n LOUDOUN
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VOL. 7, NO. 46
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Pg. 12 | n OBITUARIES
Pg. 24 | n PUBLIC NOTICES
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Finding Common Ground and Grounding at Loudoun Therapeutic Riding BY ALEXIS GUSTIN
agustin@loudounnow.com
Loudoun Therapeutic Riding Center is no stranger to the area. It’s been offering therapeutic riding for 48 years in Leesburg and now in its new location near Lovettsville. But what sets it apart is what it offers to those who ride there. It was the first therapeutic horsemanship center established in Virginia. The nonprofit helps adults and children with physical, intellectual, and emotional challenges, helping them build self-confidence, self-discipline, strength, mobility and coordination. Each year they serve around 350 children and adults, with veterans with PTSD among their fastest-growing groups. Christie McKitrick, community outreach and fundraising at LTR, knows each of the 12 horses in the program. She’s been working with them for a little over a year and can tell you which ones have big personalities, which ones are silly and which ones are bomb-proof—meaning they keep their cool no matter what. Each horse was selected for specific reasons, but mostly its personality. “Temperament is the most important thing. They have to be very quiet and confident and also very generous, similar to a human working in this field or any field that requires you to give you have to want to do it. And [horses] have a very generous and giving spirit. You can tell when a horse wants to do something and when a horse doesn’t want to,” McKitrick said.
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OCTOBER 6, 2022
Supervisors Set Data Center Vision BY RENSS GREENE
rgreene@loudounnow.com
Alexis Gustin/Loudoun Now
Anna McConnell brushes a horse at Loudoun Therapeutic Riding Center in preparation for her riding session. The nonprofit center offers various types of therapeutic riding services.
She describes Lars as a big goofball. The horse is on lease to LTR and enjoying his retirement from fox hunting at the center. “He overflows with personality. He’s very friendly and everyone loves him. If you were to spend time with him, even just one session, you would see it too. They don’t hide it,” McKitrick said. Gnomeo is the oldest herd member at the spritely age of 27. She calls him “little
prince” and said he is known as being the resident “super sweet unicorn.” Gnomeo is a pony with just the right temperament and size for small riders or for wheelchair users who come to the center. Most of the horses at LTR are retired from sport careers like fox hunting, racing or jumping. Some are leased to the center FINDING GROUND continues on page 41
After months of committee meetings, county supervisors have set their vision for where and how data centers will develop in Loudoun into the future. As supervisors and county planners continue the years-long effort to overhaul both the county’s comprehensive planning and zoning ordinance, they sought a holistic look at where data centers should be allowed, how they fit into other development and what they should look like. Supervisors in the last term wrestled with where to allow future data center development throughout the comprehensive planning process, and now look to amend that plan only a few years after it was passed in 2019 and before the accompanying zoning ordinance based on that plan has been completed. Last term, while seeking not to stymy the industry’s growth, they were cautious about where to allow data centers in the plan—where data centers are among the allowed uses, county planners often assume data centers will appear because those companies offer top dollar for developable land, DATA CENTER VISION continues on page 42
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