Visit from CANTER
Posted
on Oct 12, 2015
The Rotary Club of Sierra Vista held its weekly meeting on October 5th.
The speaker today was Greg Lamberth with CANTER, “Cochise Area Network of Therapeutic Equestrian Resources”. He, like most of the Staff are volunteers. They have a number of programs using horses to help people improve their health and mental ability. They “treat” people of all ages to improve their physical balance, strength, stamina, and higher level cognizance. Riding and interacting with gentle horses is very therapeutic. The horses are carefully selected then specially trained to deal with handicapped people who may ride backwards, or in a prone position.
CANTER has its facility on Moson Rd., currently with eight horses and a number of volunteers. The volunteers walk beside the horses as children or handicapped adults ride. They also help maintain the facility and care for the horses. This facility is considered in the top ten percent world-wide – a “Premier” classification.
The largest group helped by CANTER is children with physical or mental handicaps. Many are autistic, special education kids. They are referred by school districts in the County. Many are from economically deprived homes, so their CANTER involvement is the only way they can interact with horses.
Another program is “Helping America’s National Defenders”, HAND. This is a program for injured active duty service members, veterans, and others who have worked as “first responders”. By riding and interacting with the horses their physical and mental abilities improve.
For more information about CANTER you are invited to visit their website: www.canteraz.org.
The Rotary Club, under the direction of Brian Barkdull, is distributing Thesauruses to all seventh grade children attending school in Sierra Vista. This is happening on October 6th and 7th. The children get to put their name in the books and keep them to use throughout their future scholastic careers.
The Rotary Club of Sierra Vista meets each Monday for lunch at the Pueblo Del Sol Country Club. For further information, please
contact President Emily Scherrer at www.rotarysv.org.