It’s been a fantastic first quarter for Medicine Horse as we settle into our new home at Papillion Ranch. We now have 10 boarders supporting the organization and our therapy herd has grown to 16 horses, 4 donkeys, 3 mini horses, 2 goats, and 1 sheep. There has been so much progress and many facility updates have been completed. However, we still have a busy spring ahead with building out the south pasture, creating a therapy garden/community space, upgrading the outdoor arena, and updating the parking lot as some of the major initiatives we are excited to get working on with the warming weather.
Despite all the transition, our therapy team has served 475 clients, conducted 20 groups, and provided 95 scholarships for individual therapy. We continue to create new partnerships and renew old ones with Mental Health Partners, Saint Vrain Valley School District, Boulder Vets Center, Main St. School, Boulder County Probation and TGTHR all supporting groups this first quarter. The therapy team has done a tremendous job of managing through all of the changes and a big shout out to them for ensuring we stayed on mission by serving our community.
We also have our signature groups beginning with Operation Be Herd and Giddy Up underway. In addition, Alison McCabe has been appointed the Clinical Lead in recognition of her immense contributions and leadership in guiding the psychotherapy operations of our nonprofit. I am excited to work with Alison to continue to establish Medicine Horse as the industry leader in Equine Facilitated Therapy and Learning.
Finally, I’d like to extend a huge thank you to our staff, board and over 70 volunteers who have supported us in making this transition a success. Emily and Noah have done an amazing job of helping us scale, manage our herd and get our facility running smoothly. Natalee has expanded our community with boarders who support our mission and Anna got our volunteer program back up and running and she continues to make improvements here every day. Mike is simply a legend and the volunteer support has been critical in making all of this a success.
We are going to be adding more barn staff to the team and pausing on adding any new horses to allow operations to find their flow as we head into the busiest time of the year. I am beyond excited for the spring as we continue to grow Medicine Horse into new possibilities (and I can finally turn the heaters off in the office!) With immense gratitude, thank you all for your contributions and support! Also, thanks to my family for coming out to finish painting the indoor round pen.