The Times (www.shreveporttimes.com)

GREAT Riding therapy program moving ahead on permanent home

By Melody Brumble • mbrumble@gannett.com • June 9, 2008

Volunteers and staff with an equine therapy program are marking off the days until they move into a home of their own.

Great Results Equine Assisted Therapies will open its center in Greenwood by the end of the year. The program, offered by the Caddo-Bossier Association of Retarded Citizens, started looking for a home two years after learning the farm where they operated would be sold.

The group is ready to start construction on a combined barn and covered arena on a 30-acre donated site off state Highway 169 in Greenwood. Metal pilings on a flat, dusty site and a banner mark where the building will sit. The rest of the site will be used for pastures and trail rides.

"We hoped to be in by September, but we got held up because of weather," said Caroline Hendrix, GREAT director. "Then our contractor had surgery. Now he said he's ready to go, so we're thinking it might be January."

The ARC of Caddo-Bossier started the program at Lickskillet Ranch south of Greenwood in 1997, with free use of the land, barns and an arena. The foundation that owned the ranch sold the property to a group of investors, which allowed the program to continue operating on a lease basis.

Instructor Linda Hamm said the new center will put stalls, an office, a classroom and the arena under one roof.

"At the new facility, we won't have to cancel because of weather," Hamm said, as a shower pattered on the barn roof at Lickskillet Farm.

Hamm, Hendrix and volunteers have continued routine therapy programs during the school year and Camp Victory, a summer offering that allows disabled children to mingle with their normally developing peers. GREAT put on Camp Victory last week and will have another session this week.

On Thursday, the first group of campers practiced a horseback riding pattern they planned to perform for their families on the final day of the camp.

Seven-year-old Blake Loyd hollered with delight and grinned as he rode around the arena with the help of three volunteers. Blake suffered from several developmental delays but has started to show more control of his muscles and other signs of physical and mental improvement since coming to GREAT, volunteers said.

Glenbrook School student Dylan Edwards, of Minden, helped steady Blake on the horse. Dylan met Blake while volunteering at Camp Victory in 2007 and the pair bonded. Dylan started helping with the camp because his mom works at the ARC of Caddo-Bossier. Dylan has three horses at home that he rides for fun.

"I take care of Blake when he's here," Dylan said. "I'll volunteer again. I would like to help some more."

The program succeeds because of volunteers and community support. GREAT operates on grants and donations independently of the ARC of Caddo-Bossier, Hamm said. The organization has raised more than $450,000 toward the $750,000 cost of its new center. Other donations help the staff care for the horses.

One mount, a rescued thoroughbred, will become a mascot for the Tupperware Corp. The 16-year-old gelding, originally called Midnight, was renamed "Tupper" in honor of the company's support.

"They bought him, then donated him back to the program," Hamm said. "I think they're going to do water bottles with pictures of him on them."

The horses include ponies and draft horses. They undergo year-round training. Photos and cards on their stalls identify their likes and dislikes.

"Some are rescued horses, some are donated and some are leased," Hamm said. "When they're too old to work, we retire them."