SpiritHorse Shenandoah Valley
Therapeutic Riding Center
Contact SpiritHorse of Shenandoah Valley
At SpiritHorse of Shenandoah Valley, our attentive staff is available Monday through Saturday to answer all of your questions and make every effort to ensure you are 100% satisfied.
operating hours
Monday 8am - 6pm
Tuesday 8am - 6pm
Wednesday 8am - 6pm
Thursday 8am - 6pm
Friday 8am - 6pm
Saturday Appointment only
Sunday Closed
SpiritHorse of Shenandoah Valley
13 Shawnee Hill Trail
Raphine, VA 24472
Phone numbers
540-294-1471......Owner/Instructor......Eddy Zwart
540-294-4353......Owner/Instructor......Judy Zwart
540-256-9282......Instructor/Volunteer cord......Chuck Hazy
540-256-6199......Secretary/Fundraising Cord......Heather Hazy
540-377-2153........24 hours / 7 days a week...... Fax Line
Lesson Hours
Monday 11am - 5pm
Tuesday 11am - 5pm
Wednesday 11am - 5pm
Thursday 11am - 5pm
Friday 11am - 5pm
Saturday Appointment only
Sunday Closed
In the Spring of 2014 Mr & Mrs. Zwart were contacted with the devastating news of the death of our 18 year old son. For the next year with fear of speaking with others fearful they would judge us, our Despair had been overwhelming except when we went out to feed, love and care for our Horses. Our Magical 7 became our hope for a better tomorrow. Sadly a year later we were contacted with more devastating news, this time it was about our 6 year old granddaughter. After receiving custody of our granddaughter and grandson, we immediately enrolled her into counseling. Soon thereafter we noticed Ciara wasn't finding her peace with therapy, she wouldn't talk except when she was out at the barn with meme and pawpaw, we very soon noticed she was talking to the horses. More importantly we noticed Ciara was telling her horse Thunderhead everything, slowly we started to notice such a change in Ciara ( for the better).
We started researching Equine facilities near us, sadly the few facilities near us cost was much more than we could bare at the time, then we found a wonderful Non-profit organization based in Texas called SpiritHorse International that didn't charge their rides. We knew we could never take Ciara to the one in Texas but we could reach out to the organization where we found out we could take classes to become Therapeutic Riding Instructors. We knew right away we wanted to do this for our grandchildren, and our local community. So we got on a plane headed to Texas. We not only found an amazing community there but we found more help than we could have imaged. Texas offered us to fall under their Non-Profit status for $1, if we used SpiritHorse in our name. We of course took advantage of this amazing gesture and opened our own Therapeutic Riding Center August 8,2015.
SHSV started with just 8 kids (Today we have around 40), Some were Autistic,some have emotional trauma, and some have physical disabilities. We notice some of the Horses we had rescued from being sent to the slaughter house due to having a broken Spirit, were enjoying the attention from our Riders. The horses seemed to just know what the kids needed, the Magical 7 were gentle with the riders. We learned our Horses needed the riders just as much as our riders needed our Horses.
Each SpiritHorse across the USA and overseas supports themselves, but we all share the same Non-Profit status and Mission:
" To assist individuals with special needs to reach their full potential through interactions with Horses".
We provide no cost therapeutic riding for all special needs and emotional hurdles. We are able to do this by Donations, Grants and Fundraising.
$Spirithorseshenvalley
