Within the past year, Reins to Recovery Inc. Therapeutic Riding Center has focused on its three programs.
To help sustain and grow them, the nonprofit organization has put a lot of effort into its largest fundraiser, known this year as The Mane Event.
The 11th annual fundraiser will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday at the Bartholomew County Fairgrounds, 750 W. County Road 200S, Columbus. The event, open to the public, will include a barbecue dinner, a live auction and a silent auction.
Admission is free, but freewill donations will be accepted for the dinner.
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The silent auction will run from 4 to 6 p.m., and Roger Dierckman of Holton will lead the live auction at 6 p.m. Auction items include resort packages, restaurant gift cards, golf packages, water park tickets, amusement park passes, zoo passes, dinner vouchers, hotel vouchers and more.
Easterling Entertainment will provide face painting from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
"We’ve had a great board of directors really focusing on just gearing up and getting ready for the event," said Calli Johnson, executive director of Reins to Recovery.
"We named it The Mane Event because it truly is the main event this year with some of the restructuring of board members, staff, volunteers," she said. "This past year, we’ve really had to just say, ‘OK, we’re going to really focus on one event and see if we can grow it to be kind of the main event.’ We’re really hoping to get a crowd and get people to come out and learn about Reins."
The event will be the largest fundraiser the organization has been able to do this year to bring in overhead money, Johnson said.
Proceeds will go toward general funding for the therapeutic riding, equine-assisted psychotherapy and equine-assisted learning programs.
"A lot of our programs that we get support for — either scholarships for the riding, grants that help the clients’ costs either be reduced or at no cost — we still have the horse overhead, and we couldn’t do the programs without them," Johnson said of the seven large horses and three miniature horses.
Since Reins to Recovery opened its doors in 2008 near Seymour, an annual fundraiser has been conducted in the summer. It draws nearly 200 people and brings in between $10,000 and $12,000.
In 2016, the center moved to property along U.S. 31 just north of Reddington.
The therapeutic riding program is for children and adults with special needs. Currently, there are around 10 riders coming once a week for about 45 minutes.
Johnson is the only certified instructor, but Barbara Phelps and Sierra Trowbridge are working on becoming certified through PATH International.
"We have our wait list still that is growing, so we are really hoping to be able to add back a couple more days a week, possibly even a Saturday, to open up some availability," Johnson said. "We’re still always struggling with the volunteer aspect not having those daytime volunteers or enough. Our volunteers, we couldn’t do our program without them, especially therapeutic riding."
Equine-assisted psychotherapy is for ages 5 and up who are victims of violence and abuse. For the most part, it’s a ground-mounted program. The facilitating team involves an equine specialist, a mental health specialist and a horse.
Right now, between 20 and 30 clients come once a week. Since the program is funded by a grant, clients who fall under the right credentials participate at no cost.
The program also is offered at a satellite site in Lexington and a Turning Point Domestic Violence Services shelter in Bartholomew County.
"It has just grown in the past two to three years. The numbers have just increased substantially," Johnson said.
Equine-assisted learning is for at-risk youth with emotional disabilities and behavior issues. Johnson said several school groups and homeschooled children are involved in the program.
"A lot of it is just social behaviors that we work on, character skills, building up respect, honesty, self-esteem — everything that some of these youth are lacking," she said. "We are working closely with the schools to bring that back into the classroom."
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What: Reins to Recovery Inc. Therapeutic Riding Center’s annual fundraiser, consisting of a dinner and live and silent auctions
When: 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday (dinner starts at 4 p.m.; silent auction 4 to 6 p.m.; live auction at 6 p.m.)
Where: Bartholomew County Fairgrounds, 750 W. County Road 200S, Columbus
Cost: Dinner is a freewill offering
Information: Call Calli Johnson at 812-350-4864, email [email protected], visit reinstorecovery.org or find the organization on Facebook
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