I was inspired by an article that I found online talking about how the APHA breed was beginning to offer a "class" in their shows for challenged riders to participate in from local therapeutic riding centers. The kids were able to walk through as if they were showing (handlers and assistants of course walking right next to them) and the announcer would talk about their likes and such. They were all dressed up in beautiful showmanship clothing that had been donated to the riding center for the occasion. My passion is photography and so as this article burned on my heart, the idea came to me that I could do this same thing but for photography sessions. Why not give these riders a chance to have a photo session with their favorite therapy horse? So I contacted a local therapeutic riding center and offered them free session for all their therapy kids. They jumped on the opportunity. From there, the idea spread. Knowing that since most of these riders families are using free therapy sessions for their child, there's usually not a lot of extra money available for them to afford extravagant clothing for riding, especially for a single purpose of a photo session. So I decided, why not offer these kids the chance to dress up for these special photo sessions as well? Hence The Barn Closet was birthed. A way for the horse community across the nation to support these kids in a different kind of way. Our purpose is to seek out donations of older, out of style, out grown casual and show clothes for both English and Western in all sizes, children to adults.
