City Ranch continues to expose unlikely youths to everything horse-related
From petting a horse to grooming and eventually riding
By Jennifer Franciotti
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WINDSOR MILL, Maryland (WBAL) — From petting a horse to grooming and eventually riding, City Ranch gives children exposure to a world they might never have had a chance to experience.
Kaylan Whitham, 10, loves to spend time with the 17 horses at City Ranch in Windsor Mill.
“I get to learn how to tack them up, how to groom them. (I) had to work with them; working with horses can be hard and there are specific ways you have to do it,” Kaylan told 11 News.
Until last year, Kaylan had never really been around horses.
“Kaylan has grown in their confidence and their physical confidence and their emotional confidence,” said Kaylan’s mother, Miranda Whitham.
The nonprofit City Ranch hosts school groups and offers a variety of youth programming, teaching children responsibility, horse basics and eventually how to ride.
“We have 18 1/2 acres of trails on the backside. There’s a creek that runs through the entire property, as well as equine portion with our youth programming. We teach him how to filter their own water had to navigate a compass and read trails, how to start their own campfires,” said Brandt Kingsley, the CEO and executive director of City Ranch. “We’re really hoping that some of these youths will get into being vets or racing, being a hunter jumper or dressage. That’s a big goal (that) you’re getting them outside, you’re getting them off their electronic devices, you’re able to get some Vitamin D, so many additional benefits.”
“I love riding them. I think it’s fun and exciting. It’s relaxing to be around the horses,” said Raigan Newton, a student.
City Ranch will also take horses on location to reach kids and adults where they are.
“(We go) to (Baltimore) City Park and Rec programs. We do a lot of equine wellness with vets, with PTSD and different trauma,” Kingsley told 11 News.
It also has therapeutic riding programs. May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and at City Ranch, it has seen amazing transformations.
“We also work with a lot of special needs children,” Kingsley told 11 News. “Horses are incredibly intelligent, so people who come out around them sometimes they don’t (want to) ride. They just (want to) be in a space with the horses. It’s amazing how they can nurture. They can feel it and they give you that love back in response.”
For more information on the programs at City Ranch, visit the website.
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