The Shane Center for Therapeutic Horsemanship

06/23/2024

Mr.Ed, now 28 years young, living his best life spoiled by Kathy and Rick. Mr. Ed retired from our center 8 years ago and now Shadow is going to join him. We are so thankful for people like Kathy and who can give a soft landing when we have retired lesson horses and spoil them rotten, knowing that they can always return to The Shane Center. 😍❤️❤️

06/21/2024

We will be cancelling lessons on Saturday June 22 due to the heat.
:( See you next week!

06/19/2024

Lessons for Wednesday, June 19 are canceled due to the heat. Stay safe out there everyone.

06/18/2024

Lessons for Tuesday June 18 are canceled. We will likely need to cancel the entire week, however, we will make the determination daily. Although a week without lessons will have a negative impact on our bottom line, the health and safety of our horses, staff, volunteers and riders is our top priority. Stay safe out there!

06/03/2024

We are officially accepting entries and sponsorships to our 8th Annual Golf Scramble! For all of the info please go to:

8th Annual Golf Scramble Saturday September 28, 2024 at Chapel Hill Golf Course CLICK HERE FOR A SCRAMBLE FLYER!!September 28, 2024 at Chapel Hill Golf Course CLICK HERE FOR A Player Registration Form!OR fill out the Google Form below Click the “Donate” button above to pay for Player entries. CL...

05/31/2024

05/28/2024

Eternal rest grant unto her O Lord and let your perpetual light shine upon her.

On Monday May 20, 2024, one of the founding members of The Shane Center went home to heaven.

Kathie Sanchez was also my mother-in-law, and I just want you all to know that I won the mother-in-law lottery when I married Joel. Kathie was kind, loving, and was never afraid to ask you how you were really feeling. She never minced words, always offered heartfelt advice, and loved her children and grandchildren more than life itself.

The Shane Center (formally Equine Assisted Therapy) was born at her kitchen table. Always interested in the lives of her children and their spouses, I started telling her about this amazing form of therapy I learned about through a friend of a friend. This was before the world wide web, so I even took a road trip to Hartville Ohio to see for myself this interesting way horses can be enjoyed and utilized by people who have disabilities. As soon as I stepped foot onto Pegasus Farm, God spoke to my heart and said, “THIS is your calling!”

I didn’t know anything about starting a business as I was an education major, but Kathie did.

I didn’t have any resources, but Kathie (and Miguel) were willing to take a gamble on a seemingly crazy idea --- she actually asked me, while I was sitting at her kitchen table, put her hand on mine and said, “Now honey, horses can be very dangerous and well, why would someone want to put their child who already has some kind of serious condition in danger? I just don’t understand. How are you going to convince people this is good for them and to pay money for such a service?”

With her generous $2,000 start up loan, her connection to a wonderful attorney who helped us set up our non-profit organization as a favor, Kathie wasn’t shy about calling in all her favors to get the “horse out of the barn” and help breathe life into the first program of its kind in the central Ohio community.
Not only did she help get it started, but she also made sure we had fundraisers –from our very first fundraiser of selling chocolate bars to helping run bingo every Wednesday and Saturday night, and making sure our golf scramble was successful, she was all in.
Living next door—literally we could open the windows and yell out to talk to each other, and my own mother living across the street, we were a real life “Everybody Loves Raymond” family. AND just like Marie on the TV show, we still don’t know the secret ingredient for her world-famous potato salad!

The past 10 years or so, Kathie was handed one health diagnosis after another, but she was always available to talk and counsel her children and grandchildren. We made it through COVID (barely)-and that is a story for another day . . . it went something like this –hospital stay for broken ankle, gets “kicked out” of the rehab center because she had some travel size bottles of alcohol that she used for canker sores . . . . She was always a bit of a rebel!

She wasn’t a regular in the arena at The Shane Center (I personally think she was a little afraid of horses—Joel did get kicked in the head when he was a little guy when they were in Mexico visiting...) She was, however, our biggest cheerleader and advocate. She was a faith filled woman who loved seeing the healing power of therapeutic riding and hearing the stories I would tell her about our clients. She also loved the annual hog roasts and anniversary celebrations and helping run our twice weekly bingo fundraisers (although I think 90% of the players came just to chat with her!)
Kathie Sanchez was a treasure, the best mother-in-law anyone could ask for, and an advocate for those society wanted to cast aside. She had a gift to make others feel special, loved, valued, and was an attentive listener. Her mind was sharp, and she always remembered the little details.

Though she may no longer walk beside us, her spirit will live on in our hearts forever. Her faith in the Lord was strong and she had a special devotion to Our Lady, Mary, the Mother of God. We miss you momma and we will keep praying for you that God, through his endless mercy grant you eternal bliss.

(We are raising money to purchase a memorial plaque.)

05/21/2024

We have a newly minted therapeutic riding horse! Thank you to everyone who has been part of her journey these past 6 years! It takes a village to put approximately 2000 hours of training into a horse to get her to this point. I’m so proud of my girl Super Nova!!❤️❤️❤️

05/13/2024

Summer Riding Registration is going on now! [email protected] or 740-625-9324

05/13/2024

Thank you to all of the families who donate to The Shane Center through your Kroger Community Rewards! Thanks to you $238 was raised from Feb-April, 2024. Every dollar makes a difference and helps us to achieve our mission!

04/19/2024

Come out and support The Shane Center for Therapeutic Horsemanship tomorrow at the Hartford Fairgrounds 11 Am- 4PM

04/19/2024

We are so excited for BH Coffee to be one of our 2 food trucks for our first ever Shane's Artisan Craft Market . Come out and check it out as we have 40 amazing vendors!!

It’s finally spring and we are officially back up and running! We will be at the Hartford fairgrounds this Saturday from 11-4. Come support the Shane Center and grab a coffee! Three bags full will also be open for their last day!

04/17/2024

Thank you Helen Brach Foundation for the recent grant opportunity to purchase a new arena conditioner! We appreciate you helping us take great care of our horses, riders, and volunteers!

04/08/2024

Eclipse with the equines over here at The Shane Center!😎🐴

04/06/2024

During volunteer training, Bill was able to get his horse to lie down and start snoring! 🤣🤣🤣

04/02/2024

In preparation for the potential severe weather we started yesterday by filling all available water troughs and buckets and stowing away anything that might be dangerous blowing around. A little while ago I put halters and/or fly masks on each horse labeled with my phone number. I also put fetlock bands on my horses who live outside which has my name and phone number on it. Now the question is do I leave them in or turn them out? Not all of our horses get along together so there could be the possibility of them injuring each other, and our horses have not yet been out on the spring grass so then we would have to worry about the possibility of laminitis. I do have several pastures/paddocks with shelters but they would be out in the open, and might not all shelter together, or at all, if they are scared, which might even lead them to try to run through /jump the fencing….. of course, leaving them in and subjecting them to the possibility that they would not be able to get away if a tornado was going to demolish the buildings …. Any thoughts?

02/22/2024

When you need to blow dry before lessons 🤣

02/21/2024

SAVE THE DATE!! We have some amazing vendors lined up!

02/18/2024

Got cookies?!

02/17/2024

02/15/2024

Happy Valentine’s Day!!

02/07/2024

This is one of many ways The Shane Center achieves its mission by accountability and transparency. I am excited to share that we’ve earned our Platinum Seal of Transparency with ! for 2024. Get updates on our impact through our

Located at Willow Farm in Centerburg, Ohio, and situated on 40 beautiful acres in scenic Knox County,The Shane Center for Therapeutic Horsemanship, Inc....

01/29/2024

Do you love horses? Do you love helping people? If you are at least 14 years old and are physically able to walk/jog for 60 minutes, we would love to have you consider becoming a lesson volunteer at The Shane Center! Please reach out to our program director, Emily Kinzer at 740-625-9324 or [email protected] for more information.

01/26/2024