DreamsComeTrue

Our First Story

How a 8 year old girl with Spinal Bifida, her mother and the Purina company,
came to the aid, and helped horses and children in antoher state,
several hundreds of miles away.
CnC first came into contact with this 8 year old little girl, about 1 year ago.
Jesse had emailed me through this site CnC, a letter she had written.
Telling us about the therapeutic riding program
she had been selected to participate in.
Jesse's letter told us about the enormous progress she had made both
physically and emotionally. And her new found love for horses.
Her letter contained a request for some help to obtain a saddle.
She did not ask for a new saddle, just perhaps an old one that would not be to
much money.
That first letter, unknown to us at the time, was the beginning of a
very "special" chain of events. The ranch I run is a combination of rescued
horses, and the emotional aid they provide for at risk youth and families.
What had begun as a 7 year old little girls newly found help from and
adoration of horses, with a dream to continue riding,
ended up being responsible for the helping of another program,
That also provides help to children and families with the aid of horses.
"The Promise Ranch"
Located in another state, several hundreds of miles away!

Though Jesse had not yet received her saddle, the correspondence between
myself and Jesse's mother Sonja continued.
At one point, I had let her know, that perhaps the program would be coming
to an end, as the drought with it's increase in hay prices, in conjunction with
the drop in prices for horse sales,
would prevent us from being able to afford feed for the horses.
The next thing we knew, we had received and email from an executive with
"Purina Feeds" asking us what location would be the closest for us in order to
pick up their incredible gift to the horses, 2 tons of feed!
From there, a local Feed Store, "Rapid City Feed & Seed"
Arranged for the pick up, and some media coverage about the ranch
and the work we do here.
There are not words that could ever, even come close to how very much these
events and people have touched my heart.
The caring and kindness towards efforts in helping this program,
Purina, or Rapid City Feed, the Farnam Co. with gifts of feed and supplament.
KOTA news, Today's Horse, The Rapid City Journal, with recognition given to
Purina, Rapid City Feeds, Jesse, the horses here and work they do.
There are truely incredibly warm and kind hearted individuals
that help make up these companies and orginizatons with heart!
This has all led to new hope, that the program may well have a chance, that
the work that has gone into building and keeping this program alive is worth
everything we have put into it.
I had , begun to think that perhaps the program, just was not meant to be.
These companies, the people with kind words and caring hearts
helped give me back some of the hope, I was loosing sight of.
This all has led into the possibilities
of the program hopefully soon being able
to aid & , help even more children & families
By our bringing some of the horses on weekends to a barn in Rapid City.