Preakness Party at Morven Park

No need to drive all the way to Pimlico Race Track in Maryland to watch the Preakness this year: the Loudoun Therapeutic Riding Foundation is throwing a Preakness Party at Morven Park in Leesburg that will put the Pimlico infield to shame.

The fun begins at 4:30 p.m. Preakness day, May 21, under a spacious tent on Founders Hill overlooking the reace course at Morven Park.

Guests will dance, dine on delectables catered by Vintage 51, sip Black Eyed Susans (“the signature drink of the Preakness”) and watch the race live on a 10-foot screen with a special one-day-only satellite feed.

Area horsemen (and women) will set the tone by taking to the racetrack for flat races. Up on the hill, there will be judging for Best Hat, Best Attire (men and women in separate categories). Silent and live auctions include a Disney trip, including airfare; a trip to Hilton Head with a golf package; and a slew (as in Seattle Slew, who won the Preakness on May 21, 1977) of treats at local restaurants and businesses.

It’s never too late to donate an auction item or experience, or to sign on as sponsor. Call LTRF Executive Director Joanne Hart at 703-771-2689.

Better yet, proceeds from the gala will help the Loudoun Therapeutic Riding Foundation bring some of the 120 people on its waiting list into the program, and will help build a dedicated facility on the Morven Park Grounds. With that facility, lessons can be scheduled for weekends when more volunteers are available.

“We are a non-profit,” said Executive Director Joanne Hart, “and most of our revenue comes from private donations and fund raisers – this is our major fund raiser of the year.”

The spring fundraiser has changed over the years, Hart said. It started as a gala dinner at Lansdowne, and then morphed into an outdoor Kentucky Derby party at Morven Park. But many potential supporters were off to the Gold Cup that day, so this year, for the first time, it’s the Preakness Party.

Attendance last year was between 100 and 125, Hart said. She said she hopes for 200 this year.

There’s another chance to raise money for the foundation and for Morven Park. Sunday, May 15, is the Fox Hunter’s Challenge Hunter Pace. Horse and rider teams will start out on the seven and a half mile course through Morven Park’s forests and rolling meadows at 10 a.m. There will be jumping and non-jumping courses, as well as prizes for trail riders, best flask, best horn, best holloa, best tail gate and a crack-a-whip competition. $50 per horse/rider combination, go to www.morvenpark.org or www.ltrf.org to get involved. All riders welcome, whether members of a hunt club or not.

The money raised goes to good use: The program offers hippotherapy (physical, occupational, speech and language therapy, offered by a licensed therapist, that utilizes equine movement); therapeutic riding  (conducted by a North American Riding For the Handicapped Association certified instructor who teaches riding skills and uses those skills to improve balance, coordination, spatial awareness, posture control – and more than anything else, self confidence and self esteem); therapeutic driving (the same instruction done from a horse or pony drawn cart rather than from atop the horse).

And with guidance from Mary Jo Beckman, one of the program’s master instructors, NARHA Horses For Heroes for wounded military veterans will debut this June. One of the supporters is working to develop a program for equine assisted psychotherapy.

As Winston Churchill famously remarked, “There’s something about the outside of a horse that’s good for the inside of a man.” Nowhere is that more true than in a therapeutic riding program.

Loudoun Therapeutic Riding works with 80 students a week, Hart said, and there are 120 on the waiting list.

Attire for the bash is garden party elegant (lawn shoes ideal). Tickets are $100 each, and the buyer will receive a tax letter (LTRF is a licensed 501 (c)(3). Call Hart at 703-771-2689, or go to www.ltrf.org.

Loudoun Therapeutic Riding Foundation in the Spotlight

• Founded in 1974 as part of 4H.
• In 2010, provided 1,800 session hours to 137 participants using 12 horses and ponies owned by LTRF.
• Services included therapeutic riding, 75 percent; equine experiential learning, 11 percent; therapeutic driving, eight percent; hippotherapy, five percent; and summer camp, six percent.
• Assisting were 165 volunteers who logged in nearly 4,000 hours – walking beside a rider to offer physical support and encouragement, handling a horse during lessons, assisting with fund raising and program development.
• LTRF serves individuals with autism, 29 percent; intellectual disability, 24 percent; cerebral palsy, eight percent; psychosocial disorder, 22 percent; other, 17 percent, including vision or hearing impaired, muscular dystrophy, Down syndrome, learning disability, spina bifida, amputation, traumatic brain injury and the challenges of aging.
• Participants range in age from two to 69: 59 percent male and 41 percent female.
• In addition to private pay participants, LTRF serves the Loudoun County Public Schools and North Spring Behavioral Healthcare.
• Annual operating budget was $281,000. Morven Park donates the use of its office space, stables, rings and grounds. Participant fees cover only 37 percent of the budget.
• LTRF is a participating member of United Way (#8144) and Combined Federal Campaign (#89551).