Medicine Horse Center hopes to get indoor arena
November 8, 2005
BY STEVE GRAZIER
Journal Staff Writer
Cortez Journal
Gearing up for its fifth annual fund-raiser, the Medicine Horse Center is hoping to garner some dollars to construct a new covered indoor arena as part of a capital improvement project.
The center, located outside of Mancos, offers equine experiential learning and assisted psychotherapy programs for children and adults of all ages with physical, cognitive or age-related challenges. Most people enrolled at the horse center are from Montezuma, La Plata and Archuleta counties.
"Horses are used as an adjunct to psychological therapy," said Bob Gaddis, a four-year member of the center's board of directors. "At some point there's a real connection with an individual and the horse, which then provides a quality of life."
For therapeutic purposes, the horse center provides riding, walking, grooming and brushing opportunities to program participants. People can also conduct simpler tasks like leading a horse around with a rope, Gaddis said.
"Some people just brush or pet an animal, and that's enough to make progress," he said. "It can really spark something within them to come out."
In 2005, the center assisted about 100 clients and averaged nine horses for most of the year, according to executive director Lynne Howarth. The facility has two part-time administrators and a pool of therapists and horse professionals who work via contract, she said.
The center primarily works with "disturbed" children and "battered" women via a doctor-patient relationship, Gaddis said. While at the facility, some adults are trying to break their dependence on drugs or alcohol.
According to Gaddis, children who have trouble communicating or have had a recent difficulty often find they can, in time, relate to an animal.
"For some kids, there's something magical about a horse," he said. "It can be the key to opening up the door of a person."
People attending the 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 12, fund-raiser at the Mancos Community Center will be asked to contribute toward the arena project, in which the first phase is to include new fencing around the facility's main building.
In addition, money will be targeted for program fees and to help bring people in who cannot normally afford services of therapeutic riding and psychological treatment, said Howarth, who added that the event grosses about $10,000 each year.
"If we can surpass that, I'm sure we'll be happy," she said.
The center's mission is "people and horses working together for a better community," Howarth said.
Dinner at the fund-raiser will be of a Mexican, buffet style at a cost of $25 per person.
The price includes entry to the center's silent auction and musical entertainment by Joyce Simpson, of Durango, who is scheduled to sing classic jazz.
For more information about the horse center, visit the facility Web site at www.medicinehorsecenter.org.