Long Branch opens Therapeutic Riding Center
Submitted by: Laura Smith
Phone: 540-837-2208
Email Address: therapeuticriding(at)historiclongbranch.com
Date Added: 7/8/2009
For immediate release:
Millwood, Virginia
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
LONG BRANCH Historic House & Farm opens Therapeutic Riding Center. LONG BRANCH Historic House and Farm has opened a Therapeutic Riding Center (TRC) nestled at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Millwood, Virginia. The Therapeutic Riding Center (TRC) at LONG BRANCH is now registering students for its summer session and training volunteers. Classes will be held once a week for approximately one hour.
Instruction will be provided by Clarke County native, Ms. Christie Rankin. Ms. Rankin is certified by the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (NAHRA) to teach riding to children and adults with disabilities. She is uniquely trained to develop a lesson plan catered to the individual’s physical, emotional and mental strengths and challenges. In addition, Ms. Rankin has a degree in Therapeutic Recreation from Georgia State University.
Ms. Rankin explained the “benefits of therapeutic riding include increased muscle tone, strength, increased hand/eye coordination, increased communication skills, better self-esteem, less anxiety and improved social interactions.”
While the initial focus of the center will address the special needs of children in the community, the center hopes to expand to offer services to adults and more specifically, veterans groups. In addition to riding, horses are used in a variety of therapeutic settings: occupational, physical and psychological. The possibilities to help people with special needs in Millwood and surrounding communities are tremendous.
Program Coordinator, Mrs. Laura Smith has recently joined the TRC team. While a Virginia native and UVA graduate, Mrs. Smith worked in marketing and owner education in the Thoroughbred Industry in Lexington, Kentucky for several years and returned to Virginia in 2002. She and her husband Bruce spent many years assisting the Central Kentucky Riding for Hope at the Kentucky Horse Park.
“I am so excited to be on the ground floor of the Therapeutic Riding Center (TRC). A visit to LONG BRANCH is therapeutic in and of itself—the center couldn’t have a more beautiful backdrop than LONG BRANCH. Volunteers, parents and students alike will enjoy the gorgeous scenery as well as the good company of our equine partners and each other. As a life-long rider and horse enthusiast, I know how rewarding it is to share the experience of riding with someone who has never had the opportunity to ride before. There is nothing more powerful than to see the look on someone’s face when they are lifted from their wheelchair and placed on the back of a horse and experience the sensation of walking and riding as they never have before. It’s a magical moment. We just need volunteers to make it happen. This center is for the community but needs the support of the community through volunteers and financial donations to grow,” said Mrs. Smith.
No previous horse experience is required to volunteer, training is provided. Please contact the TRC office to find out about the next training session, to register a student, make a donation by phone 540-837-2208, or email therapeuticriding@historiclongbranch.com.
|
