At Slippery Rock University, Storm Harbor Equestrian Center serves as a place where therapy, education and community connection come together through the bond between people and horses.
“We’re a therapeutic riding center, and our indirect mission is to provide services for people with disabilities. It can be any type of disability: cognitive, physical, emotional. So any type of disability we serve, but we work closely with the university to provide a learning experience for the students here at Slippery Rock,” said Debra Enscoe, barn manager of the Storm Harbor Equestrian Center. “We work a lot with the rec therapy department. We get a lot of OT students, PT students, psychology, and education. So we try to incorporate their education into what we can provide for them, working with a diverse population.”
The center’s main goal is to use equine-assisted activities to help riders build independence and confidence. “The goal of [equine] activities is to teach riding skills. So we want to take that client and make them as independent as they can be,” Enscoe said.
What sets Storm Harbor apart is its unique connection to the university and its national recognition. “We’re very unique that we’re part of a university…also, we are one of few Premier PATH centers. That is our accreditation through PATH International,” Enscoe said.
The facility operates year-round, allowing both riders and students to benefit from consistent programs regardless of weather. “We can keep it comfortable for the clients, around 50 degrees, when it’s frigid outside. So we’re able to function year-round, through winter and all the bad weather.”
Students from across campus, including majors like recreational therapy, psychology and education, gain valuable hands-on experience at Storm Harbor. Many assist with events such as Special Olympics and summer camps. “Special Olympics, we run that on a 10-week program for Butler County…they’ll assist the riders and help them through their training session, preparing for the games in Penn State in June,” she explained.
The center also hosts “Camp Rock,” a two-week program through SRU’s Recreation Therapy Department, along with community camps that include children without disabilities. “We do offer 2 sessions each month, and it’s very popular in the community…we fill up in a day,” Enscoe said.
Academic collaboration remains a major part of the center’s mission. “We do have a Thursday class. It’s called Trails; it’s through rec therapy. So the students actually get on-hand experience working with a client every week with the horses, and then also doing other interventions that they are developing through their rec therapy classes,” she said. “So incorporating the majors at the university, along with what we offer… that’s one of our main goals.”
Outside of the arena, the center features a sensory trail designed to engage all five senses. “So our sensory trail, we try to update it every year. It’s to provide stimulation for any of our riders… We like to have colors, sounds, different visuals where you can hear the horses walk over different materials. We have a wooden bridge that the clients can feel going up and over the bridge. And we like to have different interactive activities out there,” Enscoe said. “I like to put bird seed in a mailbox where the rider can take the bird seed out in the mailbox and put it in a bird feeder somewhere. We try to keep it very stimulating and hit all the senses that we can while we’re out there.”
“We take into consideration every sense clients would benefit from,” Enscoe said. “We do get a lot of blind clients, so we work with a group called VIP: visually impaired people. They bring groups up here.”
The center also partners with veteran organizations, such as the Butler VA and the Pittsburgh VA, to offer adaptive riding opportunities.
Volunteers play an essential role in making these programs possible. “We depend on our volunteers, they are a vital aspect to our program…we send out an email once a week of where our needs are,” Enscoe said. “We have a very strong community base where we have a lot of retired teachers or just retired professionals that want to come in and help.”
Fundraising and donations also keep the center’s operations running strong. “We just finished up with our very large fundraiser, the Sunset Serenade…we raised over 150,000 [dollars],” Enscoe said. “It’s like planning a wedding for us every year.”
Each day at the barn starts early, and it stays busy with school groups, lessons and therapy sessions. “Normally during the school year, it’s school programs. So we have multiple schools that bring their students here just to learn about the horses….There’s always a safety aspect to every session and grooming and then riding….we run lessons where we need most of the volunteers on Tuesdays and Wednesdays,” she explained.
Students and visitors also learn practical lessons about horse care and behavior, including how horses respond to different weather. “Horses actually prefer the colder weather, but we do blanket them to sort of limit their hair growth so we can cool them down properly if they get sweaty. But yeah, they prefer the colder weather than the hot.”
Enscoe has been with Storm Harbor for eight years and brings decades of experience in therapeutic equestrian programs. “I used to be the director of a program at George Jr. Republic…we, at one point, had over 500 kids on campus, all at-risk boys,” she said.
Whether it’s supporting veterans, teaching SRU students or hosting summer camps for local children, Storm Harbor continues to make an impact, not only across campus, but throughout the surrounding region.
