SunDance News

Vol. II, Issue II Spring 2007

2007 Riding Sessions Update


Sign up now for the 2007 SunDance Riding Therapy, Inc. riding schedule! Four sessions are available and include seven weeks of riding on Tuesday evenings at Gray Manor Stables in Moorhead.

2007 Riding Schedule
Session I: April 17 and 24: May 1, 8, 15, 22 and 29. Schedule I is almost full as of mid-March
Session II: June 5, 12,19 and 26; July 4, 10 and 17.
Session III: July 24 and 31; August 7, 14, 21 and 28; September 4.
Session IV: September 11, 18 and 25; October 2, 9, 16 and 23. Session IV would only be if we had a full schedule and enough riders wanting to participate.

Sessions run a half hour from 4:30 pm to 8:00 pm. The 7:30 slot for session II and III are reserved for our Special Olympics trainees.

Sessions are $160.00 with an additional registration fee of $30.00. Scholarships are available and can fund up to 100% of the sessions.

If you have any questions or would like to register for a session, please visit www.sundanceriding.org or call up at (218) 233-4675.


SunDance Presentations Available


Want to learn more about SunDance? SunDance volunteers will come out to talk to your group about the outstanding SunDance program. Call us today at (218) 233-4675 to arrange a speaker presentation to your group.


SunDance Web Site Has a New Look!


Thanks to the efforts of SunDance volunteer Lindsey Young, the SunDance web site has been updated to be more interesting to read and easier to get information. Check it out at www.sundanceriding.org.

Lindsey has added a "photos" link on the site that showcases past sessions, with great photos of our riders, volunteers and horses. Lindsey hopes to add biographies and more photos to the "Meet Us" link, where you will be able to read about and see all who make the SunDance riding program possible.

Lindsey graduated from Minnesota State University Moorhead with a Mass Communications degree. She is an advertising coordinator with Interactive Media Group at Forum Communications. Lindsey is working on updating and improving the current information on the web site. If you have not visited the SunDance web site in awhile, go to www.sundanceriding.org to:

  • Read the heart-touching rider testimonial "Angel's Story"
  • Get directions to Gray Manor Stables
  • Make a save online donation
  • Get forms to volunteer, apply for a scholarship or sign up for a riding session
  • See who our generous sponsors are
  • Learn about the benefits of therapeutic riding

Lindsey is no stranger to volunteering. She says that she's always enjoyed volunteer work as a fun way to meet people, have fun, and share talents. Lindsey started volunteering for 4-H in grade school. By the time she got to college she was volunteering through her sorority, doing fundraising for Big Brother/Big Sister, Hospice, and The United Way.

"Volunteering is such an important part of being in a community," says Lindsey.

She found out about volunteer for SunDance through www.firstlink.org.

"When I saw SunDance Riding Therapy's notice on the page I thought it was such a fantastic organization. I look forward to working with SunDance Riding Therapy for a long time," says Lindsey.


Volunteer Spotlight: Justin Lidenberg


Justin Lidenberg is a sophomore at Moorhead Sr. High. When he's not busy working at Mexican Village or enjoying skateboarding and biking, he finds time to volunteer for SunDance.

For the past two years, he has volunteered for SunDance by sidewalking, tacking up horses and helping riders. Justin is the sun of SunDance's Volunteer Coordinator, Cory Lidenberg. He got involved "to help people and be around horses."

Justin has been involved with horses for five years, working with the family's registered paint mare "Rosie" and also "Dusty", their quarter saddlebred cross gelding horse. The family also has Shyann, an exotic shorthaired Persian cat.

Justin's favorite part of SunDance is watching new riders learn how to ride.


Horse Spotlight: Buddy


Buddy is registered with the American Paint Horse Association and "he's done it all" according to SunDance Director Shannon Nowak; he provides English and western Style riding and is shown at parades, local and state hors shoes, 4-H events and more.

Shannon says, "Buddy has the calmest disposition and the biggest heart!"

Charmein and Lee Gray have been Buddy's owners for more than 10 years. Buddy has extensive time working as a therapy horse and truly loves his job.

He usually has a very busy schedule with the Gray's daughter, Ariel, showing him in a variety of classes from halter to barrels to the egg and spoon race. He is also used for lessons to a variety of horse lovers and pulls kids around on a sled during the winter.

Buddy has been in the SunDance program since last year and we are very fortunate to have him with his busy schedule to teach others!


SunDance Celebrates Volunteers

National Volunteer Week April 15 - 21


"We make a living by what we d, but we make a life by what we give." - Winston Churchill

SunDance is always grateful for our volunteers, but would like to recognize all of them as part of National Volunteer Week, April 15-21, 2007. National Volunteer Week began in 1974 when President Richard Nixon signed an executive order establishing an annual celebration of volunteering. Every president since has signed a proclamation promoting the week.

SunDance volunteers do everything from helping with fundraisers, to community speaking, to working directly with riders and horses, and so much more.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 61.2 million people volunteered for an organization at least once between 2005 and 2006. The proportion of the population who volunteered was 26.7 percent. SunDance Director Shannon Nowak says the State of Minnesota considers volunteer work to be worth about $17 an hour of labor. "We couldn't make the riding program possible without our gifted and giving volunteers," Shannon says.


Donor Spotlight: Dilworth and Glyndon Lions Club


The Lions are a service club with an international network of 1.3 million men and women in 200 countries and geographic areas who participate in a vast variety of projects important to their communities, ranging from cleaning up local parks to providing supplies to victims of natural disasters. The Club was established in 1917.

SunDance and the Lions - organizations that serve the disabled.

The Lions are perhaps best known for working to end preventable blindness. Glyndon Lions member Charles Leach says they support seeing-eye-dog programs for the blind and most recently a similar program that utilizes trained dogs to help the hearing impaired.

Besides the fact that SunDance services the disabled like the Lions, Charles said another reason they chose to give to SunDance is because SunDance serves adults as well as children. In fact, SunDance is the only therapeutic riding program in our region to not limit client participation by their age.

Neil Brown of the Dilworth Lions works with the youth oriented "Leo Club" and helped raise money for a local family who had major medical costs after a major operation. The Dilworth Lions raise money by putting on events such as the Men's and Ladies' Stats and an Italian Dinner. The Glyndon Lions raise a majority of their money through an annual auction held in March.

Thank you Dilworth and Glyndon Lions!