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The horses come from all walks of life — from barrel racing at county fairs to policing the streets of Denver.

But each mount at the Colorado Therapeutic Riding Center made the cut as a therapy horse by forgetting their former hustle to focus on a new gig just before their golden years — giving safe rides to people with a wide range of disabilities related to developmental delays, intellectual and learning disabilities, traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, amputations, strokes, mental health challenges and more.

“We serve a very high needs community of people who often don’t have the option to connect with others on a soccer field or on a swim team,” Carson Williams, a therapeutic riding instructor and barn manager at CTRC, said of school-age clients at the center southeast of Longmont. “But they can come here to not only connect with their horse to ride, but also with their peers.”

On Labor Day, the nation officially honors and recognizes how the American labor movement and the people within it bolstered American achievement.

But the spirit of the federal holiday this Monday can extend beyond that to recognize a wider group of workers — including volunteers who do good work through good deeds.

“Volunteers mean everything to us here,” Michele Bruhn, CTRC’s executive director, said. “Without more of them, we now have a waiting list that’s growing to around 200 riders.”

Like so many nonprofits, CTRC took a hit after pandemic-related precautions shut down the facility for two months in spring 2020 and dampened all business-as-usual gatherings through 2021, Bruhn said.

As she watched prices spike on everything from rubber mats to fertilizer, she asked volunteers to pick up janitorial duties and brought all tech support in-house to control spending.

“We composted our own manure to spread on our fields when prices on fertilizer from China and Russia went up,” she said. “But sometimes that grows more weeds, which horses won’t eat.”

CTRC’s website still reflects pre-pandemic numbers and needs updating, Bruhn conceded.

That job can wait, though, because recruiting more volunteers is a higher priority given its correlation with meeting resurgent rider demand in 2022.

Bruhn plans to post a fresh sign by CTRC’s driveway along Colo. 52 to reach out to prospects driving by. But volunteers themselves make the best advertisement, she said.

One volunteer described the experience as “Vitamin H” (“H” for horse) — as a potent life supplement.

Some volunteers muck out stalls, weed the grounds, turn out the horses to pasture, clean, or help with fundraisers, such as the annual Paint the Pony fundraiser from Oct. 15 thru Dec. 31.

But frontline volunteers do the hands-on work that supports CTRC’s adventuresome riders in Equine Assisted Services and Therapies programs.

Offering appropriate support can be labor intensive, as some clients need three volunteers to manage safely in their saddle — two sidewalkers to catch them if they lose core balance and one person to lead the horse while the rider learns how to use the reins, CTRC therapeutic riding instructor, Jessica Arts, said.

Wheelchair-bound riders require specially trained volunteers to use a lift to lower the client onto the horse’s back, Arts added, during a volunteer training with 15 people ranging in age from a high school junior to senior citizens Wednesday afternoon.

To all these ends, maybe the volunteer outreach and growth at CTRC will catch on if more people know its story — know the humble esprit de corps that in 1980 blossomed in our community when some big-hearted volunteers borrowed a few horses and helped three riders with special needs ride them in a park.

From there, this effort to provide high-quality Equine Assisted Services and Therapies grew into a 39-acre facility with impressive pre-pandemic numbers given its annual budget of about $635,000: about 15 staff (10 full-time equivalents); nearly 30 horses; and 1,000 volunteers to support roughly 500 riders.

To stage a comeback, CTRC leadership hopes volunteers — like the horses themselves — will come from all walks of life.

Currently, the oldest volunteer is 90, and the youngest is 14, Bruhn said.

“For anyone looking for connection and a grounding experience, we can be their community. CTRC can be their home away from home,” Bruhn said. “Our volunteers call it their happy place.”

Colorado-based PATH International — the industry’s gold standard of excellence in Equine Assisted Services and Therapies — has accredited CTRC as a premier member since 1982.

To volunteer, visit ctrcinc.org/volunteer/ or call 303-652-9131.

Pam Mellskog can be reached at p.mellskog@gmail.com or 303-746-0942. For more stories and photos, please visit timescall.com/tag/mommy-musings/.

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