Walk On
Morning Dove, a therapeutic horseback riding center located in Zionsville, Indiana, has officially kicked off it’s Capital Campaign.
Now, it’s time to, as riders encourage their horses, “Walk on.”
In order to meet the needs of our participants – adults and children with mental, physical and emotional disabilities – Morning Dove is ready and eager to build a new facility that will be safe and functional, equipped to offer life-changing opportunities for participants, volunteers, families, staff and horses.
Morning Dove has a strong track record of providing high quality therapeutic services in a nurturing, no-frills environment. Families and therapists who come here comment on our professionalism, warmth and flexibility.
Morning Dove’s staff is professional, highly skilled, and extraordinarily committed to the mission of offering transformative experiences on horseback. Our nine nationally certified instructors are both experienced horseback riding instructors and compassionate teachers, who give our riders the opportunity to feel successful and strong – sometimes for the first time in their lives.
Our executive director, director of operations, equine manager, barn assistant, program director and office support staff form a cohesive, smoothly functioning operation that has both the capacity and the enthusiasm to take Morning Dove to the next level.
We have become a favorite place for Hoosier horse owners to donate their beloved animals, confident that Morning Dove will offer their horses a comfortable and meaningful ‘second career.’ There are now 14 horses in our stables – all of which have been carefully screened to have that special ‘something’ that truly makes each one a full partner with our participants.
Volunteers donate more than 160 hours per week at Morning Dove, providing valuable help with grooming, class management and program support. They know that their time, patience and expertise are making a difference in the lives of children and adults who attend our programs.
We also have developed a number of strong partnerships with area businesses and non-profit organizations. Our collaboration with St. Vincent Hospital provides physical and occupational therapists who come to Morning Dove as well as Community Partner Grants to support the operations of Morning Dove. Local businesses including Medco, Cooperative Managed Care Services, LLC, CSO Architects and State Bank of Lizton, provide volunteers and visibility in the community.
Morning Dove is a classic example of the strong non-profit ethic of ‘doing more with less.’ We have shown the ability to be good stewards of donors’ support, making careful investments in riding equipment, safety gear and supplies that ensure the health and well-being of our riders and horses. A new, well-designed facility will catapult the organization forward, changing lives for both our current riders and future ones.
There are several other therapeutic riding facilities in central Indiana, but they, too are operating at full capacity with a waiting list. More to the point, none fully duplicates Morning Dove’s unique therapeutic programming within the northwest quadrant of the Indianapolis-Zionsville area, where most of our participants live.
Morning Dove’s temporary home is a beautiful property that was a former racehorse breeding farm. Thanks to the incredible generosity of a wonderful family, we are currently able to serve our riders and care for our horses at a peaceful and gorgeous facility. Our old facility was more and more in need of expensive repair, so we moved over the winter.
The former facility was neither big enough for Morning Dove’s programs, nor designed to be a therapeutic facility. There weren’t enough stalls to house all of our horses. During the winter, volunteers had to haul buckets of water to each stall. During the spring, the arena occasionally flooded, and in summer, the metal-roofed building can become too hot for medically fragile participants. Outside, the pasture was over-grazed.
Administrative offices were squeezed into the former family room in the house adjacent to the barn. There was mold in the basement, the roof leaked, and the ceiling buckled.
Morning Dove needs a home of its own – a home that includes safe and functional space for horses, participants, families, volunteers, therapists and staff. Thanks to the foresight and generosity of Duke-Browning LLP and Medco, we were deeded a 15-acre tract of land in Boone County, just a short drive from downtown Zionsville.
However, after doing some preliminary site work and planning, we discovered that the donated piece of land had some drainage issues that would be very costly to correct and would not provide enough pasture for our horses.
We are currently in the process of purchasing a new piece of land that is an ideal location – just north of our former location. It is right off I-65, easily reachable from both of Indiana’s major children’s hospitals, as well as the Roudebush VA Medical Center, Indiana University and Purdue University. The new home of Morning Dove is close to the Anson development and has some lovely woods and pastureland, providing a place for lunch-hour and after-work volunteer opportunities, fund raising partnerships and a sense of community that comes from such ongoing relationships.
The new space will include capacity for up to 24 horses – which means that more people can participate in therapeutic riding classes. It will include indoor and outdoor riding rings, as well as two acres of wooded sensory and nature trails.
Since the new building will be heated and well ventilated, Morning Dove will, for the first time, be able to remain operational twelve months a year, benefitting our participants and allowing income to match expenses. We will have the capacity to host riding competitions, generating both revenue and visibility for Morning Dove’s core missions. The Horses for Heroes program will offer new therapeutic opportunities to veterans from around Central Indiana, providing hope and inspiration to neighbors who deserve far more than just words of thanks.
The new building will offer therapeutic space to accommodate more participants, including safe, efficient and well-equipped rooms for therapy and rehabilitation. These spaces will be designed to offer the flexibility to host corporate wellness retreats, services for adult day-care facilities, expanded summer day camps and other uses we haven’t yet imagined.
We will continue to rely heavily on teen and adult volunteers to play key roles in our therapeutic riding classes. In addition, we are exploring options that include new programs for home-schoolers, community service opportunities for non-violent offenders, and partnerships with local high schools to provide community service opportunities for interested students.
Our goal is to make Morning Dove Therapeutic Riding, Inc. a community center that improves the quality of life of everyone who walks, drives or wheels through our gates. We will continue to focus our skills and programs on therapeutic riding and hippo therapy for individuals with special needs. At the same time, a new, more functional facility will enable staff and volunteers to use their professionalism, creativity and training to expand programming opportunities to meet the growing need for safe and effective therapies.
Our new location will truly be a place that will renew the body, mind and spirit for our riders, caregivers, volunteers, horses and staff.
We are asking for community support to meet this ambitious goal. We need members of our community to help us raise $2 million to build our new home.
We invite you to help us to “Walk on….”