We at LIRHA are saddened of the tragic loss of Joe (Joey). He was a wonderful young man, always there for his brother and all the other LIRHA students.  Never thought twice if asked to help us out with classes or fundraisers.  Our sympathy goes out to his mom and dad and brother. He will be greatly missed by us all.  - Rest in peace -11/30/10-

Gone too soon, our beloved friend and volunteer of LIRHA - Arlene D. Colon.  (leading bunny)

Everyone at LIRHA is saddened by the sudden loss of Arlene.  She will be missed by us all. Arlene was a sweet and wonderful person, our sympathy to her family and friends. Her horse and other animals also will miss her too.  -  Rest in peace- 7/2/10 -

We are saddened on the sudden passing of our student, Jack G.   1/19/09.

You will be missed by all at L.I.R.H.A.  His  funny comments, how he made everyone laugh, he was a true gentlemen to us all and for all the joy he brought to our program. Bless you Jack. Love L.I.R.H.A

L.I.R.H.A. gives its deepest sympathy to the Christian Fellowship Ranch on the passing of a great horse AKA: Rusty (March 2009)  He was wonderful friend, show horse and a  therapy horse, we shall all miss him.

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  Sunday, October 30, 2011 we joined in the celebration of Michael and his family and friends as he received his Eagle Scout Award. He made the equicizer horse for the disabled who have tight muscles and need to be  stretched before being mounted on a horse. Thank you Michael. LIRHA's President Madeline, Treasurer Joanne and Physical Therapist Patricia presented him with a plaque.

 On Saturday, August 6th,2011 the Alley Pond Striders presented LIRHA's Treasurer Joanne and Tack Mgr. Jackie with a check in the amount of $2,000. In the picture to the left is one of its running club members -leading johnny on horse bunny- is Ray Prochak who has been a long time volunteer with LIRHA and a long time runner with the Alley Pond Striders. We thank them all for running and raising money for us every year.  We also thank Ray for all his wonderful years as a friend and volunteer in the LIRHA program.

On Sunday, June 26th,2011 our good friend and LIRHA Instructor Bunny was awarded the Ed Wrigley Horsemanship Award.  A well deserved award. Congratulations Bunny from all of us at LIRHA.  (In the photo is Bunny with her husband James and son Brad.)

      On a cold and icy Saturday, Feb. 12th, 2011 Michael Grabow cousin of Johnny a LIRHA student worked on his eagle scout project with his Troop 656 in his fathers heated garage. This project is a portable horse used to stretch his cousin Jphnny's legs and other students before mounting on a real horse. He heard we were using a bigger barrel and told him of the real one was too expensive for LIRHA - so he approached his scout leader and told him of this project and they agreed it was a great idea.  Everyone at lirha thanks Michael and his troop and family for making this wonderful tool to help the disabled in our program get more out of therapy on horseback- before and during the class. Also, let us not forget to thank the girl scouts who made the mane and tail for this horse. Great job everyone! 

      Johnny on his new portable therapy horse with Patricia the physical therapist. and his cousin Michael at the program. Behind them two horses looking out and checking out the new horse in town. 

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L.I.R.H.A. would like to send special thanks to our wonderful volunteer, Mathew Spohrer and his Boy Scout Troop #577 of Merrick Legion Post #1749.  They all got together to work on a wonderful project for L.I.R.H.A. which was to build us two new mounting blocks for the program, some wooden benches and a new cabinet to hold our special tack in our tack room.  These wonderful scouts and scout masters came out the day after the cold, snow and ice to work on this project.  We thank them all and special thanks to Marie and Jim Spohrer who opened their business for them to work on all these items. Many thanks to PRO Builder who donated the wood for this project. Our special thanks to the neighborhood Bagel Cafe' of Bellmore who donated bagels for everyone and our wonderful friends of My Hero Deli who donated the lunch to all these wonderful scouts. Also Bellmore Dunkin Donuts and Bellmore Stop N Shop.  We thank them for their support.  Mathew is a wonderful volunteer and big brother to Phillip who is a student in our program and his family are wonderful people who support L.I.R.H.A.   On behalf of L.I.R.H.A., thank you all for thinking of us and these wonderful items being made will help us so very much in our program.  Every step brings a disabled person closer to a new freedom of being mounted onto his or her special horse and the smiles on all of there faces says it all. Thank you!

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EAGLE COURT OF HONOR: MATTHEW S. SPOHRER, JANUARY 22, 2010 .  Bunny (instructor), Toni (Vol. Coordinator), and Madeline (President) were invited to our Volunteer Matthew's big day.  For all the work he and his troop 577 did for LIRHA in 2009 he received the highest honor, we greatly appreciate all their hard work for making the new mounting blocks, benches and tack room closet and two LIRHA signs were made and donated.  All these items are being used to the fullest, it helps us run a safer program.  Thank you to Matthew and troop 577 and his family.  You all are in our hearts forever.  Good luck in college and your future in animal care.

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  Our amazing volunteer (Bill) who was honored for all he does for his community and for giving of his time, especially to LIRHA.  Pictured with him is our board members MaryJean and Vol. Coordinator and Board member Toni.

Another amazing volunteer (Ariel & her Mom Ronnie). Ariel is an amazing girl, she loves animals and wrote about her experiences with working with the Handicapped at LIRHA, she won an award for this essay.  We thank her for being who she is.  Her and her mom are always there for LIRHA and their dad too.  She is going on to college and we wish her the best. 

  Our wonderful volunteer Nicole, has been with LIRHA a few years.  She wrote about our program to her school on how important it is to be a volunteer to help the handicapped and how beneficial it is to work with the horses and students.  Also in her last year of High School she and her French club made a donation to LIRHA and also set a day aside to have some of our board members and students attend to talk more about the program.  We thank her for being a supporter of our program and for informing others about the benefits of therapeutic horseback riding.  We wish her luck in college which she is learning more about the equestrian field.