Horsing around for a good cause

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- Knights in shining armor, competitors and

performers will ride at the Huntington Central Park Equestrian Center on

Saturday to raise funds for a local riding school.

The Therapeutic Riding Center of Huntington Beach, an organization

dedicated to teaching people with mental and physical disabilities how to

ride horses, is holding the second annual January Joyride fund-raiser.

First opened in 1992, the center serves 28 students with various

disabilities hailing from across Orange and Los Angeles counties.

Faith Grimm, the center’s program director, said horse riding provides

a practical setting for children and adults with disabilities to work on

muscle skills and speech. The desire to ride the horse provides a

motivation, and there is extra therapy in working with animals, she

added.

The riding center is raising money to build a new arena and classrooms

to expand class availability on Saturdays and during bad weather.

Spokeswoman Kim Miller said classes are typically held Mondays, Tuesdays

and Saturdays in an arena reserved for private boarders at the equestrian

center.

Last year, the fund-raiser earned about $2,250 for the riding center,

an amount that has already been matched by sponsors such as Kinko’s

Copies, Benihana’s restaurants, Riding Magazine and Medieval Times. The

event itself is free for spectators, center officials said, but tends to

draw in personal donations and interest from individuals who want to

help.

“I was worried at first about my daughter taking classes and still am

sometimes,” said Westminster resident Loretta Whitelock, whose

developmentally delayed daughter, Lindsay, 22, has been riding since the

therapeutic school opened. “But it’s given her a lot of self-confidence

in life.”

Lindsay Whitelock agreed.

“I’ve been able to participate in competitions, and the confidence

helps in my job too,” she said, adding that she’s also a volunteer for

the center as well as a student.

Resident Ann Lozada, a four-month volunteer who sells equestrian

property professionally, said the riders draw her to the center.

“I can never have a bad day after volunteering during a lesson and

seeing the effort and joy of the students here,” said Lozada, who leads

horses while riders learn. The center “is a nice thing to have in the

community, and I only wish I’d found out about it sooner so I could have

been volunteering longer.”

FYI

The January Joyride will start at 10 a.m. for competition, with a

halftime show at 12:30 p.m., in the Huntington Central Park Equestrian

Center, 18381 Goldenwest St.

The halftime show will feature a jousting exhibit by Medieval Times, a

one-man cowboy jug band and more.

Admission is free, and parking may be found at the corner of

Goldenwest Street and Ellis Avenue. Information: (949) 644-2165.