St. Andrews University Offers Unique Equine Education

Nestled into the farming landscape of Scotland County, North Carolina is the 100-acre St. Andrews University Equestrian Program. Although I have lived 20 minutes from this facility for over eight years, I've never taken the opportunity to learn more about it, until yesterday. The purpose of the visit yesterday was to learn about the program and write it up for this blog. The program is very multifaceted, and it will be hard to describe all that they do, so I will include the website address at the bottom of the post. Like many other colleges and universities in North Carolina, St. Andrews has competitive teams that compete in the IHSA (Intercollegiate Horse Show Association), and they have hosted several events at their facilities in Scotland County. I met with Peggy McElveen, the Equestrian Director, and she showed me the different units (Western Stables, English Stables, Student Horse Boarding Stables, and Covered Arena). The facility is very nice and exists because of a lot of hard work, donations of time and money, and grants received.

I was most intrigued by the Therapeutic Horsemanship Program, one of the first in the nation and the University’s "Ride like a Knight" Program. This program serves individuals with Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), At-Risk Youth, Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Developmental Delay or Disability, Downs Syndrome, Hearing Impairment, Learning Disability, Mental Retardation, Multiple Sclerosis, Muscular Dystrophy, or Speech Impairment. The University also works with the Wounded Warrior Project. The Wounded Warrior Project's mission is to "foster the most successful, well-adjusted generation of wounded service members in our nation's history." The program at St. Andrews allows the opportunity for wounded veterans to get back in the saddle or, in some cases, it allows veterans who have never been on a horse the opportunity to ride. For more information about this program and the other equine programs at St. Andrews University, visit the school's website. That link, as well as the PATH (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International) and Wounded Warriors link, is below.

http://www.sapc.edu/Equest/equest.php

http://www.pathintl.org/about-path-intl/about-path-intl

http://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/mission.aspx