The Devon Horse Show

If you grew up in this area, you probably know Memorial Day Weekend not only signifies the kick-off of summer, but it's time for The Devon Horse Show & Country Fair. A tradition since 1896, the show brings together amateurs and professional riders for eleven days of competition, exhibitions, carnival rides, great food and lots of horses!!

This weekend, like many Memorial Day weekends, 12 Ivy Hill students and four horses participated in the Handicapped Rider's Event of the Devon Horse Show. Hosted by Thorncroft Equestrian Center in Malvern, it has been part of Devon for the past 29 years. Horses and students alike compete in different classes including dressage, trail, equitation, jumping, etc. The weather was perfect and everyone had a great time. Depending on class sizes, ribbons ranged from 1-8th place. Ivy Hill brought home the following ribbons:

1st Place - 7

2nd Place - 4

3rd Place - 7

4th Place - 6
5th Place - 5

6th Place - 2

7th Place - 2

8th Place - 1

Congratulations to Daniel Mainieri, pictured above, for earning Reserve Champion at the Show! He did a great job with each class he competed in!!

Even the horses get in on the action and can be nominated to win the prestigious Francis P. Hayes Trophy for Champion Therapeutic Horse of the Year. And guess what??? Bean won!! This is the second year in a row an Ivy Hill horse has received this honor. Last year Blue won and this year it was Bean's turn. So it was off to The Dixon Oval at the Devon Fairgrounds on Sunday for his presentation. He received a cooler with "Therapeutic Horse of the Year HRE 2008" embroidered on it's side.

Thank you to Megan, Janna, Jess, Jordan, Julia, and everyone else who helped to make this day a great success! It takes a tremendous amount of work and time to participate in an off-site horse show. We couldn't have done it without all of your hard work!! Thank you!!

Tractor Needed - Can You Help?

Late last summer, Ivy Hill received $2,500 from The American Realty Trust to be used towards the purchase of a tractor to help maintain our property. We are currently raising funds for our goal of $8,500 to purchase the needed tractor. All donations are tax deductible and will be acknowledged with a letter and a listing on our website. Thank you in advance for your continued support of our program!

Welcome to Ivy Hill's Blog!

Ivy Hill has many exciting things going on these days & we don't want anyone to miss anything!!

We have three great bits of news to share with everyone this week.

First, Megan Strychowski, our Program Manager, was recognized by The Autism Support Network for her "excellence in the community and continuing work with children with Autism". To her surprise, she was presented with a plaque on April 26th at The Autism Support Network's annual dinner. Anyone who knows Megan knows how committed she is to our program and the people we serve. Away from Ivy Hill, Megan has a degree in Special Education as well as Elementary Education from Kutztown University. She has been involved in therapeutic riding since she was 8 years old. Congratulations Megan!!
Our second bit of news is the return of Reed Technologies to our farm on Friday May 9th. A group of 12 people from Reed Technology and Information Services Inc. in Horsham, braved the weather to help us:

• fix fencing,



• wash the indoor ring,



• clean our office,



• caulk & clean the observation window,



• clean all the lights in barn,



• wash the fronts of all the stalls,



• and hang shelves in the feed room.

This is Reed's third time at our facility helping to make it a better place! Thank you Reed Technologies!!!!

Lastly, we would like to welcome & introduce two of our newest horse's to our program - April Fire, known as "April" & Mislynn Fancy Bar, known as "Fancy". They both came to us last week from a private owner in Sellersville. We will be transitioning them into our program and we will share pictures of them soon!