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64 GUIDE TO YELLOW SPR INGS | 2021– 2022 received: “It’s a very pretty medal, but I ought to hock it. We need to raise $1,714 for the therapeutic riding program for the coming year to match a grant — and we’ll raise it any way we possibly can.” Carolyn Bailey, who had been training at the Riding Centre since she was 8, was inspired by the Therapeutic Riding Program to enroll at The Cheff Center for the Handicapped in Augusta, Mich., in 1977. After four years of training and teach- ing there, Bailey returned to the Riding Centre to work alongside Soelberg as head instructor and trainer. When Soelberg retired in 1989 at the age of 85, Bailey became the Riding Centre’s director. Though she was retired, Soel - berg continued to live in her “hovel” on the Glen property until her death in 1994. “When I think of how I The Riding Centre today Unlike in the Riding Centre’s early days, when students like Bailey would sometimes get up before dawn to come down to the barn and take care of the horses, today’s students are bound by liability clauses that prevent them from doing as much heavy lifting. Though employees of the Riding Centre do much of that work now, the Riding Centre still teaches students as much as it can about what it takes to care for a horse. “In camps, the young people have to clean the stalls, and they get a bare minimum taste of the care that goes into these horses,” Bailey said. “They learn that 99% of horse riding is the care of the horse, whether it’s cleaning the stalls or mowing the fields or putting up the hay or holding them for the farrier. It gives them a sense of responsibility.” Of the approximately 80 students currently learning at the Riding Centre, Bailey estimated that 98 percent of those are girls or women. “We do get mostly young girls — and women who wanted to get into horses when they were little, and now they have enough money to do it,” Bailey said. Bailey said that it’s a nearly universally accepted truth that young girls are drawn to love horses, whether for their beauty or their dual nature — both wild and gentle — or for the freedom they often rep - resent. Whatever the reason, for young girls especially, she said, working with horses can be a confidence boost. “There are very few things of which these kids have been in charge. And I tell them, ‘You may not be in charge when you go home, but when you’re here, you’re in charge of this 1,000-pound horse — and look at you!” she said. Though the Riding Centre has made some necessary augmentations to program- ming and facilities over its 60 years, much about the Riding Centre has remained unchanged over the years, according to Bailey. Since becoming director 30 years ago, Bailey has continued to run the Riding Centre according to Soelberg’s values, including instituting affordable lesson fees and a scholarship program as the cost of living rises nation- wide. “That’s part of our mission: to keep our lessons afford- able, to inspire people to ride and love horses and to get away from the idea that riding is a rich man’s sport,” she said. Bailey also said that the Riding Centre’s longevity can be chalked up to its unflag - ging attention to its core values, and that the center’s best strategy going forward into the next 60 years is to keep doing what they’ve been doing since 1959. “In the horse world, 60 years is phenomenal, and I think our success is that we haven’t really changed what we do — which is teaching people horsemanship,” she said. ♦ In the mid-1960s, Riding Centre founder Louise Soelberg’s students and friends threw her a surprise “Barn Voyage” party, presenting her with round-trip plane tickets to London to visit family. | YS NEWS ARCHIVE PHOTO Continued from page 63 am as a boss, it’s because of who Louise was as a person,” Bailey said. “There was never a day you left that she didn’t thank you.” Service Company,Inc. How well do you know your LOCAL PLUMBING & HEATING COMPANy? AIr CONdITIONING / HEATING We service all brands & install: • Bryant furnaces and air conditioning units • Gas furnaces and boilers PLUMBING We repair & install: • In-house plumbing and fixtures We install & repair: • Water Heaters • North Star Water Softeners • On-Demand Water Heaters We install new & repair old: • Water lines, sewer lines, gas lines • “Inside & outside” • DOT-certified #LWS • State ID #27702 COMPLETE BATHrOOM & KITCHEN rEMOdELING We install: • Ceramic wall & floor tiling • Cabinets / faucets / fixtures www.acserviceyso.com 116 Dayton St. 937-767-7406 We’re a local business offering COMPETITIvE PrICING & a 100-yEAr, rEsPONsIBLE rELATIONsHIP with the people of Yellow Springs! Financing available!