Christy Richmond believes that she was born with horses in her blood, or something to a similar extent. She began riding when she was only four years old after her mother agreed to take her to a friend’s farm. Christy began taking lessons as a child and has been passionate about horses ever since.
Christy is now the executive director of the White Pine Stables Therapeutic Riding Center (TRC) in Galena, Ohio. White Pine Stables TRC aims to provide students with special needs the opportunity to participate in equine-assisted activities. Through Christy’s program, students notice improved mobility, balance, coordination and increased muscle tone.
It wasn’t always Christy’s vision to use her stable as a means for helping others; she had originally constructed an arena to allow her to practice her own riding year-round. However when Christy’s liver was split by the hind legs of a friend’s misbehaving horse, she quickly realized how therapeutic horses could be. “I shouldn’t have lived,” Christy says, “this is why this program exists.”
During her hospital stay, Christy conducted as much research as she could on therapeutic riding and non profit organizations. Christy quickly realized that her career in pharmaceutical sales wasn’t as fulfilling as she had wished and elected to take some time off to launch her riding center. After the center’s initial pilot program had ended, she intended on returning to her career, but the program was growing at a rate beyond what Christy had expected. She found that her new organization was both satisfying and fulfilling, more so than any job she had held before her center opened.
White Pine Stables TRC now houses nine therapeutic horses and sees 100 students per week when in season. Christy has 100 weekly volunteers that help her in executing riding lessons and also provide assistance in other day-to-day tasks. The brunt of the labor still lies on Christy though, who coordinates the scheduling of the volunteers and classes, designs lesson activities and props, as well as handles the bookkeeping and company communications.
Currently there are over 50 students who are on the waiting list to enroll at White Pine Stables TRC. Christy hopes to soon expand to accommodate the increase in interest in her program. “It’s difficult to have people waiting, and waiting, and wanting into the program,” Christy says. To continue moving forward, Christy says that she needs increased manpower and funding.
Christy’s mom, who introduced Christy to horseback riding at the age of four, is Christy’s biggest hero. “She’s funny and opinionated,” says Christy, “but she’s an absolute hero and has done a ton of great things in her life.” Christy says that her mom has always been an intelligent and hard worker and continues to inspire Christy day in and day out.