For more information on therapeutic horseback riding centers in Alabama, visit their websites:
Beautiful stalls at MANE are home to the horses awaiting their turn to provide a therapeutic ride.
functioning during their three sessions year-round. “Most of our income does not come from tuition,” Houchin says. “A lot of our riders are on scholarship, so I would say about 88 percent of our funds are from grants or private donations. With 44 acres and two full-time employees, there are not enough of us to do everything that needs to be done every day. We rely heavily on the volunteers that we have. We have almost 60 active volunteers now. That doesn’t even count the special volunteer workdays that a church or big group wants to help with and we’ll have a big project for them to do in one day.”
Volunteers always needed
Chandalyn Chrzanowski, equine director at MANE, and Thorn say they always need volunteers and can never have too many. Thorn says her center needs more adult volunteers, especially after school when the fall session starts. She hopes her center can serve more people as a year-round facility, with the addition of a new parking lot and a covered arena on her wish list. The goals of participants like Savannah could become more reachable. For Savannah, “walk on” will one day not just be a command in her riding lesson; it will be something she can do on her own. “The biggest thing we’ve seen is that she’s asking for what she wants. She’s communicating better,” Dennard said. “Her physical therapist has commented that through the legs and the trunk and torso that she’s really developing those muscles and making them stronger. It’s been really great for her confidence too, that she’s been able to ask for things and she tries to walk more and she doesn’t fight so much when you try to take her up the stairs.” A 14 SEPTEMBER 2015
Special Equestrians specialequest.org 1215 Woodward Drive Indian Springs, Alabama 35124 205-987-9462 Equines Assisting Special Individuals easitrc.org 242 Summerville Road, Jasper, AL 35504 205-387-7486 Marianna Greene Henry Special Equestrians Program mgharena.com 29401 AL Hwy. 21 South Talladega, AL 35160 256-761-3364 Montgomery Area Nontraditional Equestrians (MANE) maneweb.org 3699 Wallahatchie Road Watch video of Savannah Pike Road AL 36064 riding Spirit at alabamaliving.coop 334-213-0909
ONLINE
SpiritHorse Therapeutic Riding Center at the Mercy Seat spirithorsetrc.org 1962 Suncrest Drive Pra�ville, Alabama 36067 334-531-7019 Horses Offering People Encouragement (HOPE) hopehorses.org 1301 Convent Road NE Cullman, Alabama 35055 256-841-6290 www.alabamaliving.coop