She’s done it all!

50 People for 50 Years: Marianne Walsh Saladino, Volunteer, Board Member and Equus - Gratitude Gala Co-Chair

As many know, Marianne Walsh Saladino has been involved with Mane Stream and our fundraising events for years. Over twenty years in fact! She joined the Board of Directors in 2001 and that same year, co-chaired the Equus X gala with Penelope Ayers at Beval Saddlery. They say time flies when you are having fun, and Marianne has enjoyed every moment of being a part of Mane Stream. She has especially loved her involvement with our Equus galas - from Carnival in Venice to Disco Inferno to Sundance and so many more.

Marianne learned about Somerset Hills Handicapped Riding Center (now called Mane Stream) when she spotted an article in a local paper about the capital campaign to purchase and build our current facility. As a life-long rider, Marianne knew this organization would be a perfect fit for her skill set. She remembers, “One day a week I had a babysitter to watch my daughters Kara and Casey (who were one and two) at the time, and I decided to devote part of that day to SHHRC.” Before long Marianne was asked to be part of the organizing committee for the opening of the new facility in Oldwick, and from there she was asked to join the Board.

As both rider and volunteer, Marianne knows how special horses are. “So, it’s not that I was surprised when I heard a non-verbal rider’s first word was ‘pony’, but I will say that it took my breath away. Or when another rider was told they would never walk, and now they do. All the riders know how special the horses are. Just a common bond that riders share, no matter one’s ability.”

As Marianne’s commitment to Mane Stream grew, her daughters grew as well. For years Kara and Casey would watch lessons, play on the property and help set up events with their mother. “It was never a question if they would volunteer at Mane Stream, it was just a matter of when,” said Marianne. “The girls volunteered because they loved it!”

In 2013, Marianne “retired” as an active Board member and became an Emeritus Director. Recently she served on Mane Stream’s Strategic Planning Committee, bringing a very useful historical perspective to the process. In addition to her other valuable contributions, Marianne does have a true super power as a silent auction display creator. Year after year she swoops in to package baskets and setup the auction tables, making all of the items look fantastic and enticing for potential bidders.

This year, Marianne is once again co-chairing Equus with Laura Brucker and Emily Maillet Kellogg for our 50th Anniversary celebration and we are back at the famous and historic USET. It will be a family affair for Marianne with her daughters and husband attending that evening. “I’m excited for Equus this year celebrating 50 years of Mane Stream. And if past Equus’ are any indication, we are in for a fabulous night! I couldn’t think of a better place or a better mission to support.”

Volunteers Can Compete in the Horse Show

Calling ALL VOLUNTEERS!

Ride one of your favorite steeds…at a Reduced Rate!

If you are an active volunteer who has volunteered at least once in 2022 this is your chance to ride one of our amazing horses on Sunday, October 23rd. It's on a first-come, first-served basis so don't delay! After you register you will be prompted to create your own online fundraising "CHAMPION" page which will make it easy to raise money for the horse show OR bring your registration fee on 10/23.

Grab Your Chance >

Last year’s competitors had a blast and you can too!

6 Weeks of Camp Complete!

We’re in the home stretch with just 4 more weeks of summer camp to go. In addition to camp director, Paige Ball, there is a team of PATH Intl. Certified Instructors and volunteers helping at camp every day. Our inclusive summer day camp for children with special needs, their siblings, and their typically developing peers is a mainstay for the local community. Registration for camp opens on February 1st and for the past couple of years, parents have been diligent in registering immediately so their children get the weeks they want. Most spots are filled by mid-February, with a waiting list that continues to grow in the months that follow. We love our campers and it seems they love us too (or maybe it’s just our horses?)!

We love sharing camp activities with our community and volunteer photographers help make this happen. Olivia Iskra has come to camp every Monday this summer to ensure each and every camper has great pics to take home with them at the end of the week. These same pics are shared here and on socials. Whether you love the horses or the smiling faces of campers, volunteers, and instructors, without volunteer photographers like Olivia, we would see very little of what goes on each day. THANK YOU OLIVIA! And good luck in college we will miss you very much!

WEEK 3

Week 3 was a short week due to the long 4th of July weekend. For those who weren’t on vacation, coming to Mane Stream was a great option. With 2 brothers, 2 sisters, and the rest returning campers, the week got off to an easy start making for tons of smiles and a super cute parade of horses.

WEEK 4

Week 4 was the first of two Advanced Rider weeks and the campers worked on mastering trotting on the correct diagonal, going over cavalettis, cantering🐎, and some even tackled small jumps. This group also delved further into horse care with this year’s focus on getting comfortable with clippers! Head Instructor, Jen Dermody, also put everyone through their paces with her scavenger hunt, where campers work in teams to find the pieces of a bridle and then must put it together correctly. 🐎🏅👏

WEEK 5

What can we say about Week 5? It was super🔥HOT🔥but the riders were smart and rode early each day. That meant more time for cooler activities like bathing 💦their steeds 🐎. Congratulations to the riders, volunteers, and instructors who had a great time all week, despite the weather.

WEEK 6

In addition to daily riding lessons, week 6 riders were up for FUN starting on Day 1! There were backbends, dance-offs, and shenanigans pretty much every single day. They seemed to really know how to make the most of their 5 days. Special note: 3 campers first came to Mane Stream back in 2021 to earn their Girl Scout Horseback Riding Badge. They had so much fun that they also came to camp that year and then again this year.

Welcome 10 NEW Volunteers!

THANK YOU for joining the team!

Each person has completed an online orientation and a hands-on training session. If you see a new face in the barn please remember to introduce yourself and ask if they need any help.

WELCOME: Merrin Chilcoat, BettyJane Czap, Paige Hall, Catherine Huggins, Claire Imossi, Kirsten Lytle, Julianne Nardi, Florie O'Brien, Grace Rubinstein, Kerri Wilkinson

Become a Horse Show Sponsor

Ribbons, Divisions, Champion & Reserve, and more! With 10 different sponsorships available in varying sizes there is a category within everyone's reach. Or gather a group of friends and share the burden. This year's event is the last hoorah of our 50th Anniversary! We hope everyone will stop by to celebrate the riders and Mane Stream's mission. Only you can help make this event as special as it can be. Make them smile!
Sponsorship Opportunities >

Thank You Walgreens Donors!

Walgreens Cash Rewards campaign brings in $100. That may seem like a small number but remember, most people only have a few dollars of rewards at a time. We estimate that there were more than 20 people who forwarded their Cash Rewards to Mane Stream. Small gifts add up to make a big impact for our participants! Thank you for donating!

Looking to have an impact all year long? Join our monthly giving program. For example, $5/month will provide new fly masks for 2 of our horses. DONATE NOW

New Footing Thanks to our BFF Donors!

Fluffy footing makes for happy horses, therapists, and volunteers alike! Dante looks pretty happy too!

This year our fund-a-need at the Spring Event was called the BEST FOOT FORWARD fund which was created to help with routine maintenance and unexpected expenses around the farm. Our #1 PRIORITY was NEW FOOTING for the indoor arena. And thanks to 25 donors we were able to get the footing purchased and installed last month. Thank you Fairmont Services for getting Mane Stream on the schedule so quickly.

BEST FOOT FORWARD DONORS:
Nancy Alessi, Maureen and Steve Bezer, Nancy Brown, Mary and Alan Dickey, Karen and Andrew Dietz, Linda and Alvin Dietz, Pete Dormer, Laura Ferrante, Rachel Gardner and Jason Pintar, Julia and Robert Greifeld, Shari and Mark Hendrickson, Karen and Steve Kaufhold, Edee Levey, Warren Loy, Victoria Ponte, Sally Walker and Chris Doyle.

Finding Our First Riders

50 People for 50 Years: Naomi Lorch, Retired Physical Therapist with Easterseals

Naomi correcting a rider’s hand position while back riding (style of riding that has since been discontinued). 

In 1972, Naomi Lorch was working as a physical therapist at the Easterseal Center in Morris Plains, NJ. Octavia Brown, founder of Somerset Hills Handicapped Riders Club (now Mane Stream), was seeking potential riders who could benefit from her new riding program. They connected, and Naomi helped recruit children who came to the Easterseal Center for therapy and were interested in adaptive (therapeutic) riding. Octavia shared, “Naomi as a PT immediately understood the potential benefits for the clients she was seeing in traditional therapy – and while “hippotherapy” hadn’t been thought of back then - she was able to give wonderful advice and insight into how each person could benefit from therapeutic riding.”

Naomi recalls, “Once the classes started, I participated in one of them on a weekly basis. I was able to offer guidance as to the most independent way a child could mount and ride, how sitting positions could be improved, etc.” Naomi’s support meant Octavia did not have to seek for riders to join the program for the first couple of years. “When we moved the program to Crossroads Farm in 1975, we could expand our clientele even further.”

In 1974 Naomi moved out of town, but continued on Mane Stream’s Board of Directors and attended some of the riding competitions. For Naomi, the best part of being involved with Mane Stream was witnessing the positive reactions from the riders. She remembers one rider had his own horse for a period of time, and another rider became a riding instructor and still rides and teaches fifty years later (Tracy Cole). “When Octavia and I discussed mutual memories about Somerset Hills Handicapped Riding Center (Mane Stream), she mentioned to me that both of these riders went on to compete internationally. Tracy is a judge for therapeutic riding shows and is a mentor to instructors in training.”  

Octavia and Naomi have so many memories of those early years and one that stands out is when they had a public demonstration of the program that was the catalyst for Octavia to develop an instructor training class at her farm. Naomi remembers, “this occurred even before there was a North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (now PATH Intl.) certification program!”

Thank you, Naomi, for your key role in the creation of Mane Stream!

Horse Shows Fuel My Competitive Fire

50 People for 50 Years: Silvia Marchetti, former Mane Stream Adaptive Rider

Silvia Marchetti’s grandfather, a mounted police officer, felt therapeutic (adaptive) riding would benefit Silvia when she was quite young. Silvia shares, “When I first started riding we lived in Maplewood, NJ and I rode at Rocking-Horse Rehab in West Orange. But when we moved to Basking Ridge my mom found Mane Stream. We had to wait a few months for an opening in the Occupational Therapy schedule and I am so glad when an opening came up.”

Silvia started out as a therapy client, and over time she transitioned to the adaptive riding program. She credits Head Riding Instructor, Jen Dermody, with her progress. “Jen always did a very great job with me. She was ALWAYS pushing me and she was always hard to please so I knew when she praised me I had earned it.” 

Having participated in both the therapy and adaptive programs, Silvia’s favorite time was being with great people and amazing horses. And speaking of amazing horses it was all about Buzz for Silvia. “It’s Buzz. He’s my Buzzard. He was a little stubborn most of the time, but he always took great care of me. From learning to canter to jumping for the first time ever, riding Buzz has given me the confidence to go looking for the perfect horse of my own.”

What was most challenging for Silvia was learning how to canter and jump. She started with a stirrup leather around the horse’s neck to hold on to but is now jumping verticals at the canter. And with her advanced skill level, Silvia began to compete in the Mane Stream Horse Shows. “At the 2016 Mane Stream Horse Show I won the Abby Clay Memorial Award for Highest Independent Point Rider. I competed in every Mane Stream Horse Show from 2015 until we moved to Auburn, Alabama in 2021. I have come in first a couple of times, second three times, and third once.” Silvia adds, “I compete in horse shows because it fuels my competitive fire and gets me to work ten times harder.”

Now living and riding in Alabama, Silvia recalls one of her favorite memories at Mane Stream “My favorite memory was my time riding Dorito at the BOOT SCOOTIN' BBQ in 2017. I was so nervous because it was my first time riding in front of a big audience but it ended up being one of the best times of my entire life.” 

Silvia was also a summer camper beginning at age nine through fifteen. Her favorite camp activity was… WATER DAY!!! “We would always play these SUPER FUN games involving water. Whether it was a water race on horseback where the goal was to fill your team’s bucket or chucking water at each other to cool off.” 

For Silvia, Mane Stream helped her gain confidence as a rider and helped her realize her dream of someday riding in a TV show or movie (think Heartland). “My time at Mane Stream was some of the best times of my life. I made great friends with the volunteers and (mostly) the horses, and had a lifetime of fun filled with memories that I wouldn’t give up for the world.”

We miss your smiling face and fierce competitive nature!