In late 2014, Majestic Crossing dairy purchased 80 acres about a half a mile from our farm. There was a horse arena on the property that we were initially planning to use for machinery storage in the winter. Before we did anything with the facility, we got a call from someone we had known in the community for years who has an autistic son. She started talking to us about REINS, a non-profit organization that uses therapeutic horse riding to help improve the lives of those with special needs, and shared with us that the program was looking for a new facility.
The owners at Majestic Crossing Dairy thought the program was great and started working with the organization so they could use the horse arena. There was a lot of work that needed to be done both on and around the facility. REINS is a perfect example of a community coming together. Countless volunteers came together to help renovate the building and the surrounding area. Companies in the community have support projects where the employees volunteer for a day instead of working in the office.
Compared to what the building looked like when we first saw it in 2014, I am in awe to see where it is now. Volunteers have done an amazing job with the arena; all we did was give them a place to start.
In 2017, REINS had around forty riders with about one hundred volunteers that helped throughout the season. The program sessions are three days a week in the afternoons and early evenings, from June through August. My dad, Ed, usually goes to at least one session per summer to see what the program is doing. Last year as he was leaving the arena after a session, a young mother approached him in the parking lot. Her son, probably a six-year-old, was riding that day. In the parking lot, the young woman opened up about how great REINS is and what wonders the therapeutic riding has done with her son. She thanked my dad for doing so much to help the program, and told him that it made a big difference in their lives.
At the end of the summer, the program has an event to celebrate the end of another riding season. This year, they presented Majestic Crossing Dairy with a scrapbook filled with pictures and cards from both the program participants and their parents. There wasn’t a dry eye in the entire arena that night. The stories people share with us, whether it was written in a card or face-to-face, these are the stories that really hit home.
One of the REINS program sessions this summer.