If you were to show up at Red Acre Farm in Stow, Mass., on a weekday right after the local high schoolers get out, you’d likely not notice anything out of the ordinary as owners Mitch and Kathy Steege conduct their regular lessons and everyone excitedly prepares for the annual horse show held there in June.

Though she pilots the flashy paint horse Apollo around 2’3” courses with the same dexterity as her peers, Bella Dunning’s unique story of how she got to that point becomes evident when she dismounts and reaches for the walking cane she’s had to recently adopt.

“If you saw her ride today, you wouldn’t know that there’s anything the matter,” said Kathy. But Bella’s up against odds that highlight every reason why she shouldn’t ride, and her determination to make her dreams a reality despite them inspired the Red Acre Farm Horse Show, a fundraiser in its fifth year.

“When I was born I had Usher [syndrome],” said Bella, 15. “And I’ve been riding forever, really. I love horses because they understand me when I can’t really understand people—if there’s something that somebody else doesn’t understand, they seem to understand it.”

Usher syndrome is a genetic disorder that degenerates one’s hearing and vision, impairs balance and is currently incurable. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, an average of four babies of every 100,000 U.S. births are diagnosed each year.

Just One Of The Kids

Even though she won’t be getting her driver’s license next year, with the help of the double cochlear implants put in when she was an infant and a pair of tinted glasses, Bella walks six days a week to Red Acre Farm, where she’s likely to be found helping others tack up their mounts, jumping the miniature courses she and her friends build to practice on foot, or riding Apollo, whom she also competes at local shows.

“[Horses] mean the world to me,” said Bella. “When I get nervous about what’s going to happen to me in the future—I might lose my vision—this is a place I can go and I don’t think about that.”

Through its usual 40-50 entries, donations, raffles and silent auctions, the Steeges’ horse show has raised over $60,000 for the Decibels Foundation, a non-profit organization that ensures families of children with hearing loss receive the services and equipment they need.

“At the barn, everybody knows her and loves her, but it’s more than that,” said Kathy of her longtime student. “She never says ‘I can’t hear you,’ or ‘That’s hard for me.’ Her ability to move forward touches all of us, and we want to do what we can to help the Foundation and other children like her.”

Kathy’s known Bella since infancy, when her grandmother Patricia Willis used to wheel her to the barn in a baby carriage from the family’s house across the street. “We used to have a little bench next to one of the paddocks,” said Kathy.

“She would get up on that and she would stand there and watch the horses that were turned out. She would have stayed there all day. I can remember her grandmother fighting with her, because this poor woman was freezing to death and she wanted to go home, and at that point, Bella just did sign language, she didn’t have any hearing at that time. So her grandmother would be signing, ‘We have to go home!’ And she would be signing back, ‘No, I want to stay!’ 

“One day Mitch said to me, ‘I don’t know what’s going on out there, but I think Bella’s swearing at her grandmother in sign language,’ ” Kathy joked. “I think she got really good at reading the body language of the horses because she spent a lot of time just watching.”

A Team Effort

In addition to the support the horse show has generated, the Stow community is actively on board with the cause. Fellow Red Acre Farm riders, mostly members of the Interscholastic Equestrian Association, have set up online fundraising pages to spread awareness and seek donations for the Decibels Foundation. The Pegasus Farm Tack Shop, a local business, offers a pair of Ariat paddock boots as an incentive if someone raises $1,000 or more.

Furthermore, the local pizza shop donates lunches for the Red Acre Farm youths to sell at the barn on busy days, and on a national level, the horse show community has helped, too. “Katherine Page gave us a pair of sandals, and SmartPak gave us a bridle,” said Kathy appreciatively. “It’s really pretty cool that you can run a very low-key event and do that much good. It’s a very personal thing for all of us here.”

Bella’s parents established the Decibels Foundation in 2002 together with Jim and Sue Poor, of Chelmsford, Mass., fellow parents of a deaf child. 

“Mark and Julia Dunning had just completed their early intervention hearing loss work with Bella in Boston,” explained Bobbie Dressel, Program Director at the Decibels Foundation, which is based in Maynard, Mass.

“Early intervention is a program that works with children from birth to 3, if they have any sort of delays. So they had experienced wonderful services in Boston and when Bella turned 3, she transitioned to preschool out where they live, and they decided that they wanted to ensure that children who had hearing loss and their families had the same level of support that they had without having to go all the way into Boston.

“So in 2002 they went to Minute Man Arc [For Human Services] which is an early intervention program in Concord, and asked if they would be interested in replicating the program they attended in Boston, which was called the Thayer Lindsley Program at Emerson College. Minute Man Arc was very interested in doing that, and they worked to get the programming all set. Unfortunately, about six months into it they didn’t have sufficient funding from the state to continue the high level of care needed to be a truly comprehensive, family-centered hearing loss program.”

The Dunnings responded by implementing a golf tournament fundraiser, then the Red Acre Farm Horse Show upon Kathy’s desire to join forces. In addition, Bella promotes the Decibels Foundation by regularly visiting local elementary and middle schools to share her experiences and explain how others can help.

She hopes to take on even more responsibility as an intern at the foundation this summer, around her riding schedule, of course.

“Bella is so down to earth,” said Dressel. “She inspires in such a realistic way. She’s a regular kid who does amazing things. And what’s amazing about Bella is that she simply and very modestly doesn’t accept ‘No’—she just keeps pushing forward, and I think that’s what makes her such an inspiration.

“Sometimes [you meet] people who are flashy, and tout all about how they have overcome adversity,” continued Dressel. “That’s not Bella. Bella’s done it in a very quiet, diligent way. She is an inspiration for kids in that they really, truly look at her and say, ‘I can be that,’ because she’s a 15-year-old high school student. It’s very realistic; it’s very attainable. She’s very modest about her achievements; she doesn’t go around touting that she has overcome the odds.”

The horse show fundraiser will be held on June 8 at Bella’s favorite place and second home. “I’m totally excited,” said Bella. “I really appreciate what everybody’s done for me; Kathy and Mitch have been so kind to do this for me.”