Popular horse therapy center needs help to rebuild after massive fire

By Asia Wilson

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    CARTERSVILLE, Georgia (WANF) — Beyond Limits Therapeutic Riding, a horse therapy center, is working to bounce back after an electrical fire more than two weeks ago.

Kimberly Oviedo started her business 10 years ago with her family. The non-profit serves people with special needs from Bartow, Paulding, Cherokee, and Cobb Counties with weekly therapy sessions.

“We do weekly therapeutic horseback riding lessons. We work with children and adults with a multitude of disabilities. Anything from cerebral palsy, down syndrome, autism, post-traumatic stress disorder, any syndrome diagnosis that they have, we work with,” Oviedo said. “This is the one place that they can come where their diagnosis doesn’t define who they are, cause here, they are who they are. They just fit in,” she said.

On May 25th, the fire stopped lessons for many of the riders for weeks.

“A lot of them can’t play any organized sports, which is so crucial to development for children when they’re growing so we provide that. We provide social skills,” Oviedo said.

Oviedo said this is where many volunteers and groups like the ROTC come to help or use the space.

“It’s very heartbreaking. What used to be our barn held eight years of memories. Eight horse shows with the kids, Therapeutic riding lessons. Everything that we worked for, saved for purchase, this is it. There’s nothing. There’s nothing left,” Oviedo said.

The barn that went through the blaze held 10 horses. No horses died and no one was hurt.

“This was our main barn. It was the home to all of our horses. We have 10 horses lived in this barn. We had all of our tack, all of our supplies. All of our grain, all of our feed, everything that you have to have to run a therapeutic riding program was housed in this barn,” Oviedo said.

Oviedo said the property saw 60 people ranging from five to 70 years-old weekly for lessons.

“We are a therapy like no other therapy. Some of these kids are in and out of the hospital all the time, and they’re in physical therapy and occupational therapy, and they come out here and they don’t even know that they’re getting therapy,” Oviedo said.

This has struck a personal chord for Iz, who is 25 years old and went through multiple brain surgeries.

“He counts down sleeps until he gets to ride again. He’s been asking me every other day. How many sleeps until I get to ride again,” said Lori Satterfield, a parent with a child in the program.

For many like Mary Cowart, who has a six-year-old son, said this is the one place their loved ones can be who they are and not be defined by their diagnosis.

“It gives him a sense of freedom and independence. Maddox, his biggest thing is being nonverbal, but being on a course, you don’t have to be verbal. He just had his connection with this horse that you’re riding,” Cowart said. “This place means so much to all of us. It just changes our kids. It’s their safe place. It’s the place where they can just be free, who they are. The horses aren’t judging. Nobody judges them out here,” she said.

Representatives tell us Gas South donated $10,000 to help with the rebuild so far, but Oviedo said it will take between $600-$800,000 to rebuild.

“We really need the community to connect to step up and help us. They’ve been so gracious to donate,” Oviedo said. “But we really need the community to help us rebuild a barn, so that these kids can continue in their therapy.

Oviedo said insurance won’t cover anything that they lose. She said their biggest need now is monetary donations for a barn and ATV.

Click the link to see how you can donate: beyondlimitsriding.org/donate

Oviedo said checks can be mailed to Beyond Limits Therapeutic Riding at 307 North Marietta Parkway, Marietta GA 30060.

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