Riding Therapy Group Needs Help Finding New Home

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Hold Your Horses has been providing equine therapy to children for 8 years, but now they have just weeks to find a new home.

"Although it's therapy, the child feels like they're riding," said Janet Weisberg, the founder and executive director of Hold Your Horses.

She's also an occupational therapist.

"Just the interaction of the horse allows for these children to develop skills that help them to live more independent daily lives," Weisberg said.

"It's so much more than just physical therapy," said Tonya Poppen, who has brought her daughter Emily every week for 8 years. "It's emotional; it's therapeutic in ways that it's beyond what it physically does for her."

Emily is usually in a wheelchair, except for once every week when she gets to ride.

"Em isn't a kid who's making huge strides, she isn't a kid who's going to be walking one day, this isn't what it's for," Poppen said. "It's for maintaining, it's for doing something she loves. She gets to be a girl who rides horses."

But now it's the horses that need help.

"We have to be out by April 1," Weisberg said.

The place they've called home for 8 years is no longer an option, and now the search is on for a new one.

"It's a lot to move 8,500 pounds in that short amount of time," Weisberg said.

They need at least $50,000 to move all seven horses and cover rent for the new location, moving expenses and operational costs to continue providing services to their families with as little interruption as possible.

"We need an indoor arena, we need heat," Weisberg said.

"I pray and hope that somebody steps up and says, 'Hey, we got this farm, we've got this indoor arena, we would love you guys to come,'" Poppen said.

A new home would mean that all seven horses could keep helping children and families for years to come.

"They are an amazing group of horses," Poppen said. "They are an amazing group of therapists."

So far Hold Your Horses has raised $11,000, but still need another $40,000 and a place to go.

They also need volunteers to help when it comes time to move.

If you would like to donate, or know of a property that could support Hold Your Horses, click here.