Date: Tue, 12 Mar 2013 22:10:39 -0400
From: Shirley
Subject: Heads Up Theraputic Riding Center Closing
I was very sad to learn today that the Heads Up Therapeutic Riding Center in Pittsboro is closing. It’s a great program that has benefited so many people, children and adults alike. For anyone who is unfamiliar with them, Heads Up is a Path International premier accredited center which was formed here in Pittsboro in 1991.
Path stands for Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship. They provide therapeutic equine-related activities to individuals with physical, emotional or developmental disabilities to enhance positive reinforcement and encouragement towards independence. Many, if not most of their clients, are children with disabilities.
I had just started to volunteer there with some of their young riders and was loving it.
Their activities included Camps (Summer, Day, or Other), Competition (Special Olympic, Paralympics), Grooming & Tacking, Ground Work, Recreational Riding, and of course, Therapeutic Riding. They also offered general English and Western riding lessons and that’s how I found them. Their instructors were extremely professional and well qualified. This seems like such a loss for our community and I don’t understand why they are closing. Apparently, no one is sure about that. To my knowledge, they had no association with state or local government and were supported as a charity solely by donations and the money they earned through their services.
If any of you have stories about how Heads Up helped your children, it would be a good time to share that and to thank them. I myself will always be grateful. They gave an old gal with bad knees and a hearing loss a chance to fulfill a life long dream. They will be gone very soon. I will miss them so much. My instructor was fantastic but more than anything, I will miss the horses.
I am very sad for Heads Up and for all the folks who benefited from their services. There is another great therapeutic riding center in the area who would welcome all that want to stay involved with these programs. Check out The North Carolina Therapeutic Riding Center in Mebane located on Nick’s Road.