Pegasus PostFall 2015

Now in its fourth year, #GivingTuesday harnesses the potential of social media and the generosity of people around the world to bring about real change in their communities. Observed on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, #GivingTuesday kicks off the charitable season, when many focus on their holiday and end-of-year giving. Pegasus once again will participate in #GivingTuesday—stay tuned for more details on our social media and at pegasustr.org/donate, and thank you in advance for your vital support!

See The Good Dinosaur with Pegasus!

What better way to spend a day off from work and school than at the movies!

The Carmel Cinema is hosting a special private screening of Disney/Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur at 10:00 a.m. on Friday, November 27, 2015.

Admission price is $12/person, and it includes a movie ticket, a small popcorn and a small drink. Proceeds will benefit Pegasus programs.

To pre-purchase tickets, contact Candice Sciarrillo at (845) 669-8235 x100 or events@pegasustr.org.

Join Us for J.McLaughlin Sip & Shops

Our generous friends at J.McLaughlin have once again offered to host Sip & Shop events to benefit Pegasus!

We warmly welcome you to join us on Thursday, November 12, 2015, from 3-7pm at the Bedford J.McLaughlin location and on Thursday, December 10, 2015, from 3-7pm at the New Canaan location. Light refreshments will be served as you shop the fall/winter collection. Pegasus will receive 15% of sales. Visit our events page at pegasustr.org for details!

Horse Around with Our Herd!

The 2016 Horsing Around calendar is here! This year’s edition highlights the natural beauty of our farm and herd, including the always adorable Snowy Sprout. Calendars are $20 each (plus shipping), and all proceeds will benefit our programs. The Horsing Around calendar is a fun, inexpensive holiday gift for any horse lover, and it benefits a worthy cause—our amazing participants! To purchase yours, stop by the administrative office at Pegasus Farm, contact Christine Fitzgerald at (845) 669-8235 x108 or cfitzgerald@pegasustr.org, or message us on Facebook.

#Giving Tuesday—December 1, 2015

‘Tis the season for beautifultrail rides at Pegasus Farm

Pegasus and Our Local Community

Haviland Hollow Charity Cup Raises $17,000

Sam Ramirez, Jr. and his wife, Fabiana, recently hosted the 7th Annual Haviland Hollow Charity Cup at their farm in Patterson, N.Y., to benefit Pegasus and The Rider’s Closet. The August 22 polo event raised more than $17,000 in net proceeds and donations for our two charities. Charity Cup highlights included exhibition polo matches, a gourmet luncheon for VIP ticket purchasers, a silent auction, and dancing under the tent with DJ Alex Richards, daughter of Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.

The Haviland Hollow Charity Cup was co-hosted by Sam and Fabiana, equestrian and Rider’s Closet founder Georgina Bloomberg, Emmy Award-winning director Cary Fukunaga and NuEnergen co-founder Kevin Hamilton. In recognition of her continued outstanding philanthropic support of Pegasus, Georgina received our inaugural Pegasus Benevolence Award at the event.

Many thanks to our hosts and all the volunteers who helped out at the event and contributed to its success!

Our Pegasus staff has been out and about this fall representing our organization at a number of local events. Staff members and volunteers had a great time at the annual Mahopac-Carmel Chamber of Commerce street fair on October 4. Visitors hit the trail on “Travel Peggy,” tested their roping and horseshoe skills, and went home with fabulous prizes.

Pegasus Farm will host a Brewster Chamber of Commerce mixer on November 10, and we are inviting a number of other community organizations to the farm to hear what we’re all about and enjoy the beautiful view of Peach Lake from our haven on the hill. If you are a member of a local organization and would like to visit Pegasus or host an event at Pegasus Farm, let us know!

Fall News from Our Regional Chapters

FOX HILL FARMS – Pleasantville, NY Fox Hill Farms has been a gracious and generous chapter host for more than 30 years. Due to recent changes in their lesson schedules, Fox Hill was not able to contribute space and resources to Pegasus this fall. We have found program opportunities at our other chapters for each of our participants this session.

KELSEY FARM – Greenwich, CTInstructor Sophia Rosenbloom and staff member Emily Salem report that our Greenwich chapter welcomed a number of enthusiastic new volunteers to our outstanding team of veteran helping hands this fall. Two new participants joined the program, and all of our students have been enjoying beautiful outdoor trail rides with Kelsey Farm’s hardworking and talented horses.

OX RIDGE HUNT CLUB – Darien, CTOur founding chapter welcomed two new volunteers this fall—Sarah Garijo-Garde and Emily Roberson. Pegasus instructor and physical therapist Lois Brockmann presented on the topic of disability awareness at her fall volunteer review, and everyone had a chance to simulate performing activities as a person with visual impairments or dyslexia. Volunteers used an online activity to better understand the difficulties facing someone with reading dyslexia, and they also experienced moving through an obstacle course both as a person who cannot see and as a sighted “helper.” Volunteers then simulated the experience of grooming and putting equipment on a therapy dog as if they were a person with visual and sensory impairments.

John CarberryCummings & Lockwood, LLC

Joe CusatoCusato Management Corp.

Susan KozeraATTI & Company, PLLC

Sue McGrawBoard President

Pegasus Board of Directors

(L. to r.) Event host Sam Ramirez, Jr., Pegasus Director of Philanthropy Pat Cavanaugh and Pegasus Board President Sue McGraw present Georgina Bloomberg with the Pegasus Benevolence Award. Photo by Sarah Corbin.

The Rider’s Closet Wish List

The Rider’s Closet is currently most in need of women’s paddock boots sizes 7-10, men’s paddock boots sizes 8-14, and children’s paddock boots sizes 10-5. To make a tax-deductible clothing donation (no helmets, please) or to request items, visit pegasustr.org/trc for info.

Who to Contact at Pegasus...

...for info about our programs: Syreeta Jones, Systems Administrator(845) 669-8235 x101sjones@pegasustr.org ...if you’d like to volunteer:Lynn Peters, Dir. of Volunteer Services(845) 669-8235 x109lpeters@pegasustr.org ...if you’d like to make a gift or discuss an event:Pat Cavanaugh, Dir. of Philanthropy(845) 669-8235 x102patcav@pegasustr.org ...if you’re a participant who has program questions:Program Staff Office(845) 669-8235 x115program@pegasustr.org ...to ask about special programs or group sessions:Sophia Rosenbloom, Special Programs Coordinator(845) 669-8235 x105srosenbloom@pegasustr.org ...to discuss billing, accounting or community outreach:Candice Sciarrillo, Administrative Manager(845) 669-8235 x100csciarrillo@pegasustr.org ...for media relations, marketing and communications:Christine Fitzgerald, Communications Director(845) 669-8235 x108cfitzgerald@pegasustr.org ...for information about our horses or barn:Marielle Baker, Equine Operations Manager(845) 669-8102mbaker@pegasustr.org ...to discuss our farm property and facilities:Paul Cooper, Farm Manager(845) 669-8235 x114pcooper@pegasustr.org

It’s Our 40th Anniversary!

Pegasus Helps Engineer a Solution

Recently, a group of engineering grad students from the University of Bridgeport visited our Ox Ridge chapter to learn about equine anatomy and the types of equipment we use for our therapeutic riding lessons. Their professor, Jani Pallis, had asked the students to design a saddle for a paraplegic rider, and Pegasus instructor and physical therapist Lois Brockmann put together a fantastic hands-on presentation for the class.

Each small group studied our horses’ physical characteristics, tested the different types of saddles we use and asked great questions about the design and function of the tack and equipment. Of course,

we also had time for some selfies with the four-legged heroes of our program!

Many thanks to Lois and her volunteers, Jani and her students, and equine rock stars Classico and DC for a fun, informative evening!

Throughout 2015, Pegasus is celebrating our Ruby Anniversary of 40 years of providing equine-assisted activities and therapies. We have so many people to thank for the four decades of success we have enjoyed, and we look forward to an even brighter future of helping our participants discover their inner champion. Thank you for being such an important part of our Pegasus community!

Volunteers lead the Ruby Anniversary parade at our 34th Annual Horse Show in May.

MBIA Day of Service at Pegasus

Several times a year, local organizations choose Pegasus for their corporate community service day. Citing reasons such as our mission, our beautiful farm, the welcoming atmosphere and our preparedness, specialized financial services firm MBIA of Purchase, N.Y., has made Pegasus a popular repeat choice.

We welcomed back a dozen of our MBIA friends on September 18, and they once again did a fantastic job. This year’s team spent the day staining newly installed paddock fencing, painting the caretaker’s

apartment and constructing “sheep gates” for our minis, Rosie and Violet, to corral them when they travel around spreading the Pegasus mission. Many thanks to this year’s outstanding MBIA team—we hope to see you again next year!

Thank You, Special Event Volunteers!

Our dedicated volunteers always are a huge part of the success of our Horse Show and other special events. This summer and fall were no exception.

Special thanks to Mary Zwecker, Kathy Curran, Pat Appel, BarbaraAnn Lewis, Judy Williams and Sarah and George Corbin, who assisted us at the Haviland Hollow Charity Cup, and to Paul Macchiarulo and Pat Appel (again!), who helped staff our booth at the Mahopac-Carmel street fair.

If you are interested in participating in any of the upcoming off-site events noted in this newsletter or on our website, please contact Lynn Peters at (845) 669-8235 x109 or lpeters@pegasustr.org.

Pegasus Therapeutic Riding310 Peach Lake RoadBrewster, NY 10509

T: (845) 669-8235F: (845) 669-5249info@pegasustr.org

We love to hear from you! Contact us at:

Fall Volunteer Review Week

Our fall review sessions for program volunteers were fun and educational. Not only were they a great opportunity to chat with instructors and fellow leaders and sidewalkers, they also offered some volunteers a chance to ride a horse for the first time as part of a mock lesson. All agreed riding is a lot more difficult than it appears, and everyone came away with a greater appreciation for how hard Pegasus participants work each week to hone their skills. Volunteers also thought their equine partners were pretty special as well (we wholeheartedly agree!). Volunteers on the ground had an opportunity to tune up leading and sidewalking skills and practice emergency dismounts. At the end of each session, everyone shared what they had learned during informative Q&A round tables.

The Pegasus Club

Local high school students Katie Prendergast and Sophia Brennan wanted to share their Pegasus volunteering experiences with their classmates at John F. Kennedy High School in Somers, N.Y., and get them involved. They decided the perfect way to do it was to start an after-school club. Although at press time the Pegasus Club was in the beginning stages, Katie and Sophia have reported that 60 students already have signed up to get involved! The girls’ goals are to have club members become Pegasus volunteers in either program or at special events, assist with fundraising events at the school, and be ambassadors-at-large for Pegasus and our programs. Way to go, Katie and Sophia! Your great idea will help change a lot of people’s lives!

Calling All Fabulous Program Volunteers!

Horses & Me begins in January. Contact Lynn Peters at (845) 669-8235 x109 or lpeters@pegasustr.org.

Linda Kovacs and Mary Jones at our Horse Show.

Sophia Brennan (l.) and Katie Prendergast (r.)

pegasustr.org