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On a cold, misty January day years ago, Anna Brown sat on a horse after a hard day when a brief moment of sun warmed her face — now she wants to impart that feeling on others.
Brown, the executive director of Sunshine Stables in New Hope, told the Rotary Club of Columbus at noon Tuesday at Lion Hills the story of her “sunshine moment” or “sunny day.”
“There was a thoroughbred Bobby that I was riding, and she was mean,” Brown said. “I had a hard day, and just prayed, ‘Oh God, please don’t let me have to ride Bobby. Well, I showed up, and there was Bobby. But God heard my prayer in that moment, and we had a great ride. On a misty January day like today, we had just a little moment of sunshine, and I could feel the sun on my face. That’s the feeling we want to give to people that come to Sunshine Stables.”
Operations began at Sunshine Stables, a nonprofit therapeutic horse riding facility, in 2018, and its goal is to “encourage independence through horsemanship,” which extends past simply riding a horse.
Sunshine Stables is located on 30 acres off Beersheba Road, and when operations began, there were three clients and two horses for lessons. Just five years later, Sunshine Stables now serves about 30 weekly clients and has eight lesson horses.
Because of donations to the nonprofit from various businesses and local civic clubs, there is now fencing, a 60-by-60-foot barn, a 120-by-80-foot arena and an Americans with Disabilities Act-approved wheelchair accessible mounting ramp.
Brown told The Dispatch the annual operating costs are between $30,000 to $50,000 depending on projects that must be completed. Operating costs include feed for the animals, farrier costs, vet bills and general maintenance.
The next step Sunshine Stables is looking to do is add 10 stables inside the open barn to help the nonprofit get one step closer to accreditation by the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship, of which Brown is already a certified instructor.
There are various programs the stables offer including group tours and team building exercises. Brown said Lowndes Young Leaders came out in 2021 and had to lead a horse through an obstacle course without touching the horse.
The nonprofit also offers educational field trips, community outreach, and non-adaptive and adaptive horseback riding and horsemanship, which is often what people associate with the stables, Brown said.
Non-adaptive horseback riding and horsemanship is where clients of all ages, abilities and backgrounds can ultimately independently ride. Adaptive requires guided rides and times with the horses.
“(Adaptive riding) students are the ones you may typically think about for traditional services we offer, and it’s one of our primary focuses,” Brown said. “It benefits individuals who may not be able to independently ride.”
When new clients come in, Brown and the volunteers set goals.
Brown said she has a client whose mother wants to have confidence and independence with horses so she can show livestock in 4-H, and the young girl must go retrieve her assigned horse with some supervision.
In a video Brown showed, the little girl could be seen walking beside a small pony in a pasture, talking to the pony, saying, “My buddy!”
There is an adaptive riding student who is nonverbal autistic, and Brown said his father has noted how he is more responsive around horses.
“He has been nonverbal since birth, and he also struggles with different behavioral challenges that come with being nonverbal, which means he has no words to communicate,” Brown said. “During our first several lessons, to communicate he would do things that might be violent like he might strike out and hit. … We’re seeing constant improvement, and one of his biggest long term goals was to develop empathy for those around him — not just people, but also animals — and see his actions have consequences.”
Brown then showed a video of his “sunny day.”
The boy sat on a horse as two adults were on either side of him, and one of the adults told him to get the horse to stop.
In a quiet but firm voice, the boy said, “Woah, Bella.”
“That is the first meaningful language that I’ve ever heard from him,” Brown said. “That’s the first meaningful language his grandmother and dad heard, which has consistently been at Sunshine Stables with Bella. I just think it’s where he’s supposed to be and God is blessing him.”
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