Athelas Therapeutic Riding, Inc. is an incredible nonprofit organization located in Otego, NY that provides individuals with disabilities a way to improve their quality of life through activities with horses. Their goal is to provide every rider with a fun experience, while also working to meet more personalized goals. For example, for riders who are unable to walk, the rhythmic movement of riding a horse can mimic the movement of a person’s natural gait, which helps increase muscle strength and flexibility. Or for riders with Autism, the ability to ride a horse can help either calm the rider or stimulate them depending on the gait of the horse! These goals are achieved through fun activities such as steering the horses through mazes and cones, or playing games using hula- hoops, barrels, and bean bag tosses. In the warmer weather, riders can even take their horses out on an outdoor trail ride!
Stewart’s Shops was proud to offer our support of this amazing program with a donation of $1,500. The funds from this donation provided relief to Athelas during COVID-19, when they were forced to shut their doors and cancel lessons for several months. With the help of our grant, Athelas was able to continue to care for their horses while their doors were closed and were able to slowly reopen their program as the state opened up!
Stewart’s Shops is proud to support this organization and many others. If you are involved with or know of a nonprofit organization in our market area that could use a little help, please reach out to us using our online contributions form or click here for more information.