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equine assisted therapy

Home of the Brave

July 3, 2016

The Webster Dictionary gives the simple definition, “feeling or showing no fear: not afraid” to the word Brave. I recently heard the quote, “This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.” It stuck with me so I later looked it up and found out it was by a local Indiana man, Elmer Davis. He was a reporter who made himself famous for his work during WWII. He saw first hand what we so beautifully picture as “brave”. Bravery is something that most Americans will quickly associate with the

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The Power of a Simple Summer

June 16, 2016

[vc_row type=”in_container” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ width=”1/1″][vc_column_text]SUMMER! It’s simply a season and yet it triggers so many thoughts and emotions in each and every one of us. When you ask most people about their favorite summer memories a strange and consistent thing happens…childhood replays! It’s never a single event or activity. It’s a big picture of our summers as a child. Sun, nature, swimming, vacation, sleeping in, lightening bugs, bare feet, fishing, sprinklers, cookouts, camp, the list goes on and on and let’s not forget about playing with horses of course. If you are anything like me, once you

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“So you think you want to be a therapeutic riding horse?” Trial Horses Part 2- Trial Period and Desensitization

July 9, 2015

Last week’s post discussed the horse selection process, what we look for in trial horses and how we choose which horses we go look at.  This week we’re going to take a look into the trial period and what it takes to be a therapeutic riding horse. Because of the tough nature of the job, the horses at Agape go through a trial period that lasts 60 days.  In order to give them time to settle in, each trial horse stays at least 30 days. Agape equine trainer and instructor, Cody Bogard, plays a big part in the assessment, training and

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Gypsy Dreamin’

June 19, 2015

Did you know Agape is competing to win one of 10 Gypsy Vanner horses?  LexLin Gypsy Ranch, based in eastern Tennessee, has partnered with PATH International to provide 10 Gypsy horses to 10 PATH centers around the country through their Gypsy Gift program.  Much to our excitement, Agape was nominated and selected to compete! The LexLin Gypsy Ranch page describes Gypsy horses as follows: “For hundreds of years, nomadic people known as Gypsies have traveled the roads of the United Kingdom in beautifully carved and decorated living wagons.  To maintain this wandering way of life, they created an extraordinary breed

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Picture Perfect

May 12, 2015

The morning was beautiful.  Volunteers were buzzing around the barn, braiding the horses’ manes and tails with ribbons and giving them glitter hearts on their hips.  The finishing touches were being put on the arena and observation room, Hopalong Cassidy had arrived,things were just falling into place and the weather!  Put simply, it was heaven-sent. The Mane Event was off to a great start!  As the morning went on, the horses were tacked and warmed up in the arena as students and their families were filing in and the “parking lot” pasture was filling up.  It was going to be

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Our Roots & Our Wings

April 24, 2014

March 2014 marked a very important time in Agape’s history – it marked 20 years of service to our central Indiana community at our center in Cicero. As many of you may know, Agape was actually founded in 1986, by Cheryl Miller and her daughter Dawn.  Cheryl and Dawn were given the opportunity to partner with Indiana University Bradford Woods to serve youth with disabilities through equine-assisted therapy during the summer. This summer program was the start of Agape and it was in this fertile ground that the mission and vision for our organization took root. In 1992, Dawn unexpectedly

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