Spirit Open Equestrian Program Newsletter

November/December 2015

FROM THE HORSE'S MOUTH

SPIRIT Open Equestrian Program Inc.

2705 West Ox Rd, Herndon, VA 20171 | Phone: 703-600-9667 | Email: spiritoep@gmail.com pg. 1

The Year in Review Thank you to everyone for making 2015 one of our best years! It may be tough to remember back to those cold and snowy days in January but SPIRIT has grown and shone throughout the year! Our achievements in 2015 will carry SPIRIT into 2016 with hope, courage and strength!

Our SPIRIT family increased in our number of clients and service hours! We renewed our existing contract with the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) for the next 7 years! We received a new contract with the Community Service Act (CSA). We continued to develop and strengthen our EAA programs and relationships with the McLean Bible Church, McLean Community Center and Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS).

We put on 2 fantastic Ride4SPIRIT events showcasing the talents of our riders and also the skill and dedication of our volunteers, EAL students and instructors and we are not done yet! We have one more Ride4SPIRIT coming up on November 14 to showcase the equitation skills of our EAL riders!

Calendar of Events Ride4SPIRIT - 11/14

10a.m.

Abilities Expo – 12/4-6

Silent Auction & Social at Kalypso in Reston – 12/12 5p.m. – 9p.m.

Winter Dressage Series – 1/23/16, 2/27/16, 3/12/16, 4/30/16

Winter Sessions – 1/18/16 – 2/8/16, 2/22/16-3/7/16

Summer Camps – 6/20/16 – 6/24/16, 6/27/16 – 7/1/16, 8/15/16 – 8/19/16, 8/22/16 – 8/26/16

SPIRIT Introduces New Instructors-

in-Training

New Director Aaron Fleet!

Season’s Greetings & Happy Holidays from SPIRIT

Dear Friends,

As we enter the holiday season and reflect on the moments that made this year so special, we are so grateful for your friendship. This was a year of wonderful

accomplishments. You made these moments possible and brought joy to so many!

We wish you joy and peace and look forward to a very Happy New Year!

~ Dada & the SPIRIT Team

New Instructors-in-Training Aaron Fleet, Katie Holloway,

Joanne Morgan, Laura Welsh, & Lauren Wong

SPIRIT Board Welcomes 1 More!

SPIRIT Riders & Team at the September Ride4SPIRIT

SPIRIT Open Equestrian Program Inc.

2705 West Ox Rd, Herndon, VA 20171 | Phone: 703-600-9667 | Email: spiritoep@gmail.com pg. 2

Horsing Around Program News & Upcoming Events

We grew our skills as riders, volunteers and horsey people. Members of our team took training and became certified on providing equine assisted learning and psychotherapy

activities for families and grew our network of connections to other equine assisted learning and therapy programs and professionals.

We welcomed new friends and family, new riders and participants to our program, new volunteers, new directors to our board and new supporters to our mission. We welcomed two new horses, Sally and Max!

We bid a heartfelt farewells and until-we-meet-agains to Lucinda and Stitch, Board of Directors Vice President Tawny Hammond, Instructor Sarah Morehouse, several of our volunteers who are away at school and participants and riders who have moved away.

Finally, we ran several successful fundraising campaigns and events that have helped to spread the word about SPIRIT and garner support from our friends and supporters!

We are looking forward to a fantastic 2016 of making new memories and achieving new heights with all of you!

Ride4SPIRIT Rides Again! Dust off your helmets and polish your riding boots! The Ride4SPIRIT Horsemanship Event is coming on November 14th! This event will feature our EAL riders, volunteers and members of the community as they present their equitation and horsemanship skills and also compete in a variety of fun games! Want to volunteer? Contact the SPIRIT office at spiritoep@gmail.com

2015 is Going Out With a (Silent) Bang! Join SPIRIT on December 12th at Kalypso Sports Tavern in Reston from 5-9p.m. for a celebration of 2015’s achievements and to support our silent auction fundraiser! Come celebrate and socialize with other members of the SPIRIT family, riders, volunteers, staff and instructors and bid on some wonderful and unique items…all to help SPIRIT! We will also be voting for several categories of Riders of the Year and Volunteers of the Year and will announce the winners at the event! Tickets are $20 and include appetizers such as wings, gyro sliders, flatbread pizzas, and various dips! Contact the SPIRIT office for information on purchasing tickets!

Introducing the SPIRIT Winter Dressage Series! SPIRIT is proud to announce our first ever Winter Dressage Schooling Show Series! SPIRIT riders are invited to register with dates in January, February, March and April. Classes will include USEF intro through FEI & USEA tests. Points will include show series and CDCTA year end points! For more information and the registration form, visit the SPIRIT blog and click the “Events” tab (http://spiritopenequestrian.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html)

It’s the Season of Giving!

Want to help SPIRIT this holiday season? Here are

three easy ways to support SPIRIT this season!

Combined Federal Campaign Are you looking for a great

organization to contribute to as part of the CFC? How

about SPIRIT? CFC # 21744!

Amazon Smile You can help SPIRIT while

shopping this holiday and all year round! Go to

smile.amazon.com. Sign in and select SPIRIT Open

Equestrian Program and Amazon will make a

donation to SPIRIT for all eligible purchases!

Bravelets: Be Brave and

Support SPIRIT Bravelets jewelry makes a wonderful holiday gift to

remind someone you love how brave they are and can

be! Shop at https://www.bravelets.com/bravepage/spirit-open-equestrian-

program and they will make a donation to SPIRIT for each

purchase!

Sally greets SPIRIT Riders

Lucinda bids SPIRIT farewell with her owners Caroline & Carina Elgin, Dada, mentor Ilana

SPIRIT Open Equestrian Program Inc.

2705 West Ox Rd, Herndon, VA 20171 | Phone: 703-600-9667 | Email: spiritoep@gmail.com pg. 3

Horsing Around Program News & Upcoming Events

SPIRIT Will Be Wrapped with Love this Winter! Thank you Emme Warren for thinking of SPIRIT for your Loudoun Debutant service project! Emme brought a group from the Loudoun Debutant Program to clean, mend, and organize all of our horses’ blankets! They took the horses' measurements so this winter each one will be wrapped in love and a well-fitting blanket! Emme says “I decided to do my project with SPIRIT because it’s a really important program for me in my life!” Participant Skylar Failor said she came to help “because the horses are amazing and cute.” We are grateful to Emme for thinking of SPIRIT and bringing new friends to learn about our work!

SPIRIT at the Abilities Expo! It's official! SPIRIT will have a booth at the upcoming Metro DC Abilities Expo to be held at the Dulles Expo Center from December 4-6 (http://www.abilities.com/dcmetro/). The show features ability-enhancing devices, ability-improving therapies and programs, all sorts of adaptive sports, and cutting-edge products and services. Workshops tailored for special needs or challenged children, adults, seniors, veterans, health care professionals, and caregivers will offer take-home solutions to common problems. Everything under one roof!

Featured speaker, Rupert Isaacson, wrote “The Horse Boy: A Father's Quest to Heal His Son,” a deeply moving story of a family willing to go to the ends of the earth for their autistic son” and is the founder of the Horse Boy Method (https://www.horseboyworld.com/). Continuing the 30-year tradition, this Expo is the “go-to source for the community of people with disabilities,” registration is free and open to all. Want to help? Contact Diane Pires at 703-391-9604.

SPIRIT Soared at our September Ride4SPIRIT Event! Congratulations to all of our riders from our Ride4SPIRIT event that was held on September 26th and a TREMENDOUS Thank You to all of our EAL students, volunteers, assistants, mentors and volunteers who made the event a huge success! Our riders gave an amazing presentation and our team in the ring was truly exceptional. Our guests had a great time playing games, winning prizes, learning about horses in our horsemanship workshop and enjoying delicious refreshments that you all put together. It was one of our best events yet!

SPIRIT is O.K. and We’re Helping Others Be O.K. Too! SPIRIT hosted Greg Kersten and his O.K. Corral Series for a 3-day seminar on developing EAL and EAP activities for families. Greg founded EAP and shared his wisdom and knowledge from 20+ years experience observing horses and herd behavior and working with at risk families and troubled youths. It's too much wisdom to include in this newsletter but we will share it through our sessions and activities! Want to get the O.K. experience? Stay tuned! SPIRIT hope to host another seminar in the spring!

The More the Merrier: Board of Directors Hosts an

Open House!

The SPIRIT Board of Directors hosted an open house on October 11th to introduce SPIRIT to new members of our community. Guests met the board and herd and learned more about our mission and our programs. We are grateful for all the new connections and friendships made through this event and are excited about the new energy and ideas that our new friends brought with them!

Update on the Big Heart, Big Hooves,

Big...Hurt Fundraiser for

Samson! The online Indiegogo campaign to raise money for Samson’s vet bills and custom hoof boots ended in October with great success! Thanks to everyone who gave and everyone who helped to spread the word far and wide! Thanks to you we raised over $1,600! Most importantly, Samson is feeling and doing MUCH better!

Fitting the herd for blankets

Greg Kersten leads an exercise

with Spirit the horse's help

SPIRIT Open Equestrian Program Inc.

2705 West Ox Rd, Herndon, VA 20171 | Phone: 703-600-9667 | Email: spiritoep@gmail.com pg. 4

Herd Highlights News from the Farm!

A Fond Farewell to Lucinda In September, Lucinda, retired from SPIRT after 6 years of faithful, hard work and returned to her owner Ms. Caroline Elgin. She touched the lives of so many students in so many ways. Ilana Gruber, her mentor, gave this beautiful, fitting tribute to a truly magnificent mare.

“If you have ever worked with or ridden Lucinda, then you know that she is one of the most sassy, stubborn, and strong-willed horses out there. Yet she is also one of the most good-natured, trustworthy, honest, and hardworking horses at Spirit. Lucinda was always the one we could count on if a rider needed a calm, reliable mount, or if a rider needed a little more of a challenge. She was the perfect choice. Her versatility is what makes her so special and perfect for Spirit. She can carry adults and kids, beginners and advanced riders, and she can be driven, ridden bareback, and even do tricks. From her times at Spirit, Lucinda has gone from being a scruffy little pony to getting first-place ribbons in horse shows. Lucinda has taught us that appearances don’t matter when you have a strong work ethic, determination, and a little bit of sass. We are all going to miss her, but it is now her time to enjoy a happy, peaceful retirement.”

Samson’s New Shoes Thank you to everyone who sent good wishes that Samson would feel better soon. Sam’s new hoof boots from Hoofwings arrived in October. With hooves measuring 8.5”x8.5” and 8”x8.5” we had to special order the boots to be custom made just for him. His hooves have improved and he has been back in lessons and in the field with the rest of the herd!

Update on Stitch! Stitch is doing well in his recovery, but is not back to 100% just yet. When it was time to come back into work he was lame. He had an evaluation that showed he had nevicular disease and some tendon injury on his deep flexor tendon. For treatment he has been given some special shoes and is on stall rest while he gets injections in his feet to help reduce the inflammation. He's on stall rest until early December, then he'll go back for a reevaluation. With any luck he'll be able to begin his rehab early in the New Year. He's in great spirits and seems to feel pretty darn good. Thank you to Deb Bowers for providing this update! Deb reports that Stitch is always up for a visit and grooming. If you would like to visit Stitch, please contact Deb at debbowersmd@gmail.com

Huge thanks to Zoe Griffiths, Ilana Gruber, Mira Gruber, Naomi Gruber, Caroline Warren, Emme Warren and Becky Maximovic for planning and organizing the upcoming Ride4SPIRIT Horsemanship event….we are all very excited for it!

A big thank you to Becky Maximovic, Zoe Griffiths, Joanne Morgan and Katie Holloway who have been helping to train and guide our new Instructors in Training!

Nickers & Whinnies Volunteer Achievements,

Appreciation & Good Works!

Who in the Herd? Think you know the SPIRIT

herd? See if you can tell which horse this is by one of

their markings! Find the answer in the margin on the last page of this newsletter!

Lucinda & her mentor, Ilana Gruber

Seeing Lucinda off back home

SPIRIT Open Equestrian Program Inc.

2705 West Ox Rd, Herndon, VA 20171 | Phone: 703-600-9667 | Email: spiritoep@gmail.com pg. 5

Horse Whispers Wisdom, Tips & Guidance from the

Volunteer Handbook

RRuulleess ooff tthhee RRiinngg!! Having fun is one of the best things about working and riding with SPIRIT, but safety is

very important too! When in the ring, and especially when riders are present, everyone

must remain focused to make sure that we all have fun and stay safe! Always listen to

the instructor and avoid talking with others or using your phone so that you don't miss

important instructions! Never leave a rider unattended and make sure they stay safe

around the horses, don't let them walk behind the horses or under the horses' heads.

FFoollllooww tthhee LLeeaaddeerr!! Horse leaders have a very important job. It is up to you to guide the horse and make

sure that we are going where the instructor tells us. It is also the leaders' job to pay

attention to the horse and reassure the horse so that it stays calm. If your horse seems

agitated or upset, call over the instructor. In the event of an emergency, your job is to

handle the horse. The side walker will look after the rider!

SSiiddee WWaallkkeerrss,, NNoott JJuusstt AAlloonngg ffoorr tthhee RRiiddee!! Side walkers are also important team members. It is your job to focus on your rider!

Reassure your rider and help them with the activities. Repeat the instructors directions

and encourage your riders. Support them in the saddle by holding them if the instructor

asks you to. In the event of an emergency, your job is to take care of your rider! The

leader will look after the horse!

Tony Kurtz is our spotlight volunteer! Tony raced harness horses professionally on the

Maryland /Delaware circuit from 1981-1987.

"I never thought my harness racing skills would be of use again. Incredible as it may

seem, when I first walked in the door at SPIRIT, Dada said she had been praying for

someone with harness racing experience to help create a group of her horses to be

trained to pull a cart her husband had designed which seated a rider in a wheelchair and

a driver beside him. SPIRIT offered me a chance to work with horses again, the way it

was when I first discovered horses as a child. I look at these volunteers, who are mostly

young kids who love and care for these horses as if they were family members, and I

think to myself, "God, remember when I was like that, it seems so long, where did that

kid go!" ...SPIRIT allowed me to rediscover the best part of myself. And for that I am truly

thankful."

Inclement Weather?

Always be safe in bad weather and remember, if Fairfax County cancels its activities, SPIRIT's activities will be cancelled too! Sign up to receive "Rain Out" notifications from SPIRIT through RainedOut.com http://www.rainedout.com/ and also check the Fairfax County Website at: http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/alerts/

SSSPPPIIIRRRIIITTT SSSpppoootttllliiiggghhhttt!!!

Got a Question? Ask a Red Shirt!

Have a question or need some assistance in a lesson? Look for a red shirt! All SPIRIT instructors, instructors-in-training and assistants will be wearing red SPIRIT shirts during lessons and activities so you can spot them easily!

Tony on the racing circuit!