UPDATE: Village Board Recommends Approval For Therapeutic Horse Riding Program

UPDATE Sept. 6: Tom Weatherston, a Village Board member, raised a question of whether the land was zoned properly. While the Village Board approved the project in a 6 to 0 vote, officials plan to review the zoning on the property. The Village will now have a public hearing on the project.

ORIGINAL STORY: A Sturtevant woman presented plans for a therapeutic horse-riding program to the Village Plan Commission, which received preliminary approval.

Peggy Isaacson told members at their meeting Wednesday Aug. 31 that she wants to start-up Nativity Therapeutic Riding Center, a therapeutic horse-riding program for children with developmental and mental health disabilities.

The riding facility, if approved, would be located on 18-acres of property at 7337 Foley Road, which is owned by Ilsa Hilpert-Bruner. Isaacson intends to purchase the property from Hilpert-Bruner after she gets the needed approvals from the Village.

Isaacson, a registered nurse, teaches classes in mental health at Gateway Technical College and has been a 4H leader.

“I come with a lot of horse knowledge, a lot of child knowledge and a lot of people knowledge,” she said. “It came to my attention that therapeutic riding was very beneficial to a lot of families.... This is my dream.”

Isaacson told the Plan Commission that she hasn’t decided on whether to run as a nonprofit business, but she was leaning toward becoming a nonprofit so she could hold fund-raisers. She is working toward becoming a North American Riding Instructor for the Handicapped Association.

The project will now be put on the agenda for a public hearing at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 6 at the East Side Community Center, 6156 Douglas Ave.