Posted on January 9, 2017 with No Comments
With the donation of 45 Gypsy Vanner horses over the past three years as part of the LexLin Gypsy Gift program, LexLin Gypsy Ranch has seen these horses affect 169,000 lives on average per year or 3.4 million lives, not including their families, loved ones and friends, over the next two decades.
Each horse’s impact is unique, but LexLin is honored to share updates on their Gypsy Vanners’ positive impact in PATH International Premier Accredited therapy centers across the U.S.
Indiana-based Reins of Life Inc. Therapeutic Riding Center was awarded Jenny of LexLin in the 2015 Gypsy Gift program. Since arriving at the therapy center, Jenny has completed training to become a therapeutic riding horse.
“Reins of Life received a grant from St. Joseph Community Foundation to pay for training Jenny. She was sent to Elizabeth Grainger, owner/trainer of Grainger Dressage in South Bend, IN for three months of professional training,” Reins of Life Instructor Holly Byers said. “Once she was back home, she received another three months of in-house training with Elizabeth and the instructors at Reins of Life.
“While it was a big task for a therapeutic riding center to take on a horse that wasn’t trained to ride, many involved with her will agree that she was one of the most trainable horses they have worked with,” she added. “She is so incredibly smart and willing to please.”
Jenny was introduced to the Reins of Life herd with her very own jubilee; complete with pink princess tiara cakes, a blessing of the herd and a demonstration of Jenny’s abilities to an audience of close to 100 people.
“It was her very first public performance and she acted like a seasoned pro. Everyone involved with Reins of Life quickly fell in love with her,” Byers said.
Jenny began working with students in the spring of 2016, and she now participates in 3-4 lessons a week and continues to work with the instructors to continue developing her skills.
“She is quickly showing that her specialty lies with some of our youngest students. They love to play soccer on her,” Byers said. “Thank you again for this wonderful mare. She is my princess and I adore her.”
Posted on February 13, 2014 with No Comments
Gypsy Gift™ has been in the planning phase for quite some time. We’re excited to roll out a new program on Valentine’s Day 2014 to match LexLin Gypsy Horses with sponsors to raise and train them for future career placement with non-profit organizations as equine assisted therapy and activity horses. There are 850+ Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH Intl.) Centers across the US and around the world. Horses impact and enrich the lives of the developmentally disabled, sick, injured, troubled and developing lives on a daily basis through these programs. We believe Gypsy Horses are ideally suited to this type of work. Can Praxis, an equine therapy program in Canada, has had amazing results in working with post traumatic stress disorder in veterans and these results are similar to what happens on a daily basis in equine assisted therapy programs all around the country.
Eric and Mechelle Barton of LexLin Gypsy Ranch have enjoyed amazing success with their businesses over the past few years and are constantly looking for ways to pay it forward and give back to communities around the world. Their family and businesses have donated in excess of $6.8 million to charitable organizations, including land conservancy, United Way, Habitat for Humanity, Wounded Warrior, and others in 2013 and now feel that it is time to reach out and touch the lives of others by giving some of their much loved Gypsy Horses via Gypsy Gift™ to centers across the United States. LexLin Gypsy Ranch has donated several Gypsy Horses over the past few years to PATH accredited programs. We have received many thanks and glowing reports of the work our horses are doing and requests to expand our program.
Over the next two years LexLin Gypsy Ranch’s mission is to donate 30 registered Gypsy Horses (total donation valued in excess of $500,000) to the Gypsy Gift™ program while simultaneously finding eligible sponsors who will train them for approved PATH accredited centers. If one center on average, reaches 25 people on a weekly basis, that gives 30 Gypsy Horses a chance to impact lives 39,000 times in one year alone! Imagine how many lives can be touched over 20+ years with 30 horses! LexLin Gypsy Ranch will donate Gypsy horses to centers after 2-3 years of a sponsor leasing and raising/training them through Gypsy Gift™ . The sponsor will give the horse daily handling in preparation to start their official training to become a therapy horse once they’re 3-4 years of age. This also allows the center time to decide if the horse will be suited to their particular program. By donating young horses they will have many years to impact lives in the programs and can be trained exactly as needed for their job as a therapy horse. Ideally we’re looking for nominated centers who find a sponsor that will raise and train the horse for them for 2-3 years. The horse may be housed at the center or at the sponsor’s chosen facility. Sponsors may be Center board members, staff or others that want to participate in Gypsy Gift™. In some situations sponsors may opt to arrange to pay the center for the care of the horse which would enable the horse to be cared for directly by the center. This may qualify as a charitable donation if made directly to the center. This would enable the center to become directly involved with the care of the horse and give the horse the opportunity to interact with center members from the beginning of their 2-3 year lease period before donation.
We need your help to make this program a success!
Beginning on Friday, February 14, 2014, and continuing through July 3rd 2014, we will begin taking nominations for PATH accredited centers interested in receiving a Gypsy Horse through Gypsy Gift™. As nominations come in we will post them on LexLin Gypsy Ranch’s fan page on Facebook for you to “like” and share to spread the word in support of your chosen center. There will be five centers selected on July 4th to receive horses. The top 4 nominated centers with the most fan “likes” and 1 center chosen by LexLin staff will be entered into a lottery drawing on July 4, 2014 to select a horse for their program. The 5 horses drawn on July 4th will then be ready to immediately enter into a lease agreement with the nominated center’s sponsor for 2-3 years before being donated to the center for their program. Most of the horses in Gypsy Gift™ will be geldings, though all horses in the program will be DNA verified Gypsy Horses registered with the Gypsy Vanner Horse Society.
The horses available in the program will be announced on Friday, February, 21st. We will need your help to select the first 5 Gypsy Horses via Facebook likes between February 21, 2014 – July 3, 2014. Those 5 Gypsy Horses will then be selected by the 5 nominated centers from the lottery in the order their numbers are drawn.
Gypsy Gift™ is our primary focus for 2014 and will be the focus of our 5th Annual LexLin Gives Back: Honoring our Heroes. Honoring our Heroes will resume as traditionally run in 2015. We will share more Gypsy Gift™ program details and officially start on Valentine’s Day!
Questions? Watch for full program details to come on Valentine’s Day, and feel free to contact us via info@gogypsy.com or call 865.816.2761.
