Group gets grant for children’s riding therapy

Special Equestrian Riding Therapy has received a grant of $24,500 from CVS Caremark Charitable Trust.

The funds will help launch SERT’s “Front Walker” program, which will provide therapeutic riding and equine-assisted activities to children with special needs in Western Ventura County, including low-income and isolated children.

SERT was one of five organizations in California and 92 nationwide to receive awards in a national process. The trust distributed $6.3 million in 2009, mostly to programs for children with disabilities and the uninsured.

With the help of the grant, Moorpark-based SERT will create a satellite program that will provide certified therapeutic riding services in East Ventura County, will double its scholarships and will provide free first rides to qualified participants in communities from Camarillo to Ojai, including Santa Paula and Fillmore.