Pony express delivers for GAIT

MILFORD - When the barn burned down at GAIT therapeutic riding center in September it left nine horses without their stalls and winter was coming on. Worse yet, there was no insurance on the barn and what Executive Director Martha Dubensky then estimated as a $75,000 loss turned out to have a replacement value of twice that amount. Since then Dubensky has been struggling to raise the money to rebuild while going through the local government building approval process. But GAIT, which stands for a “Genuine Alternative in Therapy,” found it has friends among the equine community, as well as the educational and therapy communities. More than $20,000 has already been donated and $3,000 more came on Monday afternoon by “pony express.” Photographers and television were on hand as Sofie and Grace Lutfy, second and third graders at the Homestead Montessori School in Glen Spey, NY, ambled down the Foster Hill Road into the gate at GAIT aboard their two white ponies, named Mr. Knickerbocker and Chip the Wonder Pony. Grace said her teacher learned of GAIT’s situation and helped raise the money and the horseback delivery was no problem. “I’ve been riding since I was three and I’ve been around horses all my life,” she said. Homestead Director Peter Comstock said the school families annually make a donation to a worthy cause and this year they chose GAIT.