- Posts: 18
Hope Farm in 7th year of providing equine therapy
8 years 2 weeks ago #852
by David
Hope Farm in 7th year of providing equine therapy was created by David
BY DREW BRACKEN
GRANVILLE - Susan Ginise has a heart for horses and helping. As the co-owner of Hope Farm Granville, she put the two together to teach horsemanship and riding lessons to those most in need.
“We teach equine assisted therapy,” Ginise said, meaning children and adults with physical, cognitive and/or emotional challenges come to Ginise for therapy, on a horse.
“I think the gifts the horse brings are unique,” she said. “It’s really very exciting.”
Ginise is a certified equine assisted instructor with the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International. PATH Intl. is a Denver, Colorado-based non-profit organization that promotes horse-related activities for children and adults with special needs.
Around the globe, there are about 4,600 certified instructors and 866 member centers. Hope Farm Granville — just the name speaks volumes — is also a PATH Intl. member center.
“I’m positive the equine assisted therapy is a game changer for our students,” Ginise said. “And I really think we’re making a difference in their quality of life.”
“They’re so tired of going to the hospital and throwing the ball back and forth,” she continued. “Not to say that’s less worthwhile, but I see these people having such a good time. For my students to have a good time while doing therapy, I think, is something really special. We laugh and say this is the fun therapy.”
Ginise, now 50 and proud of it (“I think we get wiser each year!!” she exclaimed), grew up around horses in Rolling Hills, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. She was a member of both 4-H and the US Pony Club.
“Everyone in my neighborhood had horses,” she said. “My family always had horses. Horse trails connected all of our houses where I grew up. We rode bikes and horses every day after school.”
The story actually goes back to her preschool days when she shared a pony named Tinker Bell with another family. “Tinker Bell was a pony who was retired from pulling a cart at Disneyland,” she said.
“My babysitter rode her pony over to babysit me,” she continued. “When she went to college she gave me her Shetland pony named Termite. I was 5 years old. And then when I was 11 we bought a Morgan/Quarter Horse named Merry from a friend who was going to college.”
In high school Ginise didn’t just babysit to earn money, she also taught horseback riding. “Horses are a passion and a way of life,” she said, stating what would seem to be a sizable understatement.
Ginise graduated from high school and The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), both in the 1980s. She earned an elementary education teaching credential from Loyola Marymount University in 1989 and then taught second grade in El Segundo, California. In 1994 she also received a certificate to teach reading recovery through California State University, San Bernardino.
“I saw equine assisted therapy in California so I always thought someday that’s what I want to do,” she said. “I‘ve always enjoyed teaching, specifically people who have trouble learning in the traditional way.”
The challenge was to coordinate her teaching techniques with her love of horses, and somehow add a slower pace of life to the mix. The answer presented itself when Russ, her husband since 1989, was transferred to this area in 2002. They now have about 8 acres on Granview Road, which fulfilled their dream to find “a place for our children to grow up with a yard large enough to keep them out of the street and large enough to have our horses at our house.”
They opened Hope Farm Granville in 2009 and now have six lesson horses and more than a dozen volunteers to help with the non-profit operation. Ginise serves about 30 students a week, and has a waiting list.
“I don’t spend anything on advertising,” she said. “It’s all word-of-mouth. And social workers help a lot.”
“I’m always amazed,” added her husband Russ, “that she just finds a way to get through to her students. When she pairs students with their horses, she works a little magic. She never gets discouraged, she’s always got a smile, she’s always cheerful.”
“She’s exhausted at the end of every day,” Russ concluded. “But it’s a good kind of exhaustion because she does what she loves.”
IF YOU GO
• Hope Farm Granville is located at 3738 Granview Road in Granville. For more information call 740-321-1387.
www.newarkadvocate.com/story/news/local/...ne-therapy/85527246/
GRANVILLE - Susan Ginise has a heart for horses and helping. As the co-owner of Hope Farm Granville, she put the two together to teach horsemanship and riding lessons to those most in need.
“We teach equine assisted therapy,” Ginise said, meaning children and adults with physical, cognitive and/or emotional challenges come to Ginise for therapy, on a horse.
“I think the gifts the horse brings are unique,” she said. “It’s really very exciting.”
Ginise is a certified equine assisted instructor with the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International. PATH Intl. is a Denver, Colorado-based non-profit organization that promotes horse-related activities for children and adults with special needs.
Around the globe, there are about 4,600 certified instructors and 866 member centers. Hope Farm Granville — just the name speaks volumes — is also a PATH Intl. member center.
“I’m positive the equine assisted therapy is a game changer for our students,” Ginise said. “And I really think we’re making a difference in their quality of life.”
“They’re so tired of going to the hospital and throwing the ball back and forth,” she continued. “Not to say that’s less worthwhile, but I see these people having such a good time. For my students to have a good time while doing therapy, I think, is something really special. We laugh and say this is the fun therapy.”
Ginise, now 50 and proud of it (“I think we get wiser each year!!” she exclaimed), grew up around horses in Rolling Hills, California, a suburb of Los Angeles. She was a member of both 4-H and the US Pony Club.
“Everyone in my neighborhood had horses,” she said. “My family always had horses. Horse trails connected all of our houses where I grew up. We rode bikes and horses every day after school.”
The story actually goes back to her preschool days when she shared a pony named Tinker Bell with another family. “Tinker Bell was a pony who was retired from pulling a cart at Disneyland,” she said.
“My babysitter rode her pony over to babysit me,” she continued. “When she went to college she gave me her Shetland pony named Termite. I was 5 years old. And then when I was 11 we bought a Morgan/Quarter Horse named Merry from a friend who was going to college.”
In high school Ginise didn’t just babysit to earn money, she also taught horseback riding. “Horses are a passion and a way of life,” she said, stating what would seem to be a sizable understatement.
Ginise graduated from high school and The University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), both in the 1980s. She earned an elementary education teaching credential from Loyola Marymount University in 1989 and then taught second grade in El Segundo, California. In 1994 she also received a certificate to teach reading recovery through California State University, San Bernardino.
“I saw equine assisted therapy in California so I always thought someday that’s what I want to do,” she said. “I‘ve always enjoyed teaching, specifically people who have trouble learning in the traditional way.”
The challenge was to coordinate her teaching techniques with her love of horses, and somehow add a slower pace of life to the mix. The answer presented itself when Russ, her husband since 1989, was transferred to this area in 2002. They now have about 8 acres on Granview Road, which fulfilled their dream to find “a place for our children to grow up with a yard large enough to keep them out of the street and large enough to have our horses at our house.”
They opened Hope Farm Granville in 2009 and now have six lesson horses and more than a dozen volunteers to help with the non-profit operation. Ginise serves about 30 students a week, and has a waiting list.
“I don’t spend anything on advertising,” she said. “It’s all word-of-mouth. And social workers help a lot.”
“I’m always amazed,” added her husband Russ, “that she just finds a way to get through to her students. When she pairs students with their horses, she works a little magic. She never gets discouraged, she’s always got a smile, she’s always cheerful.”
“She’s exhausted at the end of every day,” Russ concluded. “But it’s a good kind of exhaustion because she does what she loves.”
IF YOU GO
• Hope Farm Granville is located at 3738 Granview Road in Granville. For more information call 740-321-1387.
www.newarkadvocate.com/story/news/local/...ne-therapy/85527246/
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