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Homestead Stables Equestrian Center To ‘Pause All Operations’

The Homestead Stables Equestrian Center announced it will pause all operation effective Sept. 1. The equestrian center cost roughly $3 million and includes 41 stables, a 112-foot wide by 219-foot long riding arena. P-J file photo

The Homestead Stables Equestrian Center will pause all operations effective Sept. 1.

“Heritage has always been committed to putting the safety and well-being of all God’s creatures we’ve been entrusted to care for as our top priority, including those who called the Homestead Stables their home,” said Lisa Haglund, Heritage president and CEO. “It is with sincere gratitude that we thank our community for their patience and understanding as we work through the many challenges of this global pandemic. COVID-19 has placed upon all organizations an unprecedented level of change. In keeping with our mission to provide a safe and healthy environment for our staff and those we serve, we have had to make many difficult decisions along the way. Throughout the pandemic, we have been forced to suspend stables events, lessons, and clinics. The heavy financial burden of this pandemic has also forced us to make many difficult decisions across all of Heritage, such as suspending construction projects across the organization in order to put the full focus on ensuring our residents and patients experience the highest quality of care, while our staff have the safe precautions and personal protective equipment needed every day. As we navigate through these challenges, we have made a difficult decision regarding Homestead Stables that will allow us to focus solely on our healthcare operations.”

Heritage will be taking the time during the pandemic to conduct a feasibility study, competitive analysis, and due diligence to determine what that future might look like, or when operations may resume.

Homestead Stables began offering non-riding based Equine Assisted Therapy in late 2018 through a partnership with Dawn Samuelson and the N.E.I.G.H. (National Equine Institute of Growth through Healing) program. N.E.I.G.H. works to empower individuals by equipping them with the tools necessary to improve communication, confidence, respect, and goal setting, using the emotional relationship between horses and humans as a tool in instruction in working with issues such as PTSD and emotional trauma. The Homestead Stables therapeutic riding program, officially launched in November.

The equestrian center cost roughly $3 million and includes 41 stables, a 112-foot wide by 219-foot long riding arena and movable fences can also make the riding area smaller or bigger to accommodate different events.

2 NEW CASES

The Chautauqua County Department of Health announced two new cases of COVID-19 on Wednesday, bringing the total to date to 228. The new cases involve men in their 30s and 40s.

There remains 12 active cases as well as 204 county residents either in quarantine or isolation. Not all of those being monitored are confirmed to have COVID-19 but have either shown symptoms, are awaiting results or have risk factors.

The county Health Department said 897 people are under domestic traveler quarantine for having arrived to Chautauqua County from a state listed on the New York State travel advisory.

In addition, one person remains hospitalized with COVID-19, along with 207 recoveries, nine deaths and 22,347 negative test results.

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