The Rocket

Issue date: 4/20/07 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Nate Daymut Casper, one of the 11 horses at the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center, is used to teach children and adults with disabilites how to ride. [Click to enlarge]

Owning a horse is the dream of many young children, but often that dream doesn't come true. Now, years later, those same horse-loving people can finally get a taste of what was never provided to them as children.

The SRU Storm Harbor Equestrian Center, located behind N. Kerr Thompson Stadium, was completed in September 2005.

The center is a 16,640-square-foot barn that includes stables, offices, a kitchen and an indoor riding arena. The center was made possible in part from donations from Carolyn Carruth-Rizza and is dubbed "Storm Harbor" after Carruth-Rizza's show horse.

The center was built in order to house the university's equestrian team and to offer a place for the Adaptive Physical Therapy program to work. Courtney Gramlich, the center's director, said that it was important to have a permanent place for the classes.

"We do a lot of work with the equine-assisted physical therapy courses," Gramlich said. "The classes used to have to be bounced around from barn to barn."

In addition to the therapy lessons, the center is also a gathering place for programs like Kids In Action, a specially designed program that teaches children with autism how to ride.

"Obviously, there are the physical benefits to riding," Gramlich said. "But what really come through are the emotional benefits."

While the center concentrates a lot of its efforts on helping children with disabilities, this summer it will be opened to the community for a summer camp, giving local children the opportunity to come for a day camp and learn to ride.

"The kids (will be able to) learn responsibility through the lessons," Gramlich said. "They need to remember to brush down their horses and clean the stalls. It's a good learning experience."

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