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therapeutic riding

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

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’

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

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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Love & Grace at Agape

In 2013, Agape served 1,401 riders.  As of the end of July, just halfway through 2014, we served over 1,566 riders and gave 3,687 lessons! WOW!! Expanding to Bradford Woods has been a HUGE success.  We had a crazy busy summer, but it was amazing and recently we took a moment to remember what we do and why. On August 22nd, nearly 100 people came out to Agape South at Bradford woods to eat, play games, watch lessons, and most importantly, take a moment to enjoy and relax.  Volunteer, Bern Lytle, did an amazing job leading us in prayer and reminding us

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The Therapy Horse

“There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” – Sir Winston Churchill At Agape we really do see miracles happen every day, and it would not happen without the assistance of Our Horses. Only 3 out of 10 horses have the capacity to be a therapy horse.  Not only does a horse have to be an athlete, but also possess the ability to handle stress and highly emotional situations. These gentle giants can read, reflect and respond to human emotion that we are incapable of communicating ourselves.  This is what makes

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The Impact of Being Impactful

We all have places, people, and events in our life that impact us.  These people, places, and events don’t just impact us for a moment but they impact us for a lifetime and become a part of us.  They affect who we are and why we do the things we do, and they even support and keep us going at our most difficult moments. At Agape, we strive to make an impact on everyone who comes our way: the riders, volunteers, staff, donors and even visitors just passing through.  This impact is created by everyone involved at Agape working together

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Why we “Drive to Ride”

On March 1st we kicked off our 2nd annual “Drive to Ride” campaign, one of Agape’s main fundraising events.  “Drive to Ride” is aptly named.  Our participants demonstrate drive, determination, and courage every day regardless of their challenges, life experiences, or obstacles.  It is our mission to support their efforts and, through D2R you can be part of their amazing journey as well. Our goal this year is to raise $18,000, which is equivalent to the cost of 106  hours of lessons at Agape. Contributions to D2R help support Agape programming for over 1,400 individuals in central Indiana.  These individuals, living,

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