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People with a wide variety of disabilities receive some serious therapy in a really fun setting thanks to Steamboat Recreational Sports’ (STARS) horse therapy program.

Ranching is an integral part of Steamboat’s culture and heritage, so it’s fitting that it will soon be home to a new adaptive horseback riding facility. STARS recently acquired a 9-acre parcel and plans to build a state-of-the-art facility that will become a permanent home for its adaptive sports programs, including the horse therapy and adaptive riding programs. “This will be a very unique facility,” says Julie Taulman, Executive Director at STARS. “As far as I know, there will be nothing else like it anywhere in the state of Colorado. It will attract people from all over the country.”

While facilitating a huge project such as funding and building a new facility can seem like a daunting task, Taulman says the reward of helping people of all ages to find independence through sports is more than worth it. And sometimes, there’s no better teacher for her clients than a horse.

Tell us a little bit about the history of the horse therapy program.
Three years ago, STARS took over the Humble Ranch Education and Therapy Center (HRETC) program. 2015 was our first summer providing therapeutic horseback riding. The collaboration came about because STARS wanted to expand our program offerings for our clients with disabilities and HRETC was looking for a way to transition their programs to another entity that could grow them. Our missions aligned harmoniously with one another, so it turned out to be the perfect fit and a natural transition.

What does the horse therapy program entail? What are some of the benefits?
Adaptive therapeutic riding offers recreational therapy opportunities for people with all kinds of disabilities. The horses are, in essence, like instructors helping our clients to improve their independence. For those with physical disabilities, we use horses to improve balance, flexibility, and coordination. For a lot of our kids with cognitive disabilities, or if they are on the autism spectrum, they find the interaction with the horse is not only peaceful but therapeutic. A lot of clients that have cognitive disabilities don’t have as many social opportunities with other people their age, so the horse can be a trusted friend. People who suffer from PTSD or severe anxiety also can find that the bond with the horse is very calming and therapeutic.

Are the horses trained specifically for this program?
The horses are selected and trained through a similar process to what our staff and instructors would go through, including an interview. The horses come in and they might spend a week with us to determine whether they have the right personality and behavior to interact with our clients. Our selection process for horses is no different than that for selecting our staff and instructors. We’re looking for horses with a steady personality, that are consistently balanced, who can handle high pitch noises and kids that move fast. We have to ensure that the environment and situations that they will be in are not going to make them anxious.

Where does STARS currently operate its horse therapy programs?
The STARS Therapeutic Riding Center is currently located at Wandering Creek Ranch, but eventually we plan to move our horse programs to the new STARS Ranch, A Place for Hope and Healing.

Tell us about your plans for the new facility.
When we took over the horse therapy programs from Humble Ranch, we knew we needed a permanent location for those programs as well as our other summer programs. We purchased a 7-acre piece of property and negotiated the acquisition of an additional 2 acres from a neighbor, for a total of 9 acres on Highway 40. We plan to build a permanent facility to house our programs for clients locally and from all over the country. Our goal is to raise $6 million to complete this unique facility.  It will have a ropes course, archery center, riding center and lodge. We’ve raised $3.25 million so far but would love to be able to meet our goal in time to begin construction next spring.

Tell us about your participants and some of the people you work with.
We work with people who have all types of disabilities, ages 3 and up, including adults. We work with people who have autism, spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy, wounded veterans, women in the military who were sexually abused, those who suffer from PTSD, people with cancer who now have an amputation or spinal cord injury as a result, and the list goes on and on. We are eager to work with and help anyone with any type of disability. It’s inspiring to see people with physical or cognitive challenges, who are able to overcome their disability and do something amazing, like learning to ride a horse on their own. It gives them an opportunity to experience therapy outside of a hospital style setting. They don’t even recognize that they are doing therapy.

What can people do to help?
We’re always looking for people to sponsor a horse and help us with the cost to feed and maintain horses because without them there is no program. We want to make sure that the horses have the best care possible, and that comes at a cost. We invite people to donate to provide care for our horses in this program. Our horses are treated like stars.

Visit the STARS website to learn more or to donate to their fundraising efforts.

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