Plainfield's Ready Set Ride Facing Eviction

PLAINFIELD, IL — After 16 years, a therapeutic riding stable in Plainfield is facing eviction — along with its 14 horses. Staff at Ready Set Ride say although they've faithfully paid their rent, they have been ordered out of the facility, 13056 Essington Road, by July 17, because the property is in foreclosure.

Ready Set Ride Vice President Lesley Caramusa said the facility, which provides riding opportunities to children with special needs and terminal illnesses, paid its rent for more than 15 years. She said Ready Set Ride stopped paying rent in January — months after the bank began foreclosure proceedings against the property owner — and has been seeking to make the payments directly to the bank.

Patch's attempts to reach attorneys for property owner Joseph Tages were unsuccessful Thursday, as phone numbers listed for the law firm were disconnected. Court records show that Citimortage Inc. began foreclosure proceedings on the property in July 2016. (Get Patch real-time email alerts for the latest Plainfield news. And iPhone users: Check out Patch's new app.)

Another property owned by Tages on Lake Mary Drive is also in foreclosure, according to Will County court records. Tages was also indicted on tax and health care fraud charges in 2011 amid accusations he diverted more than $750,000 from an Aurora medical clinic and failed to claim a similar amount on his taxes. His medical license was suspended indefinitely in 2013 after he pleaded guilty to making and subscribing false tax returns.

Caramusa said Ready Set Ride would love to purchase the property to keep providing service through the Plainfield stable. "These are special needs riders and these are special needs horses," she said.

Ready Set Ride staff have been exploring other options for housing the horses, but plan to resume sessions as usual next week. Caramusa said they will be in court Friday requesting an extension to stay in the facility past the July 17 deadline.

For now, the facility is holding off on fundraising to purchase the property, Caramusa said. In a Facebook post on Monday, staff hoped for a miracle:

"It is with heavy hearts that we share with our friends and family that our barn will have to close without a miracle from someone who sees this. While normally people might not be so hopeful, we've seen miracles happen with our riders, volunteers and the community we are a part of and we DO have hope! We need YOUR help to make this post spread far and wide so people know that we are being evicted from our property on July 17th. We've paid rent for over 15 years but have now been put in a position where our landlord who is in bankruptcy has no desire to work with us and wants us out."

The post has been shared more than 1,000 times, and a petition to keep the facility open had more than 1,400 signatures. "The community support is there," Caramusa said.

Also read:

• Disabled Horses Find New Life Providing Therapy for Disabled Kids
• Jenny McCarthy Tweets Support for Plainfield's Ready Set Ride

Patch file photo

Editor's note: Updated to indicate that Ready Set Ride staff said the organizatoin stopped paying rent in January, about six months after foreclosure proceedings began against the property owner.