RAPHINE,Va. – Some places in our area are still feeling the effects of Hurricane Florence.
One of them is a therapeutic horse riding center we first told you about this summer when a fire killed several horses and destroyed a barn.
SpiritHorse Shenandoah Valley has spent weeks working to raise money and collect materials to rebuild, but just made the difficult decision to cancel fall sessions.
They will not reopen until March.
“(It was) very hard, because we didn't want to do it and we thought about the kids and stuff and the horses needed it, but then I had to look at the safety for the children and the horses. It just wasn't going to happen, we have too much material sitting around,” said Judy Zwart, owner of SpiritHorse Shenandoah Valley.
They have what they need to rebuild, but had to stop construction because of recent heavy rains and a lack of volunteers.
“I would say we have another 60 to 70 hours of work, if we had a good crew to work on it. The next thing we would do is put the trusses and raptors and then the roof,” said Edwin Zwart, co-owner of the facility.
The rain not only has made the ground difficult to work, leaving shoes stuck in the mud, but it has impacted the horses as well.
“We have a couple of them that have gotten rain rot. They are very irritable when they get rain rot. It’s like a rash to us and when they get it on their back and when you set the saddle on top of that they get irritable and they don't want to do their job,” Judy Zwart said.
Despite the setback, the SpiritHorse family says it will remain a free therapeutic riding center.
If you would like to volunteer send SpiritHorse a message on their Facebook page; to donate, follow this link.