On The Road - Mary's Travel Journal

The Road to The 2002 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event

Tuesday April 22 - After hours with computer techs to get my new international Nextel cell phone to connect with my new laptop, we got off to a late start, but the point is we got off! We managed to get about 250 miles under way, making it to Tifton, Georgia, and Amy's South Georgia RV Park off 1-75, exit 60. My husband JJ Hathaway and I have a routine, I take the dogs for a long walk and basically stay out of his way while he hooks up the electricity, and sets up the camper for the night.

As Winnie and Gizmo pulled me over the hill, lo and behold there were horses on the property, and a beautiful meadow where we could walk along the fence line, and into a mowed path through the woods. The small but neat facility was a therapeutic riding stable named U Can Do It. Aha, where you least expect it, a story for HorsesDaily!

I met Cindy Thalheimer, while she was loading the soda machine and we had an impromptu "interview". Her 17-year-old mustang Cole was at the vet clinic, after she tried to convince her local veterinarian something was wrong. "I just know my horse, and he wasn't right. He was getting dehydrated and not wanting to drink." She didn't wait for the blood work that was drawn to come back, and just brought him to a clinic where she knew they had the facilities to treat him. "My students are upset because "their" horse is sick, and I have been trying hard to reassure them he will be OK, while worrying myself."

Last year, Cindy Thalheimer, convinced her Dad, Steve Carpenter, owner s of Amy's South Georgia R.V. Park in Tifton, to let her use the property behind the campsites to set up her own Therapeutic Riding Center. A beautiful large meadow, with mowed trails through wooded paths full of fragrant wildflowers was the perfect setting for her to continue to develop the program she had started at a nearby stable. This way she could help her parents, and have her home with her husband John and son Jeremiah, "two of my best volunteers" and her horses. Thalheimer got her non-profit status, which allows her to take donations. With 13 students, and four horses things were going well until the recent setback with her mustang Cole. "I'm afraid my little non-profit just went in the hole, but the most important thing right now is my horse's health."

Cindy loves her work, her students, and her horses. "The horses know they have someone special on their backs, you can tell they sense what is required of them." Her eyes brighten and for a moment she forgets her worries, as she talks about her students. They range from 5 years to adult. She has several volunteers, and parents help as well. They have begun doing local shows and are certified for the Special Olympics Program. Plans to promote her program are in the works, with lots of good ideas, and little time.

As a non-profit status, all donations from money to feed, tack supplies and horses are tax deductible, to authorized therapeutic programs. Cindy takes no salary, and credits her husband and Amy's RV Park as her biggest backers, who cannot even claim it as a deduction due to the non-profit status. They are in need of 2 more horses, larger ones for their adult students. Often horses donated have medical issues that make them uninsurable, which means an expensive trip to the clinic can be a disaster.

HorsesDaily said they would get the word out about the U Can Too Therapeutic Horseback Riding program. Anyone feeling particularly generous these days is encouraged to make a donation. It will make your day, and Cindy's too.

U Can Too
Cindy Thalheimer
4632 Union Road
Tifton, Georgia 31794
229-387-6562
jet2fan@planttel.net