The Hoofbeat Newsletter

There's never a dull moment at Hearts! From new horses to events, selfless volunteers to Minis on the Move, 2018 was filled with energy, excitement, and a whole lot of HEART!

Every summer we invite kids from the community, as well as kids already enrolled in our riding program to come spend a week at Hearts to participate in a horse-themed summer camp. We also have groups from Girls Inc. of Greater Santa Barbara and CALM participate. Our campers get to develop friendships with our amazing horses and volunteers while learning about horse science, horsemanship, equine-facilitated learning activities and basic riding skills.

Our participants certainly did us proud at our Annual Student Horse Show on Saturday, April 21st. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day! The sun was out, the horses were ready to go, and our participants looked amazing! It was a day filled with excitement and celebration.

Celebrating National Volunteer Appreciation Week April 15-21 - Today is a day to remind all of you just how much our volunteers are appreciated. In honor of National Volunteer Appreciation Week April 15-21, it is my pleasure on behalf of the staff and Board of Directors, to formally express our gratitude to all Hearts volunteers! We currently have 146 active volunteers and last year alone, our volunteers completed over 16,000 hours of volunteer service. WOW!

Hearts installed a motorized lift in January, which has positively impacted several program participants in just a short amount of time. The structure in which the motorized lift lives was generously donated by members of Los Rancheros Pobres, a local men's horseback riding club. The new lift structure was dedicated on Sunday, February 25 at Hearts. Over 28 members of the Pobres donated funds for this special project.

December and January have been traumatic to our community. Here at Hearts, we were lucky that we were not seriously affected, other than having to close program for a total of 11 days. We are keeping those affected in our thoughts and prayers. We know that Santa Barbara will recover, although it will take some time. The upper road above Hearts has been very busy with dump trucks dropping off debris. The debris is dirt, mud, and trees, so there are no adverse effects. While this has slowed down people coming for lessons and volunteering, it has also affected our more sensitive horses, so we have mitigated the issue with changes as far as utilizing the cross-ties and dismounting in the arena or at the ramp.

Hearts Therapeutic Equestrian Center touches the lives of adults and children with varying physical and cognitive abilities. Just over a year ago, a young boy named Benjamin came to Hearts to begin riding lessons. Before starting lessons, Benjamin was only able to walk with the aid of a walker, and often got around his own home by walking on his knees. After just 4 months of riding lessons, a true miracle occurred.

During this Holiday Season, I reflect on what all I am grateful for this year. Since joining the team here at Hearts in May, I’ve been so grateful for all the support from volunteers, donors, the board, families, and students. When the barn burnt to the ground on day 3 of my employment, it was truly amazing to see the community efforts in helping us out – from donations of feed to donations towards rebuilding.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’d like to extend my sentiments of gratitude to our instructors, horses and participants. Together, we served a total of 92 individuals last month- 70 therapeutic riding students and 22 unmounted EFL students. These numbers have become the new benchmark at Hearts as our Equine Facilitated Learning program evolves and the therapeutic riding program remains full. Collectively, Hearts has served over 300 individuals from year to date, already exceeding this year’s goal.

The list of gratitude goes on and on thanks to the help of our amazing instructors, horses, and participants.

Hearts celebrated our riders and our programs on Thursday, September 28th, at a fundraising luncheon at the Coral Casino with a crowd of 270 guests. Kevin Raimer, one of our wonderful veterans, shared his story and what Hearts has done for him, and John Reardon shared his daughter, Amy's, story with some compelling video to really bring it to life. In addition, we featured a video with stories and information about Hearts. Please click here to see it! We are so grateful to everyone who came and to those who supported the luncheon. It was hugely successful!