June 18, 2025 • 4 mins
Shelly Whitlock-Pope, executive director of Shepard Meadows Equestrian Center, joins us live from The Travelers Championship to share their mission and highlight their annual event!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Allison Demurz. I'm over at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell.
We're doing interviews for Birdies for Charity for today and
for every dollar they raised, they're going to get fifteen
cents from Webster Bank. One of the organizations is the
Shepherd Meadows Equestrian Center. Here with me is executive director
Shelley Whitlock Hope. Good morning, good morning, thank you for
(00:24):
being here today. For those who don't know about Shepherd
Meadows Equestrian Center, where are you located in?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
What do you do? Okay?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Shepherd Meadows is located in Bristol, Connecticut. We're on a hilltop.
We have twenty six acres, two hundred year old farmhouse,
a brand new barn with one hundred and twenty feet
with a learning center attached. We're celebrating our twentieth anniversary
this year. So we started out as a therapeutic riding center,
which was horseback riding for individuals with special needs of
(00:56):
some sort, but post COVID we've expanded our service so
we do everything from adaptive writing, hippotherapy with a physical therapist,
speech and language, youth development, equine assisted learning. We work
with seniors, veterans, equine facilitation, equine psychotherapy, and equine costall.
(01:16):
So we're serving people from four to you know, ninety
four and with all of those programs, it's a way
to reach people. But our mission is to support the
growth and wellbeing of all individuals, including those with special needs,
through equine assisted services, safe caring, professional environment.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
And how has that affected people who have taken advantage
of these services.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
You know, the way we look at it, we're small
and we can create programming for whatever need someone has.
But post COVID there's a lot of social, emotional, a
lot of mental health issues. So that's our thing is
to you know, what's going on in the community and
how can we create a program around it to help people.
So there's a lot of anxiety and depression and youth.
(02:02):
Our youth development program is really it's it's probably twenty
five percent of what we do, and that's getting kids
to the farm working with horses, which is a very
uplifting it's a self actualization experience as they're learning to
lead one hundred and or one two hundred pound creature.
So it's it's a lot of there's nature. You know,
(02:23):
we all know that nature is a great place to balance.
And then we have a lot of we have what
we call a quarterly educational series and we might have
talk about chakras, we might have a psychotherapist, tai chi yoga.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
You know, it's all about wellness.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Wow, that is absolutely amazing. Are you looking for volunteers,
sponsors or donations of course like Berty's for Charity.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Yeah, So we have ten horses and each horse costs
over ten thousand dollars a year. So part of what
we look for with Bertie's for Charity is to help
support our herd. And they're special creatures. Not every horse
can do the work because we're asking them for such
a variety of programming and you.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Know, to behave which you know is against as flight.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Creatures. You know, it's against their nature. So we have
a lot of special training that goes around that. And
we have our annual farmyard parties in October. So we're
still looking for sponsors for that. The championship sponsors available
and that's ten thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I really love absolutely to.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Have somebody support us in that, but that's our biggest fundraiser.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
So you mentioned the fundraiser, any other events, and can
you talk more about the fundraiser.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Well, last week last weekend, we just had our we
call them Open Barn Days, which we have quarterly, so
that was on Saturday, and because it's our twentieth anniversary,
we celebrated.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
With ice cream and crafts and that sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
So we do those quarterly and then really it's the
Farmyard Party in October. That's that's our big fundraiser.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Take me through the day, what will happen?
Speaker 1 (04:00):
And the Farmyard Party.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Oh, it's the fundraiser rather in October.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Yeah, so it's adults only because there's alcohol, but it's great.
It's live music, barbecue, people can wander all over the farm.
We have silent auction, live auction games.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And it's about four hours long.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
But every year we've grown and made more money, so
that's a continuing goal.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Wonderful. I'm speaking with Shelley Whitlock Hope. She's executive director
over at Shepherd Meadows Equestrian Center. For more information, go
to Shepherd Meadows dot org. Again, they're part of the
Birdies for Charity. You can go to their website or
Travelers Championship dot com make your donation and for every dollar.
They're going to get fifteen cents from Webster Bank. Thank
(04:49):
you so much for being here today and for serving
the community.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Thank you for having me
Good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Allison Demurz. I'm over at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell.
We're doing interviews for Birdies for Charity for today and
for every dollar they raised, they're going to get fifteen
cents from Webster Bank. One of the organizations is the
Shepherd Meadows Equestrian Center. Here with me is executive director
Shelley Whitlock Hope. Good morning, good morning, thank you for
(00:24):
being here today. For those who don't know about Shepherd
Meadows Equestrian Center, where are you located in?
Speaker 1 (00:30):
What do you do? Okay?
Speaker 3 (00:32):
Shepherd Meadows is located in Bristol, Connecticut. We're on a hilltop.
We have twenty six acres, two hundred year old farmhouse,
a brand new barn with one hundred and twenty feet
with a learning center attached. We're celebrating our twentieth anniversary
this year. So we started out as a therapeutic riding center,
which was horseback riding for individuals with special needs of
(00:56):
some sort, but post COVID we've expanded our service so
we do everything from adaptive writing, hippotherapy with a physical therapist,
speech and language, youth development, equine assisted learning. We work
with seniors, veterans, equine facilitation, equine psychotherapy, and equine costall.
(01:16):
So we're serving people from four to you know, ninety
four and with all of those programs, it's a way
to reach people. But our mission is to support the
growth and wellbeing of all individuals, including those with special needs,
through equine assisted services, safe caring, professional environment.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
And how has that affected people who have taken advantage
of these services.
Speaker 3 (01:41):
You know, the way we look at it, we're small
and we can create programming for whatever need someone has.
But post COVID there's a lot of social, emotional, a
lot of mental health issues. So that's our thing is
to you know, what's going on in the community and
how can we create a program around it to help people.
So there's a lot of anxiety and depression and youth.
(02:02):
Our youth development program is really it's it's probably twenty
five percent of what we do, and that's getting kids
to the farm working with horses, which is a very
uplifting it's a self actualization experience as they're learning to
lead one hundred and or one two hundred pound creature.
So it's it's a lot of there's nature. You know,
(02:23):
we all know that nature is a great place to balance.
And then we have a lot of we have what
we call a quarterly educational series and we might have
talk about chakras, we might have a psychotherapist, tai chi yoga.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
You know, it's all about wellness.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Wow, that is absolutely amazing. Are you looking for volunteers,
sponsors or donations of course like Berty's for Charity.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Yeah, So we have ten horses and each horse costs
over ten thousand dollars a year. So part of what
we look for with Bertie's for Charity is to help
support our herd. And they're special creatures. Not every horse
can do the work because we're asking them for such
a variety of programming and you.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Know, to behave which you know is against as flight.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
Creatures. You know, it's against their nature. So we have
a lot of special training that goes around that. And
we have our annual farmyard parties in October. So we're
still looking for sponsors for that. The championship sponsors available
and that's ten thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (03:26):
I really love absolutely to.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Have somebody support us in that, but that's our biggest fundraiser.
Speaker 2 (03:31):
So you mentioned the fundraiser, any other events, and can
you talk more about the fundraiser.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
Well, last week last weekend, we just had our we
call them Open Barn Days, which we have quarterly, so
that was on Saturday, and because it's our twentieth anniversary,
we celebrated.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
With ice cream and crafts and that sort of thing.
Speaker 3 (03:50):
So we do those quarterly and then really it's the
Farmyard Party in October. That's that's our big fundraiser.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
Take me through the day, what will happen?
Speaker 1 (04:00):
And the Farmyard Party.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Oh, it's the fundraiser rather in October.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
Yeah, so it's adults only because there's alcohol, but it's great.
It's live music, barbecue, people can wander all over the farm.
We have silent auction, live auction games.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
And it's about four hours long.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
But every year we've grown and made more money, so
that's a continuing goal.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
Wonderful. I'm speaking with Shelley Whitlock Hope. She's executive director
over at Shepherd Meadows Equestrian Center. For more information, go
to Shepherd Meadows dot org. Again, they're part of the
Birdies for Charity. You can go to their website or
Travelers Championship dot com make your donation and for every dollar.
They're going to get fifteen cents from Webster Bank. Thank
(04:49):
you so much for being here today and for serving
the community.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Thank you for having me
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