Johnathon, a true winner, wearing his medal, with his therapeutic riding instructor, Bryan There are a lot of things about Johnathon that make him a winner, says Bryan, his therapeutic riding instructor:                 ·          Exceptional listening skills ·          Eagerness to excel ·          Willingness and desire to learn new things ·          Having a sweet and kind disposition ·          Being motivated by his own perception of success ·          His positive outlook ·          Character When we learned that Johnathon had won the medal for Focus at McKenna Farms Annual End of Year Horseshow at McKenna Farms in February, we wanted to know more about this amazing young man. Johnathon is fourteen; he’s been diagnosed with autism. He stopped talking at three and a half years old. The next few years were up and down for him. A team of very helpful clinicians and teachers worked with him for two years. Then, his teacher left. Johnathon slipped bac

I’m wearing a long red fleece jacket on this cold day. If you haven’t donned your red duds yet, take time to do that when you’ve read this post because today is WEAR RED DAY! Jacob February is Heart Month. Many of you know the story of our Jacob, in whose memory Jacob’s Fund exists. Jacob was born with multiple heart defects and underwent several open heart and other surgeries. It was after his last surgery that he contracted MRSA in the hospital and died six weeks later. What you may not know is that severe heart defects can result in developmental delays and impairments. When Jacob began hippotherapy at McKenna Farms in 2006 at age two, he hadn’t yet begun walking. Once he began hippotherapy (therapy using the horse as a tool), he walked, and ran, and his speech and vocabulary expanded immensely. I’ll never forget when he asked, after seeing me wear one, “Grandma, can I have a pedometer?” Uh, yes! I clipped it to his diaper. Since we founded Jacob’s Fund, we’ve