Riding To The Top weathers pandemic, now fully reopened

Riding To The Top Therapeutic Riding Center in
Windham  provides equine-assisted services for
children and adults with disabilities and has emerged
from the pandemic stronger than ever,
COURTESY PHOTO

By Elizabeth Richards

Riding to the Top Therapeutic Riding Center found creative ways to continue operations through the COVID-19 pandemic. They’ve been fully reopened, though not without modifications since last summer.

“The good news is that things are feeling a little bit normal, albeit different,” said Executive Director Sarah Bronson. 

As of last summer, she said, all of their clients are back receiving services, including those who require the most support and may not be able to mask.

Bronson said they never dreamed they’d be closed for so long.

“I’m thankful that we’ve weathered and navigated through something totally unknown to any of us, and I feel like we’ve done it with as much grace as possible,” she said. 

The organization put together a six-phase reopening plan that they’d hoped to get through by the end of 2020.  It was July 2021 before it happened, Bronson said.

“It was a well thought out plan and I think we adjusted accordingly, which is what we needed to do,” she said.

While challenging to make the tough decisions around policies, it helps a lot when people are supportive and non-judgmental, she said. 

“Our ultimate goal is to keep people safe here and provide them with a meaningful experience that improves health and wellness, and if we have to wear masks, that’s a little compromise,’” Bronson said.

All the staff, volunteers, clients and families at Riding To The Top have been amazingly resilient and dedicated to keeping everybody safe, Bronson said.  They are still being conservative because of the close contact required in their programming. 

“I will love it when we can see all the smiles that have been hidden by masks but I’m willing to wait. I can see it in the eyes, and I know from families we’ve talked to what it means for their kids and their families. We take the steps we need to take,” she said.

In the Fall of 2020 and Spring of 2021, the organization provided remote education for two school groups, Canal School in Westbrook and Greely High School’s Functional Life Skills Program.  The program consisted of weekly half-hour ZOOM calls and culminated in a visit with two mini horses. 

“I didn’t know how much was sticking, but these kids learned so much remotely, I was floored,” Bronson said. 

In person school group programming resumed last fall, she said.

Riding To The Top is currently a secondary site for an National Institute of Health funded research project studying the impact of a 10-week therapeutic riding program on physiologic changes in children ages 6 to 16 who have autism. 

“It's really exciting to be participating in this,” Bronson said. 

The project was postponed for a year, but they are now successfully working with their third cohort of participants.

Last summer, assistance from The Shelter Man to purchase a tent allowed their summer camp program to resume. They just finished applications for their 2022 summer camp program. 

2022 also sees the return of events, such as a Derby Party in May, Ride-a-thons, sponsored runners at Beach to Beacon, and the Triple B (Boots, Bands & BBQ).

“We’re looking at what the options are, but moving ahead with plans for a live event,” Bronson said. 

The Triple B is the organization’s biggest fundraiser. In 2019, it brought in just under $190,000, a huge portion of the operating budget, Bronson said.  

Through federal funding and very generous donors, Bronson said, the organization has come through the pandemic in fairly good shape.  The challenge, she said, will be in the next couple of years, seeing what things look like.

One thing the pandemic made clear is that a significant endowment would be really nice, providing revenue of 3 to 5 percent of the principal toward operations. 

In 2021, the organization was approached by a philanthropist who set up a 3-1 match for donations to help purchase the solar array that was installed in 2012 that was owned by Revision Energy. In 2018, when the power purchase arrangement made the array available for purchase, RTT wasn’t able to do that, Bronson said. 

With the matching funds, they were able to get the donations needed from both individual donors and Norway Savings Bank to purchase the array at the end of 2021.  This purchase will save the organization $3,000 to $4,000 annually.

One of the big challenges currently is in finding qualified staff.  One long term staff member retired last year, and another is retiring at the end of March 2022. 

“Trying to find replacements is really hard.  The employment market is very, very tough at this time,” Bronson said. Still, she said she is confident that they will be able to fill vacant positions.  Last year, for instance, it was the barn manager position, which they filled with a former employee who decided to return.

“She’s a great fit,” Bronson said. “We did a little bit of reorganization to make it work.”

Though challenging, she said, times like that are also an opportunity to re-examine operations.

Volunteers are another constant need at the farm, both in the barn and for lessons.

“I feel very hopeful about the future,” Bronson said. “I do feel like the need is greater than ever and I think our challenge will be trying to meet that need with services.”

It’s hard to know just what the impact is for both school age kids and adults from the isolation the pandemic brought.

“I feel like the farm has been an incredibly safe place and a touchstone for so many families and volunteers.  I’m so in awe of everybody who have been so incredibly resilient,” she said. <