From the Executive Director, Trish Hegeman
It’s been a great first 6 months celebrating Mane Stream’s 50th Anniversary! I have had a lot of fun learning about our early years and the people from our past who have been instrumental in building Mane Stream into what we are today. I encourage you to read all of our 50 People for 50 Years articles and celebrate their roles in Mane Stream’s history.
We kicked off our anniversary year with a great party and fundraiser, Boots on Bourbon Street. Over 200 people gathered for a fun night with a Mane Stream therapy program demonstration featuring Minnie the Fjord and client Stella, great New Orleans inspired food, line dancing, a silent auction, and a paddle raise for the establishment of our Best Foot Forward Fund to help with routine maintenance and unexpected expenses around the farm.
Our programs are thriving this year! There were 69 riders in our spring adaptive riding session, the most we have ever had in a single session. Therapy services is also having a great year with many new clients in addition to some who are returning for the first time since the start of the pandemic. And our field trip program exploded this year with double the number of visits from Girl Scout troops and school groups. This is quite a change from 1972 when we had only 4 riders a week.
This fall we will have two more celebrations - the Equus - Gratitude Gala on October 1 and the Annual Horse Show on October 23. The gala will be at the United States Equestrian Team and will be an evening of memories, great food, dancing, live and silent auctions, and catching up with friends and neighbors. The Annual Horse Show is my favorite day of the year. Seeing the adaptive riders show off the skills they have been working on during their weekly lessons, the pride they have in their accomplishments, and the smiles on their faces when they receive their ribbons are the true highlights of the day. I hope that you can join me at the show this year.
I always consider it an honor to be Mane Stream’s Executive Director, and being in that role during our 50th Anniversary is definitely a highlight! It has been fun talking to former volunteers and staff members about different times in Mane Stream’s history. Especially interesting has been learning about the search for our current property and our transition from an almost all volunteer organization into a professionally staffed nonprofit.
I hope that you can join us at one of our events to help us celebrate all that we have accomplished over the past five decades and we are excited about starting the next chapter in our story.
