2012 ANNUAL REPORT HELPING PEOPLE OVERCOME CHALLENGES The unique connection between horse and rider changes the life of the rider, opening up new directions for growth, change and recovery. – Dr. Arthur Lavin, Pediatrician Photos by Jo Marble THREE AND A HALF DECADES! As we celebrate our 35th year of service to the community, • A new program video was created, highlighting a few of we want to begin by thanking you. If you are reading this our students and the benefits of our program to each of letter, you are one of our stakeholders and you are a part of them and their families the reason that Fieldstone Farm thrives! You give your time, • Even in a difficult fundraising year, we finished right on your financial support, your referrals, your participation, your the planned budget, thanks to several new donors and endorsement, your skills and your ideas so that our program increased gifts from long-time supporters continues to live, grow and serve the community. Volunteers bring Fieldstone Farm to life! Shingleton Toby Photo credit: Congratulations! 2012 was a year to celebrate many • Volunteers offered 22,635 hours of service, valued terrific accomplishments: at $493,200 • Eight corporate service groups brought 172 people Programming continues to evolve, bringing high quality offerings who built, cleaned, organized, mowed and painted to nearly 700 students who need them. for 664 hours • Memory Lane was developed to involve seniors • Volunteers donated $32,500 in a volunteer-led campaign working on memory and communication skills, along to support our horses with building strength • Horses and Healing, a partnership with the Hospice of The therapy horse herd served their most productive year yet the Western Reserve, helped children learn grief coping as the ratio of hours that they were able to work in the lesson skills as they partner with our amazing therapy horses program was at an all-time high. • Veterans’ Equine Partnerships helped veterans develop social, emotional and personal strengths to navigate Gaitway High School graduated six students, bringing the successfully in life total number of Gaitway graduates to 26 in five years. • Spring Break Camp actively engaged kids with horses when school was out Fieldstone’s highly-esteemed Board of Trustees completed the • Summer Camp expanded with exciting new themes next iteration of the Strategic Plan, with specific goals to guide each week the program through the end of 2015. • Many new and renewed relationships with local schools and organizations resulted from the efforts of a recently It was a very busy year to say the least! These successes are developed student recruitment team a direct result of the fact that we have so many generous, dedicated and caring people behind us. We are truly grateful Fieldstone Farm remains financially healthy with growing support to each and every one of you and look forward to another from an invested community. 35 years of service to the many people who benefit from the magic of horses! • The Chefs Unbridled fundraiser “sold out” with a record 600 attendees and netted more than $150,000 Sincerely, • A Feasibility Study was completed, outlining a plan for the future • A development assessment validated the strength of the development program and suggested areas for future Lynnette R. Stuart, CEO focus to ensure continued sustainability 2012 AR | 1 A HORSE CAN CHANGE A LIFE We see it everyday at Fieldstone Farm. Our horses encourage our students. They help them build We are discovering more about confidence and strength, making a connection without saying a word or asking for anything in return. Their generous hearts and natural instinct to serve transform the lives of our students and their the bond between horses and families. More than 30 horses call Fieldstone Farm home. Each horse goes through weeks of training humans every day before being accepted into our program. Good manners, an easy-going attitude and patience are some of the qualities that the Fieldstone Farm team looks for in new therapy horses. But it also takes a horse We have witnessed children with autism and Down with the special intuition to know that it is helping a person who needs a little extra attention. “Our syndrome say their first words while working with horses are amazing. I have seen them sense a student’s anxiety and gently put their nose on the rider’s a horse. We have seen adults with multiple sclerosis shoulder to build an initial trust with that person,” says Jinene Studzinski, Equine Director. and children with neurological disorders improve | balance and gain strength. Some have even taken their first steps after riding one of our horses. We have watched inner-city children and high school students with emotional difficulties gain confidence and become “These horses not only know that they are helping inspired to learn. We have observed wounded military riders, they truly want to.” veterans find comfort and hope. And, we have seen – Jinene Studzinski, Equine Director seniors become more engaged while grooming horses and experiencing the farm environment. It is remarkable how these gentle giants can reach people with various challenges and help them achieve goals they never thought possible. 2 | 2012 AR Students with autism Sydney now runs and Veterans find hope find independence jumps like her friends and strength When Lindsey Wargo brought her class from the Sydney started in our Hippotherapy Program Chris Goodall, a social worker and an Cleveland Clinic Center for Autism to Fieldstone (physical therapy on the horse) less than a year equestrian herself, believed that the horses at Farm she wasn’t sure what to expect. What she ago. She was diagnosed with a neurological Fieldstone Farm could reach veterans in ways found was a program that really helped her disorder that affects her coordination and that weren’t possible in a traditional office students. They gained independence, built strength and doctors were unsure how well she setting. She worked with our Program Director, self-esteem and were able to listen to directions, would ever be able to run or walk. For months Teresa Morris, to create a program where sequence and interact effectively with the our physical therapists worked with Sydney veterans interact with the horses to help instructors. It was particularly significant that using the horse’s movement to engage her them cope with re-entry into society and the Lindsey and her teaching team could step into muscles. After eight months, she is now walking emotional scars of war. The program has the background while her students worked more smoothly and is even able to climb steps, helped dozens of veterans find confidence, directly with the Fieldstone Farm instructors. run and jump. Her parents are overjoyed. They peace, assertiveness, tolerance and solidarity. Her students usually have difficulty socializing say Sydney’s experience at Fieldstone Farm has Ultimately, the horses have given them hope with new people but were readily able to been nothing short of amazing! for the future. connect with the farm staff. 2012 AR | 3 TEENS LEARN FROM OUR HORSES “Fieldstone Farm and Gaitway High School have helped me in so many ways. When I first | started at Gaitway I was bottled up inside and didn’t have the skills I have now. The horses have taught me a lot of things in a perspective that no one else ever could. They have taught me to live in the moment and not in the past or the future. I can talk about anything and they won’t judge me. My life has improved so much, thanks to Fieldstone and Gaitway.” – Angie, a Gaitway student Gaitway remains the only high school in the country that is housed at a therapeutic riding facility. 4 | 2012 AR Photo by Jo Marble COLLABORATIONS HELP US GROW We partner with community organizations to help better serve people with special needs and challenges. As we continue to witness how horses help so many diverse needs, we are building even deeper relationships and more meaningful collaborations that enrich the lives of so many. Inner-city students’ eyes are opened School and Community Partners Caledonia Elementary School in East Cleveland respond to people they had never met before? Ashland University Mayfield Schools came to Fieldstone Farm this winter, leaving the How would they listen and follow directions? Aurora High School (Lander Elementary, familiarity of the inner-city. For many of them, How would they respect the horses and the Beachwood School District Millridge Elementary) (Middle School, Bryden Mentor Schools – coming to the farm was the first time they had rules of the barn? These are examples of the life Elementary) CARES program been outside of a city atmosphere. skills that they worked on at Fieldstone Farm, Blossom Hill retirement home Metzenbaum Center which helped them build confidence for future Broadmoor School (Preschool) Monarch Center for Autism Everything at Fieldstone Farm was new to Brown Mackie College Open Doors Academy unfamiliar situations. Cleveland Clinic Center Pressley Ridge them. The smells, the animals, the open space for Autism Ohio Professional and even the people were unfamiliar. This was At the end of Caledonia’s eight-week session, Case Western University Horseman’s Association all part of learning how to confidently adapt to the teachers saw many improvements. The The Cleveland Clinic Children’s Our Lady of the Wayside Hospital for Rehabilitation Painesville City Schools new and different situations. How would they students walked around the facility with Cleveland Sight Center (Maple Elementary) more self-assurance, confidence and greater (Bright Futures Preschool) Solon Community Education – independence. They felt empowered with their Cleveland State University Blue Ribbon Program Cuyahoga Community College Shaker Heights Schools new knowledge of the farm and horses.