Another Way

City to Saddle Welcomes "Another Way" at Dunvegan Farm, Wrentham, MA
to Its Charter Member Program

November 9, 2010

"Another Way", Plainville, MA was granted official acceptance as City to Saddle's second national charter member.

"Another Way" Executive Director, Alison Macleod, describes her reasons for choosing to form this relationship with City to Saddle:

"We have hosted CTS equestrian vaulting programs here at Dunvegan Farm for several summers, and have found that our own ideology seems almost identical to CTS's stated mission. We have been planning to become a 501-c-3 organization ourselves, and have been frustrated by the endless bureaucratic red tape. By becoming a CTS Charter Member, we can bypass a lot of what has slowed us down, and proceed with our own mission of bringing horses into the lives of underprivileged children.

Located almost on the RI line, we have access to kids from Central Falls and Woonsocket RI, and are already working toward creating a summer camp program for interested candidates. We also do a limited amount of horse rescue, and have discovered that needy children often bond well with needy horses, creating a wonderful kind of mutual healing."

Alison will direct "Another Way" with support from Dunvegan Farm Riding Director, Heidi LePage. Both are life-long horsewomen with a broad range of experience and abilities. Together they will share the responsibilities of program planning, fund raising, and long range development - dividing tasks according to strengths and availability. Alison teaches part time at Bryant University in Smithfield, RI, which gives her access to a variety of resources that support the Dunvegan Farm endeavor.

Dunvegan Farm occupies 23 acres in Wrentham. The land is rolling and green. The farm has become one of the community service projects for Bryant's chapter of SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise), and for the past three years, scores of volunteers have come to the farm to volunteer on some of the endless projects that need finishing. SIFE has also arranged donations from Liberty Mutual, Lowe's, and Shaw's. Once our non-profit status is legitimized, our opportunities for fund raising will expand exponentially.

Alison says, "Our barn was originally built as a gigantic refrigerator for apples, so the interior is well insulated - making it warm in the winter and cool in the summer. We have eleven stalls in the barn plus four run-in sheds that house our current population of 16 horses, ponies and mini-donkeys (3). We have a large - 90 X 200 foot outdoor arena and a smaller (60 X 90) indoor plus a round pen. There are trails around the perimeter of the property.

We also are becoming small scale organic farmers, and offer opportunities for boys and girls to learn about where food comes from, and why organically grown produce is generally healthier than fast food. Among our many animals, we have a growing family of free range chickens who will soon be producing wonderful, organic eggs."

For more information about the City to Saddle Charter Member Program click on Charter Member Standards and Application Form.