Special Equestrians, Inc.                                                                                                              March, 2009 -  Issue 1
In This Issue
"Miracle Trail" Engraved Paver Program at Special Equestrians
Andrea Basler - Rider of the Year
Taste of Love 6 Fundraiser
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The Ride-A-Thon is just around the corner, on March 14th.  If you want to ride in the Ride-A-Thon, or to come just for lunch, call in your RSVP to our office phone number - 239-226-1221.  To get a pledge sheet or for more information, see the website link below. 
 

Ride-A-Thon Information

Directions to Babcock Ranch
Greetings!
Things at Special Equestrians are changing by the day. Our new parent/rider viewing area is finished and we are now enjoying it's shade and great pathways in and out of the riding arena.  Thank-you Southwest Florida Community  Foundation, Claiborne and Ned Fould's Foundation, and all of our individual donors for the funding to make this amazing addition possible.   We are so excited to begin the beautification process now. We will soon be kicking off our paver program, planting flowers and laying sod.  There will be a more complete article on this project in the next newsletter.  Stay tuned for our open house and ribbon cutting date this spring.
Viewing Area Photo Show

"Miracle Trail" Engraved Paver Program
A Commemorative Engraved Brick Program is being launched by Special Equestrians.  You can become a permanent part of Special Equestrians' history and leave a lasting memory at the Special Equestrians' Covered Riding Arena. 

The 4' by 200' path next to the riding arena fence will soon be covered with personalized bricks engraved with names and messages.  Our "Miracle Trail" will capture the Special Equestrians tradition of "Making Miracles Happen" and provide a unique opportunity to leave your message for future generations of riders, families, volunteers, and friends of Special Equestrians.  The forms for ordering an engraved brick can be obtained from the Special Equestrians office.  A press release will be sent out soon, with links to the forms on our website.
Andrea Basler - Rider of the Year 
Andrea Andrea started riding horses with Special Equestrians in the spring of 2005. At that time, she was not quite 4 years old and due to very low muscle tone, she had just started walking a couple of months before. We will never forget the first time she sat on a horse, she didn't seem to know what to think and looked a little frightened. By the end of her first lesson however, she had the biggest smile on her face so we knew she had enjoyed it.
 
We feel that her riding with Special Equestrians has helped Andrea in many different ways. First and foremost of course has been the strengthening of her muscle tone. She is now pretty much up to par with her peers, running, skipping, dancing, etc. It has also given her a lot of self confidence and self esteem, which is immeasurable.
 
The best part however is all the love and caring that has been given to Andrea. Starting with Miss Dee and Bill Curtis, her trainer that has been with her since the beginning. All of the volunteers, other riders and their parents, have all showed such love for her, a love she returns a hundredfold. Her award for "RIDER OF THE YEAR" was very unexpected but so appreciated. It shows appreciation for her efforts, her willingness to learn, to follow orders and to give her best. This award will be cherished by Andrea for the rest of her life and will keep giving her the incentive to keep on learning and always strive to become the best at whatever she attempts to do in the future. We know that she is proud of herself and we are equally very proud of her. Thank you "SPECIAL EQUESTRIANS" for all the love, the care and the pride you have given to our little "angel".              --Jerry & Nickie
Taste of Love 6 Fundraiser 
Each Year Special Equestrians holds two main fundraisers, the Taste of Love and the Ride-a-thon.  These two fundraisers along with our United Way funding are necessary to make up our annual operating budget of $150,000.
 
This year, Taste of Love 6 was held on February 8th at Contractor's Choice Supply a Raymond Company. The ambience of the evening began as soon as you arrived in the beautifully decorated tent for check in. This area was host to the silent and live auctions, and dessert and coffee. Posters of our riders and a PowerPoint presentation of our program were on display the entire evening.  Strategically placed along the way to the great food and fun was "Cadence Wednesday".  Not only did they provide an evening of wonderful music, they surprisingly added to the excitement by jumping on the auction stand raising an additional $2k for SE.  Moving inside the showroom, the synergy of our guests, our hostess, Gina Birch, and the restaurants and chefs was amazing to experience.  The twenty-one kitchen vignettes were extremely complimentary to our eight chefs, wine pairings and cigar rolling demonstration.
 
After two parent speakers expressed their gratitude and emotion for the benefits our program provides their children and families, Jay Severson, auctioneer, kicked off the auction with an overwhelming show of support, providing seven annual rider sponsorships equating to $14k. The auction continued at an amazing rate, providing funding for an arena fan and funding to start our Sensory Trail area.  With the auction, ticket sales, donations, and sponsorships, Special Equestrians raised close to $70k. The event was very successful due to the support of our patrons, chefs, sponsors, volunteers, and parent speakers.

Chef Shannon Yates of Bacchus was our Chef Coordinator for the event.  Participating Chefs and Restaurants for Taste of Love 6 included: Chef Dave Spina - Bacchus, Chef Harold Balink - H2, Chef Reiner Drygala - Bistro 41, Chef Ruth Cohen - Mad Takeout, Chef Norbert Mess - Gulf Harbour Yacht & Country Club, Chefs Russell Heintze & John Innarelli - Sasse's, and Chef Gloria Cabral-Jordan - La Trattoria Caf� Napoli.  Wine pairings were hand selected by Frank Pulice, proprietor of Austin's Wine Cellar.  Custom cigars, courtesy of Rich Castiano, owner of The Cigar Bar, were hand rolled for our guests.

Event planning began months in advance by the TOL6 committee. It was truly a team effort and the results are so apparent by the success of the event and the fun shared by all on this very special evening.  The event chairs Mindy LaCroix and Freda Jones and the entire TOL6 committee would like to sincerely thank everyone for the overwhelming support at this year's event, and we would like to thank Raymond Building Supply Corp for the use of their beautiful kitchen cabinet and appliance facility.
We hope you have enjoyed our first edition of our online newsletter.  In future issues, we will have more stories about our riders of the year and our volunteers of the year.

If you have any suggestions for what you would like to see in the newsletters, please email us at the address listed at the bottom of the newsletter.  Feel free to forward the newsletter to anyone and everyone!   You can help Special Equestrians' newsletter reach more people!

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Sincerely,
Jan Fifer

Special Equestrians, Inc.
PO Box 61528
Fort Myers, FL  33906-1528
239-226-1221 (o)
239-226-1279 (f)

Special Equestrians' mission is to provide therapeutic horseback riding and equine assisted activities to children and adults with physical and mental challenges.  We serve individuals from Lee, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades Counties in Southwest Florida.