Isabelle Judy of Harman, recently celebrated her ninth birthday with family and friends at Timberline Stables in Canaan Valley.
In lieu of gifts, Isabelle asked her guests to make donations toward the On Eagles’ Wings Therapeutic Horsemanship Center in Fairmont. The Center uses hippotherapy, a treatment strategy using horses, to treat patients.
Therapists take a prescribed treatment plan and use the horses’ movements to facilitate the therapy.
Disabilities helped by equine-assisted activities include autism, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, muscular dystrophy, multiple scelerosis, spina bifida, emotional disabilities, learning disabilities, visual impairments, ADHD, deafness, brain injuries and many other problems.
In support of this program, Angie and Matt Shockley, owners of Timberline Stables, generously added to the donations of the party-goers the amount that would be paid for the horseback rides.
Judy raised over $200 for supplies for the horses used at On Eagles’ Wings. Earlier this month, Judy was invited to Fairmont to present her donations to the hippotherapy program.