Gypsy Gift Expanding to Include All PATH Center Members and Donating 20 Gypsy Horses in 2017!
Equine therapy programs change lives on a daily basis. Here at LexLin Gypsy Ranch we have been blessed to contribute to therapy programs across the country through our Gypsy Gift Horse donations since 2009. After much consideration we have decided to open our Gypsy Gift™ program in 2017 to all PATH International center members within the US (premier accredited centers also qualify). We have extend the Gypsy Gift™ nomination period through 12 pm EST, April 14, 2017. To submit a nomination for a PATH Int. center member or premier accredit center, visit GypsyGift.com.
Hundreds of therapy centers over the years have contacted us regarding Gypsy Gift™ and possible donations to their program. Many of them were not PATH Premier Accredited Equine Activities and Assisted Therapies (EAAT) centers but are otherwise well qualified and would benefit greatly with the addition of a Gypsy Horse in their program. PATH premier accreditation is beneficial to many centers who focus on EAAT but is not necessary accreditation for centers who provide services such as hippotherapy and other therapy based programs and services.
One of our goals is to get Gypsy Horses into programs where they can truly help make a difference. We believe Gypsy horses calm, trainable temperaments and often larger build makes them perfectly suited for therapy work. It’s not uncommon to receive glowing reports from centers who have a Gypsy Gift™ horse and from outside observers. They comment on how well suited the Gypsy horse is to their program even as a young horse that has not been in training long. Last year a three yr old Gypsy Gift™gelding that was donated to a therapy center competed in the special Olympics with his rider. Another center that is headed up by an instructor (who is also a medical doctor and qualified teacher) was very impressed by the three year old Gypsy gelding’s quite performance with his rider and mentioned that they would love to have add a Gypsy Horse to their center’s therapy program. This story is so similar to that of many other stories we have received time and time again from centers. We believe that now is the time to expand our program’s availability to more therapy programs across the US.
LexLin Gypsy Ranch’s Gypsy Gift™ program reserves the right to require additional information from any of the top 20 centers (based on fan votes) who are not PATH Premiere Accredited Equine Assisted Activities centers before approving them to select a Gypsy Horse in June, 2017. All centers who are nominated must be PATH center members or accredited centers to enter the Gypsy Gift™ voting phase. To learn how to become a PATH center member please visit http://www.pathintl.org.
To accommodate this expansion in nominations, we are excited to announce that LexLin Gypsy Ranch will be donating twenty Gypsy Gift™ Horses through Gypsy Gift™ this summer! The first ten Gypsy Gift™ Horses have been posted here. The additional ten Gypsy Gift™ horses are being selected at present and will be announced shortly. Please watch our facebook page for further announcements.
Submit a nomination for your favorite PATH center member or PATH accredited equine therapy center by 12 pm EST, April 14, 2017. If we have already received a nomination for your center this year there is no need to submit another nomination. For complete Gypsy Gift™ information or to submit a nomination please visit GypsyGift.com.
Daily voting (once every 24 hour period) will begin on LexLin Gypsy Ranch’s Facebook fan page at 12 pm (noon) EST on April 15, 2017. Daily voting will close at 12 pm (noon) EST on June 15, 2017.
The top twenty centers with the most votes will be announced at 12 pm (noon) EST on June 16, 2017. We will be in touch with the winning centers on June 16, 2017 to work with them in selecting their Gypsy Horses and completing donation contracts. The top twenty centers will be selected to enter the 4th Gypsy Gift™ drawing in the order of most to least votes to select a horse for their program. Horse selection will be finalized no later than July 3, 2017 with formal LexLin Gypsy Ranch website blog and facebook announcements of each center’s selected horse on July 4, 2017. Winning centers that want to visit the ranch to select their Gypsy Gift™ Horse are welcome to schedule a time to visit between June 16, 2017 and July 3, 2017.
We are turning the dream of having a Gypsy Gift™ Horse in therapy programs across the country into a reality! Please join us in sharing our latest news!