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<br />NARHA: 25 Years of People Turning Dreams Into Reality <br /> <br />Testimony to the therapeutic value of horseback riding spans the ages. But the origin of <br />organized therapeutic riding is relatively recent. The achievements in the 1950's of one <br />woman - Liz Hartel of Denmark - are generally regarded as the impetus for the formation <br />of therapeutic riding centers in Europe. PoUo impaired Madame Hartel's mobility but not <br />her spirit. She rehabilitated herself from wheelchair to horseback and in 1952 she won the <br />silver medal for Grand Pris Dressage at the Helsinki Olympics. Medical and equine <br />professionals took notice and soon centers for therapeutic riding sprang up in Europe. It <br />didn't take long for therapeutic riding to reach the shores of the North American <br />continent. Canadians and Americans studied what was happening in England and quickly <br />made plans to start centers. Two ofthe first were the Community Association of Riding <br />for the Disabled (CARD) in Toronto, ON, which was organized by J.1. Bauer and Dr. <br />R.E. Renaud; and the Chelf Center for the Handicapped in Augusta, MI, with Lida <br />McCowan as executive director. Almost as quickly these and other individuals <br />recognized the need for an organization that could be a clearinghouse for information on <br />therapeutic riding. Hence, on Nov. 2, 1969,23 like-minded individuals gathered at the <br />Red Fox Inn in Middleburg, V A, and laid the groundwork for an organization named <br />North American Riding lor the Handicapped Association. <br />