These groups help with important projects including fence repair and painting, organizing storage areas, grounds and landscaping work, computer work, and other facility beautification jobs around the farm. Doing this work with like-minded people, all while giving time and energy to a great cause, makes this great fun for the entire team! NVTRP receives invaluable help and volunteers gain a sense of accomplishment and joy from helping others in their community.
These groups help with important projects including fence repair and painting, organizing storage areas, grounds and landscaping work, computer work, and other facility beautification jobs around the farm. Doing this work with like-minded people, all while giving time and energy to a great cause, makes this great fun for the entire team! NVTRP receives invaluable help and volunteers gain a sense of accomplishment and joy from helping others in their community.
NVTRP Through the Years... 1980-2020
Please share your favorite NVTRP memories and stories with us here:
Cindy Smith, former hippotherpy client
I was thrown from my horse Oscar in a freak accident on a sunny afternoon in June 2013. I did not know that he had arthritis in his neck which caused pain from a simple movement.
After 5 days in the hospital followed by 6 weeks in a rehab center learning to walk and become independent again, followed by 3 more weeks staying with friends, I began Physical Therapy with Patti Towsley.
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After months of physical therapy, I finally got back on a horse, and that horse was Happy. Given the opportunity to participate in hippotherapy, I relearned walk, trot, and canter on Happy. Happy helped me regain strength and balance needed to ride my own horse again.
Thank you and Happy Birthday, NVTRP! I wouldn't be back on a horse if not for NVTRP, Happy and Patti!
Lynn Broadbent, one of the original volunteers at NVTRP
To this day I treasure the memories of a little girl called Erin riding my big horse named Bayberry. Being blind and deaf, that sweet little girl was hard to reach and hard to read. We watched one Saturday morning as she was put up on Bayberry for her regular Saturday ride. For the first time, we saw that she liked riding. She felt his fur and she smiled. We were all crying.
Ann Marlow,
NVTRP board member
Hearing from Mitch, another NVTRP board member, and his daughter Leah is so heart-warming because of her growth, moving from rider to volunteer. The fact that they work together volunteering has no doubt enabled a wonderful bond between father and daughter! This is one example of rider and volunteer benefits of NVTRP and re-enforces one reason why I support this program.