In March, a horse therapist from Max and her colleagues established a nonprofit organization geared toward bringing together horse enthusiasts across North Dakota.
Kaycee Wilen is hoping the newly-formed North Dakota Equine Association gives equine enthusiasts a new way to come together.
The nonprofit will offer items like a newsletter about equine activities across the state, along with a website to post free advertising for activities, jobs and items for sale.
“Being the central hub for North Dakota will help bring us together all in one place instead of being scattered. We know that social media isn’t always reliable and some of us are now staying away from that so we’d like to get back to the standard of print and person-to-person communication,” Wilen said.
In 2019, Wilen had been using her business to train horses in the therapy program at the Dakota Boys and Girls’ Ranch in Minot.
After coming up with the idea to put together an event as a fundraiser for the program, she quickly saw the interest in equine education was large in the state, as thousands of emails came in for the event.
She says this only motivated her to provide a larger venue for the second annual event.
“My background in human therapy that evolved into horse therapy, I think was probably the bridge that made me realize more people would benefit from being educated on what’s going on their horse but also what they’re saying to their horse,” Wilen said.
The expo is planned for June 4-6 at the State Fair Center.
