We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Wendy Schonfeld. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Wendy below.
Wendy, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
From the time I could walk if I saw a horse, I needed to smell it, touch it , ride it. I grew up in the city and I wasn’t even allowed a cat in our apartment. No one in my family had horses, there was something about them I needed to be around.
I always found a way to be with them. At 14 years old, I took 3 city buses to clean stalls to ride on a strip of land on the highway, I didn’t care, I was riding, I always found volunteer opportunities to work to ride in my teens. In High School I loved working with the special Olympics kids.
As I matured and went to college and grad school, I still found ways to ride. I then became a Chiropractor. When our daughter was born she was born with severe physical disabilities. My love for horses gave her the ability to be like everyone else. When she rode she was free of her limitations. Riding horses gave her confidence and built her self-esteem. It gave her a place to be herself without judgement. One day I was watching a little boy riding and he was laughing and giggling and having the best time. When they unmounted him, they placed him in a wheelchair. It was that moment I knew I needed to search into this profession. I spoke with the teacher and I knew this was my calling. My husband and myself started volunteering at a large center in NY HorseAbility. From that moment on I knew I needed to follow my dream of helping others through Equine Assisted Services. We moved to SC and opened RideAbility Therapeutic Riding Center in 2013. We started with a few clients and a couple of horses. We now serve 100 diverse needs students and have 13 horses in our program, plus three donkeys and 2 piggies, ohhh and our barn kitties. Our program focuses on improving strength, core stability, balance, social skills, confidence, executive function skills, critical thinking skills, academics plus having fun with our trained therapeutic horses. We have 40 volunteers a week that help us succeed. We are an approved Special Olympics Equestrian Training Center for both North and South Carolina. At RideAbility the possibilities are endless. We work to overcome the “labels” and build self confidence in our students. We educate and show each child no matter what their disability is that ” YOU CAN…YOU WILL!”
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
At RideAbility it is important for our students to know that they matter, that they have a purpose and that they have the ability for greatness. Working with children with autism, ADHD, Down syndrome, traumatic brain injuries, cerebral palsy, learning delays, physical and emotional disabilities is one of the greatest gifts ever.
With hard work they can reach new milestones and reach new goals. It is our goal to show them and teach their families that there is not limit to their abilities.
Our program not only helps our students, it helps parents, teacher, family and friends understand that goals can be reached beyond what they thought.
Our students deserve to shine, they deserve to show the world “THEY CAN DO IT”.
It is our job in society to teach people kindness. I always say if you want to learn kindness, work with children and young adults with special needs. They will teach you more then anyone can. They will teach you, patience, kindness, forgiveness, how not to be judgemental, how not to gossip, not to be mean, or to hold a grudge. Our students teach us how to be a good human, to live in the moment and to love unconditionally. They teach us who we are suppose to be. I feel our students give us more than we could ever give them.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Being coachable and teachable
Be a good listener
Slow down- Stop rushing and embrace the beauty in life. We miss out of so many opportunities because we are moving so quickly. Live in the moment and stop focusing on what was and what will be. Enjoy the NOW.
If you knew you only had a decade of life left, how would you spend that decade?
The particular challenge we are facing is the extreme temperatures here in SC from May-September. We can get many days over 100 degrees and this makes it unbearable to hold lessons. We lose our therapeutic benefits that we are working on each week due to inclement weather. We also have an intense amount of rain in the winter and spring which also affects our lessons.
We are in dire need of building a covered arena. We are in a rural area and 52 % of our families can’t afford to pay for services. Through donations and grants we are able to serve them. Our goal is to serve our county to the highest level. We have been serving our community for nearly 12 years, We recently acquired our own farm, as the farm we were at was sold and we had to move. This move has allowed us to grow 25% in 2023. Building a covered arena will allow us to serve our community without worrying about weather. The cost of the construction is $375,000. We just starting fund raising and have raised $25,000.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://rideabilitysc.com
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RideabilitySC?ref=hl
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rideability-therapeutic-riding-center-sc/about/?viewAsMember=true
Image Credits
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