Dear Happy Hooves friends and family,
Happy New Year! 2019 was an AMAZING year for Happy Hooves! Thanks to our generous donors, dedicated volunteers, and fantastic riders, horses, and staff, we were able to have more special needs individuals and at-risk youth ride than ever before! Listed below are just a few of my favorite things from 2019 I would like to share with you, remember to click on the blue links and enjoy!
- Christmas at the Barn was wonderful! Hundreds came out to enjoy a sunny afternoon of "reindeer rides", a live interactive nativity, Santa, crafts, hot chocolate, cookies, and more! Check out some fun pictures here!
- Happy Hooves is delighted to be a grant recipient again this year for Dabo's ALL IN TEAM Foundation! Some of the special needs high school students from Walhalla High School sent Dabo and the Clemson Tigers a special message!
- School at the Barn has been busier than ever! This is our 17th year of special needs school classes and at-risk youth participating in a day full of therapeutic riding, equine assisted learning, and classroom time. To see photos of School at the Barn over the years, please click here. A huge thank-you to Dabo's ALL IN TEAM Foundation, Helens Hugs, and Leadership Greenville Class of 45 for doing so much to make this program such a success! You are making a long lasting impact in these children's lives!
- Eden Farms is proud to now offer new and exciting workshops at the center to help other companies and organizations advance their leadership skills. We've partnered with an organization called Leadership Adventures to become certified to provide these equine-assisted leadership courses. Not only do these trainings provide businesses with successful leaders, but also in the process provides scholarships and sustainability for us here at Happy Hooves!
- On October 5th guests enjoyed an unforgettable evening of delicious food, beer and wine, horse riding demonstrations, live music, silent and live auction items, and much more. This was the best Wines & Equines to date and all proceeds raised will provide scholarships to help special needs children and at-risk youth benefit from therapeutic riding and equine related activities! Thank you to WYFF News 4 Anchor, Michael Cogdill, for being the emcee for the evening!
- We loved having WSPA News Channel 7 Reporter, Christine Scarpelli come out to Eden Farms for a morning filled with horse riding fun and to find out about our therapeutic riding program's fundraiser, Wines & Equines. The link to the TV interviews can be found here.
- Tonka's Trail is finished and ready for action! Thanks to the generosity of Helens Hugs and Leadership Greenville Class of 45, our playground has been newly remodeled and there are so many new improvements! There are new swings, slides, sandboxes, a sensory wall, and a huge picnic pavilion! Plus, it is handicapped accessible so children of all ages and abilities can enjoy it!
- Our Points of Light volunteer event was a success! Thank you to the families and friends of Happy Hooves who came together to work on updating parts of our 10-station sensory trail. Families worked together to paint, clean, and rebuild 3 of the10 sensory stations. Griffin Mason completed the rest of the stations as well as the tactile trail for his Eagle Scout project. He was helped by members of his troop - Troop 37 out of Easley First Baptist Church.
- Our summer program with Project SEARCH was great! We love coming alongside these young adults with special needs in therapy lessons, horse care, and life skills!
- Have you read this article from Kidding Around Greenville? It does a wonderful job explaining about our riding programs. We hope you love it as much as we did!
- Thanks to all of the golfers, sponsors, volunteers, and Fox Run Country Club for supporting the 15th Annual Happy Hooves Charity Golf Tournament!
- Helen's Hugs 13th annual 5K Run! We cannot thank Helen's Hugs enough for their continuous support of our therapeutic riding programs at Eden Farms, now in our 19th year!
- A big thank you goes to our friends at Scaly Adventures for making this video about Happy Hooves! We appreciate our sweet rider, AnnaKate, and her horse Hannah, for being the stars!
God Bless you and keep you,
Becky Sweeney
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Friends of the Farm
We want to thank our most loyal supporters and make all donors and volunteers, new and old, feel appreciated! Your support is essential to our mission to enhance the lives of individuals in the Upstate of South Carolina through the power of the horse.
Happy Hooves is an all-volunteer organization. All funding comes from donations, fundraisers and grants. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, over 80% of our Happy Hooves riders are able to receive therapeutic riding at no charge.
Happy Hooves currently serves nearly 160 children in the Upstate each year through therapeutic riding lessons, summer fun programs and School at the Barn.
School at the Barn has 570 therapy lessons and 570 Equine Assisted Learning lessons each year. Summer camp has 135 therapy lessons; and we have 400 individual therapy lessons for a total of 1675 lessons per year.
The therapeutic riding programs require an average of 40 trained volunteers each week, and run year round, with each volunteer working an average of 3 hours per week.
Eden Farms, home of Happy Hooves, is a beautiful 170-acre property with three arenas, a 40-stall barn that currently houses 30 horses; 13 boarders and 17 therapy horses. There is a handicapped accessible playground on the grounds, along with a sensory riding trail with man-made activity stations.
We once again thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of your support and your donations. We couldn't help so many special needs children and adults, and at-risk children and teens, without you!
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Did You Know?
Happy Hooves has been a PATH International Premier Accredited Center since 2005. In fact, we are one of only six Premier Accredited Centers in South Carolina, and the only one in the Upstate. This accreditation is a rigorous process requiring centers to meet stringent requirements for staff, facilities, and programs. A program must be re-accredited every five years.
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Your contribution helps special needs children and adults, as well as at-risk children and teens.
Happy Hooves is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
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