Bert and his Buddy.

Hands and Hearts for Horses

Yet another happy customer.

About Us

Hands and Hearts for Horses started as a desire of Karen “Karey” Singletary and Terrell Singletary to utilize Terrell’s empty walking horse facility to benefit individuals with disabilities in Thomasville, GA and the surrounding areas.  They worked together to achieve non-profit status, and become a NARHA center. Terrell’s Walking Horse barn was then host to three specially trained therapy horses, and the rest of the facility was revamped to fit the NARHA standards. By 2000, Hands and Hearts for Horses was accepting its first riders, many of whom are still riding with Hands and Hearts today.

We have currently been operational for seven years, and are still going strong. When the program started there were three volunteer instructors, and now it has  grown to have two fulltime and two part time paid employees. The center runs six days a week (Monday—Saturday), has ten therapy horses, and serves approximately 60 riders a week. About half of our riders come from  school groups in the area, and the other half come from private lessons we teach during the week. While currently offering  Therapeutic Riding and Hippotherapy to our participants, we are looking to add a Drill Team in the near future. Currently our riders attend competitions specifically formulated for riders with special needs, including our own home horse show, a show at Jacob’s Ladder in Hahira, GA, and the annual State of Georgia’s Special Olympics  in Perry, GA.

Therapeutic Riding is preformed by a riding instructor and utilizes the movement of the horse to allow the  riders muscles to move in ways they would not normally. The rider and the horse work as a team to achieve goals and objectives set forth by the instructor.  Some of these goals include learning to steer the horse, post the trot, and two-point over poles.

Hippotherapy is preformed by a Physical, Occupational, or Speech therapist, and utilizes the horse as a treatment tool to assist in the rehabilitation of the rider. The horse (at the walk) is one of only two animals in the world that can mimic all the movements of the human pelvis. This is why some non-ambulatory riders are finally able to walk after  riding the horse for several sessions.