NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. -- It’s one of a few places in the Bay area that offers animal therapy for kids with disabilities.
- Kiddy Up Ranch told to move
- Pasco County says its in an area its not zoned for
- The ranch provide animal therapy for kids with disabilities
Now it’s being told it has to shut down.
The Kiddy Up Ranch in New Port Richey has been helping special needs kids for seven years. But Pasco County now says it’s not in an area zoned for it.
It’s left families and kids alike worried about a program that’s been so special to them.
Days at the ranch are the best for 9-year-old Kiley Griggs.
“Horse therapy helps me so very, very much,” Kiley said.
Kiley has cerebral palsy but her father Jason Griggs says she feels like any other kid when she does physical therapy on horses at the ranch.
“What it does for my daughter and all of these other kids out here is phenomenal. These horses give these kids a bond, a sense of accomplishment, a team sport for them,” Griggs said.
Fellow parent David Gautney recently lost his daughter Terissa. She is the 14-year old girl who passed away during a medical emergency on a school bus in Polk County. His daughter spent a lot of time at Kiddy Up Ranch. In fact, her picture is now the first thing you see there.
“This farm meant so much to our daughter,” Gautney said. “As it does to all of the kids here. If you took a child-like Terissa that was wheelchair bound all of her life, spent her whole life looking up to people, you put her on a horse so she can feel more normal. That one hour a week made a tremendous difference.”
Now suddenly Pasco County code enforcement says it has to come to an end.
According to founder and director Tammy Sliger, the county now says she is not properly zoned to run the ranch as is. There had been recent complaints from an anonymous neighbor, which brought code enforcement out there.
Instead of fighting it, she has decided it may be time to move out.
“We want to be compliant. But if the county says we need to go, we just need help doing it,” Sliger said.
Tammy has found potential new land in Hudson but says it will take a lot to make any move, especially since they are a non-profit organization.
“We’re going to need a barn. We don’t have as many trees, so we will need a covered place for the kids to ride. We’re going to need manual labor,” Sliger said.
Parents like Griggs say it’s worth fighting for and they want to help in any way they can.
“If Kiddy Up wasn’t here, my kid would get worse. Where there’s a will; there’s a way. We’ll just get through it,” Griggs said.
Sliger says the plan now is for the Ranch to move out by the end of the summer. She is not planning to appeal the zoning.
If you can help at all, visit her website www.kiddyupranch.org.