Reins give disabled, vets new grasp on life

SCOTT FRIEDMAN Isabel Hennings, 10, of Jackson, is all smiles while deliberately riding Snickers backwards to improve balance and coordination during a riding session on Oct. 11 at Reindancer Therapeutic Riding Center in the New Egypt section of Plumsted. Whether it is people with disabilities, veterans just returning home from war, or horses in need of a home, Pam Clyne has found a way to help.

Clyne, the executive director of Reindancer Therapeutic Riding Center in the New Egypt section of Plumsted, has started Horses for Heroes, a program aimed at addressing the physical and emotional needs of veterans through riding and working with horses. She has also initiated Next Dance Thoroughbred Rescue, which gives horses that may have gone to slaughter a second chance at life. The riding center and the programs are based out of Laurita Equestrian Center on Archertown Road.

A licensed clinical social worker, Clyne, 59, became involved with therapeutic horseback riding in 1984, when she began volunteering with Upper Freehold's Handicapped High Riders Club. The following year, after becoming a North American Riding for the Handicapped (NARHA) instructor, she started the Chariot Riders therapeutic riding program in Manchester, where she lived at the time with her husband, Judge James Clyne, of the state Superior Court in Toms River.

SCOTT FRIEDMAN Top: With the help of head instructor Stephanie Steinecke, Isabel Hennings, 10, of Jackson, brings "Snickers" back to the stable after an Oct. 11 riding session at the Reindancer Therapeutic Riding Center in the New Egypt section of Plumsted. Bottom: Instructor Stephanie Steinecke helps Jacob Stillman, 6, of Mount Laurel, balance himself on "Cracker Jack." When he retired, the couple moved to a 24-acre farm in New Egypt, where they raise alpacas and keep six horses, including the one that helped start Chariot Riders. Clyne's involvement with the Laurita Equestrian Center developed out of her relationship with Ray Shea and Randy Johnson, who created the Laurita Winery and bed and breakfast. They wanted a riding stable for guests to use for trail riding, and asked Clyne if she had interest in running the venture.

Clyne agreed but asked if the facility could include a therapeutic riding center. Johnson and Shea accepted her request and built the equestrian center, including an indoor arena.

Reindancer Therapeutic Riding Center currently has nine therapy horses, three instructors and 125 clients. The center also offers able-bodied horseback riding lessons, according to Clyne.

While Next Dance Thoroughbred Rescue originally took in former racehorses, it has expanded its mission to take in other needy equines as well, according to Clyne. Since the program began in June, five horses have been placed in new homes, she said.

Mary Dancer, a daughter-in-law of the late harness racing great Vernon Dancer, lives next door to the equestrian center and serves as program director of Next Dance Thoroughbred Rescue. As director, she has run a series of horse shows to raise funds for and showcase the horses in the program. Local equine professionals donate their time as judges for the events, of which the next is scheduled Oct. 25.

Steffi Steinecke, of New Gretna, serves as the head instructor at Reindancer and also retrains the former racehorses in the Next Dance program. She emigrated from Germany 23 years ago and is a big fan of thoroughbreds, with three of her own.

Clyne explained that Next Dance gives each horse off the track at least one month of downtime before retraining starts. As Steineckeworkswith the horses, she assesses their temperaments and determines their suitability for retraining as hunters/jumpers or trail horses and the adoptive homes for which they are best suited.

Among the horses that currently need a home is Lily's Love, a 3-year-old black gelding that stands at 16.2 hands.

Adoption fees for each horse total $500, which is above the price paid for horses for slaughter, according to Clyne.

A charity poker ride will be held in Collier Mills Wildlife Management Area Oct. 18 to benefit Reindancer.

For more information, visit www.reindancer. org. or call 609-752-0900. Contact reporter Jane Meggitt at

examiner@gmnews.com.