Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Our Facility

Riding Arena (a)  |  Riding Arena (b)  |  Tacking Area (a)  |  Tacking Area (b)  |  Tacking Area (c)  |  Volunteer Area  |  Out Doors (a)  |  Out Doors (b)  |  Out Doors (c)  | 

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Our Current Facility

Currently, the program is held in the river valley at the Whitemud Equine Centre (Keillor Road and Fox Drive) in the southwest portion of Edmonton. Little Bits is a user-group of the facility and pays for the use of the arena and horses.

Whitemud Equine Centre is serviced by the DATS system and is on an E.T.S. route. Class schedules consist of a 12-week spring session and a 10-week fall session. Classes are run on Tuesday mornings for adults, Monday morning,Tuesday and Wednesday evenings for children and all day Sunday with classes for both adults and children. Classes are one hour in length, and run back-to-back on the hour.

All safety equipment is provided, and specially selected horses are used in the program. All instructors are qualified - understanding the principles of therapeutic riding recognized by CanTRA, the Canadian Therapeutic Riding Association, and Cheff Center in Augusta, Michigan.

Little Bits Therapeutic Riding Association (LBTRA) is run by a volunteer Board of Directors. These dedicated individuals meet the first Tuesday of each month at the Prince of Wales Armories. These meetings are open to the general membership.


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Our Future Facility

The Whitemud Equine Centre has been our home since 1975. It is an ideal location for Little Bits, accessible by DATS, E.T.S. and it offers easy access to major highways. We are excited that The Whitemud Equine Centre is in the process of creating a business plan to revamp the current facility.

The new facility will allow Little Bits to expand our program to run throughout the year. We will be able to reduce our two year waiting list (which is growing daily) and accomodate the needs of more individuals with special needs in our community. The new facility will also allow Little Bits to expand and develop partnerships with like-minded organizations like The Steadward Centre, the Alberta Association for the Visually Impaired and Special Olympics.

While we wait to move into our new facility at Whitemud Equine Centre, we are researching satellite facilities which may be able to accommodate our program during the winter and summer months.

Join Edmonton and surrounding area�s most generous citizens in building a community legacy. Get involved with the rebuilding of the Whitemud Equine Center and contact Meredith Hazen to find out how you can help Little Bits realize their dreams of a new facility.
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Our Vision of the New Facility

  • Offices for permanent employees
  • Office rental space to allow room for additional onsite therapy establishments. This will help facilitate Ots/PTs and Speech Therapists to become involved in our program
  • Viewing Room to allow parents to watch their child's lesson.
  • Lunch Room/Volunteer Room with Kitchen
  • Board Room
  • Classroom/Dressing Room
  • Event rental space which will help Little Bits generate revenues in order to become self-sustainable. We can also use the space for Little Bits events and Volunteer Appreciation events.
  • Heated Stables for Little Bits Horses
  • Tack Rooms
  • Wash Bays
  • Indoor Riding Arena for Little Bits
  • Accessible for everyone
  • A facility that will allow us to run our programs all year long
  • Indoor accessible washrooms
  • Safe environment

 

 

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