Hi! My name is Michele and I’ve recently moved to this area. I have always loved horses. I have a Bachelors Degree in Social Work and am a licensed social worker. For the past 17 years I’ve been working with the Alzheimer population in nursing homes and assisted living environments. I have also worked with chronically mentally ill and developmentally disabled clients.

After so many years of this I felt the need for a change, so I started searching out where I could test the waters. I started volunteering at the Hanson Center in Burr Ridge, Il. The work there was very rewarding and I really enjoyed working with the students. But due to life changes had to move away from that area after just a short time.

With God’s help, He led me to Victory Reins and Sandy. I had put this desire to work with horses on children on my “ GODS TO DO LIST” and believe or not within a week or two I received a call from Sandy. She was recruiting volunteers for the Center and when I mentioned that I had moved to Manhattan she stated that she was opening a new therapeutic riding center very close to my home. I made an appointment to come and meet her and see what she had to offer and HERE I AM! I come out on my days off and have been learning to feed and turn out the horses, clean stalls, water buckets , side walking with kids and whatever else comes my way!

I have thoroughly enjoyed watching the horses and learning their personalities. This experience has been exceptional and has been filling my passion and dreams to work with horses and kids with so much more to come!

In November I am planning on going through my EGALA ( Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association) certification that will enable me to work with severely mentally challenged individuals and horses through EAP( Equine Assisted Psychotherapy).

This is all an answer to prayer and I am so excited to see what doors will be opening for me. Finally I feel like I am doing what I was created to do by combining my education and my passion for horses!

So if you have a passion or a desire to make a difference in someone’s life come out to Victory Reins and spend a little time helping out here and you will see that it will make a huge difference in your life as well as someone else! See you there☺!

Michele