High Hopes: Improving Lives Through Horses
Posted by Charity Watcher on Friday, August 7, 2015
First established in 1974 as the Lower Connecticut Valley Educational Riding Association (LCVERA) by Mary Gould, High Hopes Therapeutic Riding has grown by leaps and bounds in the succeeding years. During its first few years of operations, it offered therapeutic riding lessons to just 8 students with physical and mental disabilities from a local elementary school; the association only had a single instructor, a few volunteers, and a few borrowed horses.
Fortunately, the association garnered popular support such that by 1979, its staff members have grown to 32 volunteers and a single paid riding instructor while its student swelled to 28. It also expanded its operations to 4 separate leased locations.
Despite its growth until the present day, the High Hopes core mission has remained unchanged. Through the benefits of therapeutic horseback riding lessons and other equine-assisted activities, people with physical, emotional and cognitive disabilities can improve the quality of their lives. These activities also serve the interests of the therapeutic riding profession.
Fortunately, the association garnered popular support such that by 1979, its staff members have grown to 32 volunteers and a single paid riding instructor while its student swelled to 28. It also expanded its operations to 4 separate leased locations.
Despite its growth until the present day, the High Hopes core mission has remained unchanged. Through the benefits of therapeutic horseback riding lessons and other equine-assisted activities, people with physical, emotional and cognitive disabilities can improve the quality of their lives. These activities also serve the interests of the therapeutic riding profession.
