McKeever's First Ride Atlanta 2009

Horses & Humans... Partnering for Pleasure, Growth & Healing.

Summary Of Event

Hosted by: OPAF

When: June 18, 2009

Where: Chastain Horse Park - Atlanta, Georgia

Demo Riders: Tammie Higginbotham and Tony Cerminaro

The first McKeever's First Ride was launched in Atlanta, GA, at Chastain Horse Park in June, and was funded by Deenie McKeever. The event was planned to coincide with the conference of the Amputee Coalition. This allowed 30 guests of the convention to be bussed over to Chastain Horse Park for a day of adaptive riding, grooming, groundwork, fellowship, and live music by Templeton Thompson. Demo riders, Tammy Higginbotham and Tony Ceriminaro, both amputees, wowed the audience with their joy and confidence in the saddle. Mandy Branton, Leslie Olsen, and Chastain Horse Park volunteers offered immeasurable help in making the day a success!

Event Photo Gallery

Equine Lead - Ed Dabney

2009 Event Videos

2009 Media Coverage

OandP Article: OPAF Launches McKeever’s First Ride

Testimonials

Thank You

I am the extremely proud momma of twin horseback riders Sydney & Olyvia. Along with my daughters and husband, we had the unique honor to meet you at Mckeever's First. Sydney is a RLE amputee with a diagnosis of fibular hemimelia. She has always had an interest and love of horses. Her first opportunity to ride was because of you. Bothe she and her sister were estatic after our visit with you. Funny how a family from NE TN drove all the way to Atlanta,GA to discover their daughters deepest passions in life... Horses. Most importantly you taught ever child,parent and sibling as a unit that nothing should hold anyone back from anything they put their mind to. Horses are like people you told he children... Treat them softly and they will let you ride them and enjoy them. Your Father was a pioneer in prosthetic fabrication. He widdled legs out of wood. Miss Deenie I know he is proud of you for bringing a special portion of this world's population together if only for a day and sharing your horses and hospitality to their families. You did more than let my girls rode your horses that day. You vamped my Sudney's self-esteem. They started English saddle riding Summer 2011 have earned blue ribbons in competition and were given 2 mares for Christmas this year.

God Bless You. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Amy Fleming

Thank you so much for all you are doing!

Thank you so much for all you are doing. My son really had a great time. You are welcome to use his picture. His name is Cruz Shoemaker and he is 3 years old. He had an aka at the age of 3 months due to a blood clot developing during lifesaving measures. He just learned to walk alone in November 2009. Seeing Molly was amazing. He does not know any children with amputations. We brought him to McKeever's First Ride hoping he would meet some. Instead, he met that wonderful pony and made lots of connections. -Lesli

Horses & Humans... Partnering for Pleasure, Growth & Healing.