Trotting into 2025!
Happy New Years Hands and Hearts for Horses friends! It’s been a wonderful holiday break for us horses! We hope all our readers had an amazing time with their friends and families. 2024 was an AMAZING year for our program which saw a great deal of growth in our facilities, program offerings, and participants served!
Blog Reminders
Each week in my blog there will be one hidden clue to my identity, so make sure you tune in and read my blog every week for another clue! REMEMBER, if you think you know which horse I am, shoot us a message or email Stephanie at stephanie@handsandheartsforhorses.com ! Don’t spoil the mystery for our other followers by posting your guess publicly! Can you piece together the clues and figure out which horse I am? Because I’ll never tell, well not until enough of you have guessed my secret! Once enough correct guesses have come in, I’ll post a summary of the clues that should have led you to guess my identity and we will do a big reveal!
The first person to guess my identity correctly will win a Hands and Hearts for Horses sticker and a piece of pretty Hands and Hearts for Horses themed jewelry created by our very own boss lady (or as the humans call her executive director) Susie’s own mom! So, tune in for those clues and get those guesses in! One guess per person, per week please!
Great ways to figure out which horse I am are coming to volunteer, being one of our riders, or investigating on our social media or website!
Trotting into 2025!
We broke a record this year, with our horses and staff providing nearly 3,800 therapeutic riding sessions for over 500 participants! These participants are part of our FIVE major programs: private/group lessons, school group partnership program, equine growth and wellness programs, and our summer camps!
Our herd has seen some changes this year with the addition of several new faces! We have welcomed mares Neve and Splash to our herd as well as geldings Bonham, Lonestar, and our friend for part of the year Kolt! One of our more exciting newcomers has been Picasso, our new miniature horse! Pastures have been moved around in order to find the best fit for our new herd mates and fast friendships have been formed, my new best friend is Kit Kat!
Welcome Bonham!
Bonham is a Percheron who has been a wonderful and quick fit into our program and is a new fan favorite!
We had 32 weeks of riding lessons this week as well as 8 weeks of summer camp. This was also record breaking for our program as typically in the past our summers were split into one month of therapeutic riding lessons and one month of camps.
Our facilities have seen several changes as well, with the addition of a new building as well as a pole barn! Our new building houses the new staff offices, enclosed hay barn, as well as a clinic space for our occupational therapist that we contract with Caroline to utilize. Our old staff offices have been turned into a medical supplies room, climate-controlled tack room, and a planned volunteer break room. The feed room and old tack room have been combined to form an enlarged feed room. All of these new and improved facilities will help us support our ever-growing program!
Bonham showing off some big yawns to our HUD-VASH Participants!
Our ground based equine growth and wellness programs have continued to grow, serving additional groups and with the initiation of the HUD-VASH Pilot Program! This is a new program for our center that is still in the early stages. Devyn, who now has both a CTRI (Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor) and ESHML (Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning) credential, has worked in partnership with the VA and a Licensed Recreation Therapist to create an experiential opportunity for veterans served by the HUD-VASH program. This program focuses on mindfulness, self-awareness, coping skills, and improving life and communication skills.
Our first group just completed the program in December, and we are looking forward to our second group starting up in January! We are hoping to grow and expand this program in the coming year!
Moving into 2025, we look forward to even more growth and opportunities! We have plans in the works for an expanded, handicap accessible playground for our participants and families as well as additional programming! Did you know that 2025 marks our 25th ANNIVERSARY??!!! That is a huge mile mark for us horses and our humans!
That’s all from me this week readers! Stay tuned for some big announcements coming soon about our 25th year and what the humans have planned!
XOXO
Your Friendly “NEIGH”borhood Horse Blogger