To the Editor:

In the January 17 issue of The Bee, there was an article on the Horse and Dog news page entitled, “Saddle Up for Life Program Offered Through Horse Guard.”  It caught my eye because I wrote it. It first appeared in The Bee on May 11, 2007; then on March 18, 2008; March 27, 2009 and March 19, 2010.

The January 17 article paraphrased my previous articles, but things have changed since I left in 2010, and now this article has many inaccuracies.

I contacted Major Gordon Johnson pointing out that this was very misleading to the public, and got no response.  So, I’m writing to The Bee to set the record straight.

I am a Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH) certified therapeutic riding instructor, and ran the Saddle Up for Life Program as a member of the Horse Guard from 2003- 2010. A small recreational program for Southbury Training School was already in existence; and I took over that and also created and ran the weekly therapeutic riding program for children and teens, all according to PATH, (previously known as NARHA), standards.

I left the Horse Guard in 2010, and since then there have been no therapeutic riding programs. The Horse Guard does a few recreational rides a year for Southbury Training School, but they do not have members who are qualified to run or teach therapeutic riding, train civilians or decide which horses are appropriate for riders. I don’t know why this article appeared now in The Bee, and although they did remove the words ‘therapeutic riding’ from the text, the inference is that they are running programs that haven’t existed for almost four years.

If the Horse Guard wants support from the public, they need to be present an accurate picture of any and all claims to public service.

Cynthia Joyce

106 Lakeview Terrace, Sandy Hook                                   February 4, 2014

(Editor’s Note: Information included in the story on the Saddle Up For Life program in the 1//17/14 edition of The Bee was based on outdated information on the Second Company Governor’s Horse Guard website and should not have been published.)