A facility that provides horse riding therapy for people with special needs is searching for a new home.
The North Fraser Therapeutic Riding Association has until about the end of November to find a suitable property after the 17 acre property on Park Lane that they had leased for the past decade was recently sold.
Gay Conn, general manager of the association, said they knew that the owners were thinking of selling the property in January. The property was put up for sale at the beginning of the summer. Then the association was told there was an acceptable offer, finalized on Aug. 21.
Now they are looking for a place with space for 10 to 15 horses, an indoor and outdoor arena, parking, cell service, and a long-term stable lease.
Selina Gonzales, who has a developmental disability, has been riding at the association since 2016.
Her mother, Stephanie Chamut, finds the therapy offered there covers all domains of Gonzales' development.
“It’s just such an important part of her life. Actually all our lives,” she explained.
“I come here and am just so happy to see the horses and see her just so confident and just able to be grounded and paying attention and focused, which is really hard for her," explained her mom.
Chamut said that when Gonzales is on a horse, she is able to tune into what her instructors are telling her and she is able to learn.
On Monday, Sept. 9, her first day back on a horse since the summer break, Gonzales rode Inga, an 18-year-old horse that is patient with the riders, a quality that all the horses at the association share.
Gonzales liked Inga, because she is so soft, she explained. April, Teddy, and Rupert are all horses that Gonzales has rode over her years of therapy. But her favourite horse was Finn, who just passed away, and whom Gonzales talks about all the time and misses a lot, said her mom.
Gonzales said she feels excited when she rides a horse at therapy, which she attends two times a week. The most difficult part, she said, is trying to get a horse to go.
Chamut said the riding association is not only a part of her daughter's life, but her whole family as her mother and eldest child also volunteer there.
She hopes that it is able to find another home in Maple Ridge.
“It’s just such an important part of our whole family,” said Chamut.
Nicole Huber started volunteering with the riding association in 1996, about eight years before she began therapy riding.
Now she rides with Equine Canada, said her mother Val Huber, with pride. Being able to see her 45-year-old daughter – who has a severe anxiety disorder, in addition to a communication disorder – connect with the horses, with her instructors, and with other volunteers over the years, has been amazing for her mother.
“When you see that sort of stuff that is possible, you kind of go, yeah we have to keep the program,” she said.
Val also volunteers at the facility and hopes the association is able to stay close to where the families who attend are.
“You just have to make it accessible for the families as well. Like, my daughter doesn’t drive, she’s not capable of driving. So, as a parent of a former rider and a parent of a volunteer, we have to be able to get back and forth as well. And, if you move this to a location where it’s not easy to get to or takes quite a while to get to, it’s kind of a hindrance to parents and volunteers,” said the long-time Maple Ridge resident.
The association operates three 10 to 12 week sessions per year with 75 riders per session. There are 90 volunteers with the association who help out with the clients who are both adults and children living with various physical, mental, emotional, and social challenges.
They are hoping to stay in the Maple Ridge area, but will look at places in Pitt Meadows, Mission, or even over the bridge in Port Coquitlam.
However, Conn added, all of their riders are transported to the facility in some way and some do come all the way from Vancouver and Mission.
"We are the only therapeutic riding centre north of the Fraser River," she said.
Conn said it would be most beneficial if they had something signed, sealed, and delivered by the end of this month, so there will be little to no impact on the riders.
"That would determine what we can take and what we can't take. And what the new property may need," she said, like, if the new property needs shelters outside for horses, or if they can store their equipment, or if there is an office.
The fall session has just started, she said, and will be going until the middle of December.
Anyone who can help the association can contact them by email at: manager@nftra.ca, 604-462-7786 or Conn directly 604-813-5815.
