BY KAREN CHANEY
at work,” Bruton said. “That pony was mean. It stepped on me and ran me under trees. It didn’t matter, I had a pony.” From that moment on, Bruton was enamored with horses. She started teaching horse riding les- sons to neighborhood kids for $5 a lesson. In 1980, when she was a junior at Carroll High School, she opened Ride With Pride Horsemanship School on her family’s property on Highland Street. The inspiration Although Amy rode at an equine therapy center she kept requesting to go back and ride with Bruton. “Amy kept coming up to me at the grocery store or in town, and she always asked, ‘When can I come ride with you again?’” Bruton said. “I started thinking about it. Finally her dad called me and said, ‘She really wants to ride with you again, is there any way?’” The speci cs Bruton earned certi cations in therapeu- tic horsemanship but it wasn’t until she got her Professional Association of Therapeutic
Horsemanship certi cation did she feel adequately prepared to be an instructor. In 2011, Bruton founded Amy’s Wish With Wings, an equestrian therapy nonpro t organization. When Amy was 23 years old, Bruton welcomed her back to her barn as a rider. “Amy’s wish was to come back to me. The wings part of the name is because we gave her wings,” Bruton said. “When she started here, she had two side walkers and a horse leader and within a couple months we had her riding independently.” The impact What started out with one rider and one instructor has turned into 45 students taking lessons weekly, four instructors, one volunteer coordinator and a bevy of volunteers. The nonpro t organization teaches riders as young as 3 years old. Riders currently taking les- sons represent a variety of special needs, including those who are blind, deaf, have cerebral palsy, attention de cit/hyperactivity disorder, Down’s syndrome and others.
Doreen Bruton opened Ride With Pride Horsemanship School in 1980.
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480 West Highland St., Southlake www.amyswishwithwings.com
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