN 
