A volunteer group that helps disabled people ride horses has 90 days to find a low-cost place to stable nine horses.
By MAUREEN BYRNE AHERN
Published September 3, 2003
SEMINOLE - A group of volunteers who bring together horses and people with physical and mental disabilities needs a miracle: A new home for nine horses that won't cost much money.
"We can't keep them all together without some major act of God," said Leah Maus, 26, one of the program's first recipients and now one of its certified riding instructors.
For the past two decades, horses for the Kiwanis Horses and Handicapped program have been living practically rent-free in a barn on property on 131st Street between 102nd Avenue and Walsingham Road.
Last week, program organizers found out they had 90 days to relocate the horses.
"They've been very gracious to us for a long time," said Mary Urquhart of Seminole, the group's chief riding instructor. "In return, I tried my best to keep up the property."
The owner now plans to redevelop his land and wants to remove the barn and build on the two-acre pasture, Urquhart said.
Finding a new home for the horses could be a tough task, and the 21-year-old program could be at risk, said Maus, a child life specialist at Tampa Children's Hospital and a 1994 Seminole High School graduate. Monthly rental fees for stalls cost around $400 per horse, Maus said.
Born with cerebral palsy and considered a spastic diplegic - that is, her legs don't work properly - Maus is a child life specialist at Tampa Children's Hospital.
The goal is to keep the horses together, Urquhart said. The Seminole Kiwanis Horses for Handicapped Foundation owns four of the nine horses. Urquhart owns four, and Marilyn Hunter owns the remaining horse.
Urquhart is leader of Seminole Riders 4-H Club and Girl Scout Senior Troop 711. Hunter is leader of Girl Scout Cadette Troop 675. Members from all three groups volunteer for the program, which was established by Gene and Pat Harris of Largo through the Kiwanis Club of Seminole and its foundation.
"I think it will work itself out," Gene Harris said of the program's predicament.
Horseback riding is recognized as one of the more beneficial forms of recreational therapy for the disabled, said Urquhart, 70. She is certified by the North American Handicapped Riders Association.
Each Saturday morning, she and other volunteers work with 35 riders, from 8 years old to middle age, at Seminole Vocational Education Center. One volunteer leads the horse and two walk beside it to ensure that the rider doesn't fall off.
The program's 35 volunteers mostly come from the eight Kiwanis clubs in Pinellas County, the Seminole Riders 4-H Club, Girl Scout Cadette Troop 675 and Senior Troop 711, the Seminole Key Club and various schools.
Since Urquhart was told the horses would have to find a new home, she's been calling everyone she knows. "Whatever way I have to, I'm going to provide for them," she said. "If we can keep them together, that would be great."
- Staff writer Julianne Wu contributed to this report.
