STATE LOAN WILL HELP SUPPORT GOALS OF RIDING HIGH FARM
Allentown Examiner
March 17, 2011
Riding High Farm has secured a state loan to support its programming for the disabled.
The New Jersey Economic Development Authority (EDA) granted the $290,000 loan through the state’s Small Business Fund. This assistance will allow the farm to improve its day program, which helps train people with special needs in equine care and farm management, according to Riding High Farm Executive Director Dennis Kahn.
Organized as Handicapped High Riders Club in 1979 and now known as Riding High Farm, the nonprofit is dedicated to providing special-needs individuals with recreational and therapeutic horseback-riding instruction. Over the past three decades, the farm’s programs have changed and expanded, but the organization’s original dedication to individuals with special needs continues to be the constant goal, according to Kahn.
Associated with and certified by the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association as a premier accredited facility, Riding High Farm provides programs that include individual therapeutic riding lessons, group riding lessons to school districts, and an inclusive skill-based summer camp with a curriculum focused on equine-related activities integrating both able-bodied and special-needs campers. The 10.5-acre farm on Route 526 in Allentown has both indoor and outdoor horseback riding arenas.
The Economic Development Authority’s Small Business Fund supports creditworthy, small, minority-owned or women-owned businesses in New Jersey that have been in operation for at least one year and nonprofit corporations in operation for at least three years. Up to $300,000 is available and can be used for fixed assets and working capital. For more information on the Small Business Fund and other available state resources, contact the Business Action Center at 866-534-7789 or visit www.njeda.gov. For more information about the programs offered at Riding High Farm, call Dennis Kahn at 732-492-0991 or visit www.ridinghighfarm.org
