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Shadow Ranch co-founders Pam Richardson (left) and Marion Cox (right) flank Star, one of the equine therapists on staff at the therapeutic riding center just outside Sulphur Springs. Star is a black and white Appaloosa and has been at Shadow Ranch since 2010. -
Cowboy, a Halflinger measuring 13 hands tall, is one of the “starters” at Shadow Ranch. He loves people and is less intimidating to first-time riders due to his smaller stature. Staff Photos by Tammy Vinson -
Scootie (left), Flame (center) and Casper (right), collectively known as “the Co-Eds,” graze leisurely in one of Shadow Ranch’s fields, enjoying the summer sun and abundant grass.
Community
Shadow Ranch, founded by Marion Cox and Pam Richardson, is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life of kids and adults with disabilities and/or debilitating situations in their lives and to making a positive difference in the lives of our staff, volunteers and community.
Cox loves horses, a fact that becomes obvious within two minutes of meeting her. She says she’s loved horses her entire life. Cox served in the military for 18 years and says she had trouble adjusting after coming back from deployment during Desert Storm. She dreamed of owning her own ranch and therapeutic riding center but always called it a pipe dream.
She met Richardson at church while living in Dallas in 2007, and the two became friends. One day, Cox was talking about her pipe dream. Richardson slapped the table and asked, “Why does it have to be a pipe dream?”
This made Cox ask herself that same question, and when she wasn’t able to come up with a convincing answer, she started taking some steps toward making the dream a reality.
Things fell into place from that point, Cox says. She had already done some demographic studies and determined Sulphur Springs would be a good place to open a therapeutic riding center, and she worked with the director of a similar facility in Longview to learn everything she could about running a non-profit organization. She put together a small board of directors, but there didn’t seem to be a way to lift things off the ground.
Then, two weeks before Thanksgiving, a way was made – Cox was laid off from the job she’d been at for the last nine years. It was her, the company’s highest-paid hourly employee, or two drivers who were the sole breadwinners for their families, and Cox put her head on the chopping block. She spent the next nine months learning on the job five days a week at the Longview center and continued taking steps toward getting Shadow Ranch up and running.
Cox and Richardson found suitable property and convinced the owner, who was originally against leasing, to allow them to lease his property while they worked to raise money to buy their own place. The landlord ended up delaying the sale of his property to allow Shadow Ranch to find another location, which they did at the last minute.
Shadow Ranch began operations with six horses, five clients, a lease and a $15,000 budget in May 2010. Their first rider was a young man recovering from a malignant brain tumor. He regained his ability to walk in a barn with the help of a horse named Bronson. When his doctor proclaimed him cancer-free, the second call his mother made was to Shadow Ranch.
Today Shadow Ranch has nine horses (including five from the original herd), two part-time employees, a crew of volunteers, 30 acres of land with a mortgage and a budget of $65,000. They help around 1,200 people per year.
Shadow Ranch offers classes and activities 36 weeks out of the year. Class sessions start in September and run for 10 weeks, followed by a two-week break. Classes end the first week in July and allow the crew to take a break during the hottest part of summer.
“The horses just get to be horses until about two weeks before classes start back up,” Cox said.
It takes about two years to train a horse to Shadow Ranch standards according to Cox. All of her horses are rescues, and several have recovered from injuries or abuse they endured before arriving at Shadow Ranch. To the horses, Cox is Mama, and the mutual love is instantly plain to see.
“Marion has a gift,” said Richardson. “She can see inside a horse, whether or not it’s going to work [as a therapy horse].”
Safety is one of their top priorities. Each rider has a team by their side during the entire session consisting of a leader and two side walkers. The leader watches the horse, rider and instructor for signs of trouble.
In the event of an emergency, the horses are trained to plant all four feet and not move. If an emergency dismount happens, they bring the horse back afterward to show the animal he or she didn’t do anything wrong.
Equine-assisted activities and therapies involve participants working with horses or other equines to promote human physical and mental health. These types of activities have proven to be helpful in treating or coping with many different conditions, including amputations, attention deficit disorder, autism, brain injuries, cerebral palsy, cerebrovascular accident/stroke, cognitive or developmental delays, Down Syndrome, emotional or learning disabilities, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, PTSD, speech impediments, spina bifida, spinal cord injuries, substance abuse and terminal illness, just to name a few.
Examples of equine-assisted activities and therapies include therapeutic horseback riding, hippotherapy, therapeutic carriage driving, interactive vaulting, horse grooming and/ or tacking and stable management. Equine-assisted learning promotes the development of life skills through working with horses while equine-assisted psychotherapy involves a mental health professional working with a client and one or more horses in an experiential manner to help the clients learn about themselves and others. Hippotherapy involves an occupational therapist, a physiotherapist or a speech and language therapist working with a client and a horse.
In addition to their therapeutic activities, Shadow Ranch also has a literacy program that teaches first graders about horses while getting them excited about reading. They take a horse to school to help hand out kids’ copies of If I Ran the Horse Show, a Dr. Seuss-style book that teaches basic horsemanship in a kid-friendly style. The grand finale is a field trip to Shadow Ranch where the kids spend the day putting into practice what they’ve learned from their reading.
They also participate in the Ag in the Classroom program for fourth graders and assist veterans returning from active duty to re-acclimate to civilian life. Marion looks to forward to the day Shadow Ranch is able to reach out other local organizations to help them with their causes.
Shadow Ranch will be the beneficiary of all proceeds from the Shadow Renaissance Festival.