This year has been an exciting one for Special Equestrians. We have seen amazing progress in our riders, whether they are new riders or longtime riders. Our instructors, volunteers, and families are extremely proud of the accomplishments of the riders.
Our teaching staff has changed in five wonderful ways. Our new class instructors, who join our Head Instructor Dee Hollander, are: Eileen Coe, Justin Parchem, and Amy Goss. Our new volunteer instructors, who will also be helping out in the classes are Freda Jones and Cindy Hohman. All have been certified as therapeutic riding instructors by PATH, Intl., Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship. We welcome them all, in their new roles at Special Equestrians. We also thank, our Volunteer Coordinator, Sherry Gilbert, for her twelve years of service to Special Equestrians. Sherry has done an amazing job for us at SE. Any new volunteer who was trained by Sherry experienced a welcoming and informative volunteer training day. Sherry will be taking on new projects at SE, and she will still be involved in just about everything else at the program. Our new volunteer coordinator, Priscilla Kovalsky, is introduced below. Our horse herd has grown in the past year. We added four new program horses: Pete, Apache, Fancy and Smokey. Three of these horses were donated to the program. Thank you Sherry Fields and Catherine Brown for your generosity. Our horse barn underwent Phase II of the renovation project, to provide better air flow and an extra stall in the barn. Our tractor and farm equipment are now housed in a beautiful new shed. This project was completed with a grant from the Southwest Florida Community Foundation. We have a new fence running the length of our ten acre property, that is over 3,000 feet of fencing. We have a new safe entrance to the property which will keep the trucks and trailers on the road and out of the ditch. Thank you to Our Lady of Light Knights of Columbus for funding and helping us clear the fence line. Thanks to all of the volunteers who helped with the planning and the building phase of these projects. In 2011, our fundraisers were very successful and a lot of fun. Without them, we could not operate our program. We thank everyone who helped with the Taste of Love and Ride-A-Thon. They are the two signature events organized and presented each year by Special Equestrians. Thank you to United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades, for your continued support and for allowing us to be your valued partners since 2003. You inspire us to be better every day! Some organizations put on fundraisers for us this year. Thank you to the Fort Myers Greeter's Club, The Cape Coral Ladies Lunch Bunch and Leoma Lovegrove. We are very grateful to all of our donors, whether they are an individual, a club, an organization or a foundation. You are the reason that we can keep our wonderful program thriving and improving. You are the reason that we have the funds to take excellent care of our equine friends, who are the heart of our organization. You are the reason that we can keep our tuition low and offer scholarships to those who are struggling in this economy. Last but never least, thank you from the bottom of our hearts to our faithful and hardworking volunteers, who come during classes and outside of classes. If the horses are the heart of our program, you are the soul. You know we could not do any of this without you and we are in awe of your dedication. | 
