Stewart Home School Equestrian Therapy Program
Posted by Jennifer Karlen on Sunday, February 8th, 2009 at 8:37pm.
The Stewart Home School equestrian therapy program caters to persons
with intellectual disabilities - and was destroyed by fire on November
5, 2007 and 7 of the 8 horses were lost in the blaze. The only horse to
survive was Tia Marie who made it out of the disaster with singed
whiskers and a shorter mane, but nonetheless in relatively good spirits
given the tragedy. Tia Marie’s stablemate is a horse named Cyclops and
is on loan from the Indian Ridge Farm from Buff & Kim Bradley until
the facility can be rebuilt and new horses can be a part of Tia Marie’s
new herd.
The community has banded together, along with some very generous donations - and the Stewart Home School equestrian therapy program is starting to rebuild. Aid as far away as Kansas, Oklahoma and even England have helped get the program moving again toward rebuilding.
The 114 year old school was founded in 1893 and horses as well as ponies have always been a part of the program at this facility. Approximately 120 students participated in the program in 2007 before the fire.
Current plans are for the horse farms to rebuild its program by Spring. They hope to begin construction of a new horse barn next summer. They received a donation of a shed that is currently in use on the farm. They hope to begin acquiring new horses in February - but finding new horses isn’t easy. The horses need a special patience to work with the students, and not all horses are suited with the correct temperament to be a part of the program.
The horses that didn’t survive the fire are buried on the school campus, and the school intends to memorialize them for their contribution.