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We have moved!

Christianna Capra • June 2, 2013

As of June 1st, 2013 – our location and our herd has moved from Pittstown (at High Pointe Equine Center since October 2010) to Broadway, NJ. We are now operating out of CanalSide Farm in Broadway (Washington Township) just inside of Warren County. 


The farm in Pittstown was foreclosed upon midway through our first lease. Fortunately we were able to stay on as property managers for an additional 15 months working with the bank (the new farm lord). It was a lot of work but also a very good deal financially – allowing at that time our roots to grow a little deeper and also to give space for our sister organization, Spring Reins of LIFE (501c3) to be born. In March 2013, the farm was sold to new owners. There was support of our EAP work and acceptance of the populations that we serve, however the lease fees were essentially tripled from what we had been spending without notice of the increase. This created a very short runway to be able to operate and keep a home for the horses at the same time. So a farm search began.

Believe it or not, it is massively difficult to find a farm home that will allow our EAGALA model work in the arena (private use of an arena with horses and clients loose at the same time), and it is even more difficult to find a farm lord that is welcoming or tolerant of the populations served by our organization to be on the property. Maybe this will change as EAP becomes more known and its efficacy more proven, but as of yet not the case. In 2008 when we first started Spring Reins of Hope and were searching for a location to work out of, it took 47 farm visits to find HPEC in Pittstown, so there is was a bit of an improvement because in 2013 we only had to go and scout out 22 farms to find one that would welcome it all. Facility Needed 2013. 

We will be having an open house event on Saturday, July 27th from 3pm-6pm to welcome you all to the new place. Also will mention that in the past week CC has been approached by 2 mental health institutions and also an established center ranging from Hunterdon and Somerset Counties – whereby we will be meeting with them in the next couple of months to see what is possible in creating more outreach and locations for SRoH and EAP in the near future... So this chapter of the story is not finished, it may, only just be the real beginning!


In the meantime, enjoy some pictures that were taken during our move from 5/31/13 to 6/2/13... and... HUGE THANK YOU’s go out to the volunteers and transportation angels who really stepped up fast to help us get all four of our herd healers safely to the new spot (YES that included Straw getting on a trailer!), and also another 15 car and truck loads with barrels, cones, furniture, files, etc, etc.

CanalSide Farm is a very quaint, small and quiet facility that has a large indoor “square-pen” and a securely fenced outdoor arena. There is an office space / greeting room that will serve for group break-outs and also intakes. There is storage for our gear and equipment. There is a bathroom. There are even 2 minis that might want to work! But most importantly the farm owners not only understand what we do, they welcome it and support it 100%! And the location is in a place that allows our limited budget to afford the expenses of our constant high overhead – to be affordable. And so we move forward onto the next leg of this journey...

Commentary from MomCat Hurst

By Cathleen Jeanne Hurst • March 21, 2010
I'm not completely sure when Christianna (aka at the time “Tina”) saw her first real horse. She played on the bouncy horses in the yard at University of Colorado student housing complex. We had received a new member of our family, a Labrador puppy we named Rufus, and were invited to find other housing as a result. So while her father was away on a football trip for the University, I found a new, dog-friendly home in the mountains west of Boulder, Colorado. There were two hundred people living in Jimtown, lots of dogs and lots of horses, ponies and a donkey named Jennie. We also made the acquaintance of Moses, a wild burro who lived in the mountains and was fond of sticking his shaggy head inside our window and announcing his presence with a hearty hello. Tina met Eyeore, a little pony just her size. Her babysitter would take her riding on Shotzie, a large and powerful Morgan/Quarterhorse. We were celebrities of a sort as Tina's dad was a well-known and successful defensive tackle at the University of Colorado. The boys of the town would come by and see if, "Dave could come out and play football in the street." Tina decided that it would be more fun to be a horse than a human. She opted for the four-legged even then! We created a horse-house in the corner cupboard area of our large kitchen. We spread straw for bedding, oats and hay for munching, and water for drinking. Later, when her brother David was born she outfitted them both with horse tails from my hairpiece and pinned them on their jammies. One day we went to the post office for an outing and forgot to take the tails off. Two golden-haired, rosy-cheeked children in their parkas were standing at the candy counter with a few inches of tails sprouting below the parka hems. People just looked and smiled. Every day I heard the same refrain: "Mommy, please get me a horse? I want a horse!" We read the unabridged print of Black Beauty everyday. Cover to cover. I believe she learned to read sitting in my lap as we read, and I'm quite sure she memorized the text. Soon, Tina would put on plays about Black Beauty, feeding me lines as I nursed her brother. "Oh Black Beauty, you're the most beautiful horse in the world with a tail that touches the ground!" Grammy Capra would be enlisted to repeat the lines, as well as Uncle R and anyone else who happened into our horse fantasy kingdom. One day, our neighbor Mary Ann gave me some horse magazines for Tina. I said to Tina, "Pick out a horse." She carefully turned each page and then said, "I want this one." She chose Secretariat.

The Genesis of Spring Reins of Hope, LLC

By Christianna Capra • November 12, 2009
The genesis of Spring Reins of Hope, like many dreams, began with a notion, a yearning, and a desire to fulfill one’s destiny. Officially launched in 2009, the road traveled from conception to inception included a few years of researching, training, planning, strategizing, and just plain leaping. As a result experiences developed which produced amazing breakthroughs, synchronicities, and several lessons on faith. No mistaking it, there have been obstacles to face and overcome. Yet there has always been a series of consistent signs, or clues guiding toward the visionary goals ahead. When the road became adverse, there did appear a path that may have seemed out of the way, yet yielded another light at the end of the tunnel. The main driver always came back to the work. The witnessing of how Horses help us to navigate life from a deep inner wisdom of knowing what is right for us, or not. In 2006, founder Christianna Capra (“CC”) discovered Eagala (Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association) through her beloved retired event horse, Spring Thaw, who had become chronically ill with Lyme disease. After two years of conventional drug therapy, this slippery illness led us to the internationally respected holistic veterinarian Judith M. Shoemaker, DVM of Always Helpful Veterinary Services in Nottingham, PA. Indeed after 8 months of a regimented sequence of herbs, homeopathic tinctures, oxygen therapy, acupuncture, and immune supports we did cure our Lyme disease problem! Dr. Shoemaker also pointed CC in the direction of The Eagala Model by indicating that this horse (once he was well) had another career ahead of him, he wanted to become a healer and a teacher.
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