March/April 2025 Issue

EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN March/April 2025 Page 51 See page 78 for details. Not a print subscriber? Join the ongoing mailing list for just $20. FREE Classifieds for print subscribers! trust of family members and find- ing confidence again. “We recently moved one of our programs called Leading the Way to Fox Chase Farm in Phil- adelphia.” It’s accessible to the School District of Philadelphia and serves middle school students who are receiving emotional support. “We ran the program here in Malvern for two years and obviously accessibility became a challenge with getting all the way out here.” She says they bring the horses to Fox Chase Farm several times a week. “There are six to 10 kids per cohort, and we’re working with 12 schools this school year. The students come health,” she says. The goal is to see more kids across different grades, and ultimately to have a career technical education pro- gram. “We’ve expanded a lot of our programming with children through Youth and Family Services and Juvenile Probation in the last five years,” de Marco explains. “We’re now contracted in addition to Chester County, in Montgomery and Delaware Counties.” Horses As Therapists There are six horses at Gate- way, and de Marco says she has promised each of them that they The Horse Will See You Now re-entry program there since 2019, providing participants innovative mental health treatment as they transition back to their communi- ties. “They go through a process based on determining what their own goals are for going home,” she says. “Things like regaining for six sessions to experience a curriculum that we wrote.” She says the curriculum is based on social emotional learning, and focuses on things like physical safety, emotional safety, boundar- ies and trust. “We’re hoping to expand our offerings to include some of our other programs from mental (Continued from page 50) (Continued on page 53) Dallas, Kristen and Disney enjoying an afternoon in the pasture. The horses are inseparable, and love getting their pictures taken. Photo credit: Suzanne Bush