EquiFriends Wranglers of the Year 2004
By Evie Bredeson, Development Director
“No job too big; no job too small.”
That seems to be the motto of Bob & Penny Bayman, a husband and wife team whose efforts and involvement at EquiFriends for the past several years has been instrumental in building and bringing the program to a new level of success.
Because of their arduous dedication and commitment to EquiFriends, Bob and Penny were honored at the ‘Mane Event’ dinner/auction last Nov., with the presentation of the 2004 “Honorary Wrangler of Merit” Award.
Ginny Johnson, 2004 board president making the presentation commented, “Dedicated and professional, Bob and Penny offer leadership and heart to help EquiFriends achieve its mission!” This prestigious award, presented by the EF Board of Directors, is given to people who have made outstanding contributions and service to promote the growth and mission of EquiFriends.
Their participation started in 1998, when Penny, after retiring from a career as a physical therapist, was the first to volunteer at EF. Her background working with the disabled as a PT was a great resource for the EF instructors and her interest and desire to help were a breath of fresh air to the busy program. She volunteered as a side-walker for classes and quickly learned to work around the program horses. She took to the horses right away because she had had horses as a teenager and soon was leading them in class, grooming and feeding them. “I really enjoy being around the horses and caring for them.” She confides. “They have such indivi
A year later, Penny, enticed Bob to join the volunteer ranks. Bob, a bank administrator, started volunteering his management skills to help with record keeping and organization in the EF office. “It was Penny’s love for EF and the stories she told at home, (plus the opportunity to get away from work on Friday afternoons!), that first brought me to EquiFriends”, admits Bob.
In 2000, Bob retired and started volunteering for regular classes at EF. Bob recalls, “If I wanted to see Penny, I needed to spend more time at EF”. Bob immediately became attached to the horses and found that working with physically and mentally challenged people, was very rewarding. Bob found, “the horses to be a perfect companion; patient, non-striving, accepting, non-judgmental”... and his involvement at EF filled a hole in his life after retirement. He admits, “I knew nothing about horses or class activities but found I enjoyed the service aspect of volunteering. After working in the for-profit business world, with little time to give back to the community, it seemed appropriate to give my time and talents to an organization that did such wonderful work.”
Both Bob & Penny came to EquiFriends with skills and enthusiasm to spare and soon were spending several days a week volunteering for class, office work and fundraisers. Bob also served on the Board of Directors until May 2001, when he accepted the Executive Director position.
Now, as Bob continues to be EF Executive Director and Penny, our volunteer Barn Manager, it seems that their other hobbies of cross country skiing, bicycling and sea kayaking have fallen by the wayside. Most every weekend is taken up with some EF project or fundraiser, as this dedicated couple promotes EF. Every day, Penny shares her time between working in the office, in classes and caring for the horses. She keeps student records, works on the auction fundraiser and answers phone calls, plus a ton of other stuff. Penny is the person at EF whom everyone comes to when they can’t find something or don’t know what to do with something. Her duties with the horses include, feeding, watering, administering equine medicines as needed, and long-lining in classes. She also supervises barn help, manages feed and supplement supplies and maintains the arena. (Yes, this means she even drives the tractor when Bob’s not on it and drags the arena.)
But, Penny states, “the high point of being with the program is watching the progress of Early Intervention patients, (which she long-lines for), as well as observing the accomplishments of every other rider in our program.”
Bob is a hands-on director who is involved in every aspect of the program to some degree. And although Bob’s years as director to date have included exciting management elements, i.e. maxing-out program enrollment, staff building, relocation of the operation and, just recently, acquisition of our stable, he enjoys getting on the tractor to do yard and barn maintenance.
He confides, “I’ve discovered the joys of a pressure washer…and all kinds of neat gadgets that volunteer Chuck Tripp has introduced me to as we’ve done work around the barn.” And he says, “loading the manure wagon with the John Deere is fun and relaxing!”
Fortunately for EF, Bob leans a bit on the ‘techy’ side and has brought the office into the 21st century with computers, etc. and he uses his digital camera to enhance most of the pictures in this newsletter. He has many plans in the future for EF (see his director report, pg 2) because, over and above all the events during his time at EquiFriends, Bob states, “I think the greatest joy has been the discovery of the healing power of the horses and then experiencing that through others on a daily basis.”
“I’ve become a firm believer in therapeutic riding!” concludes Bob, “I’ve seen too many small miracles not to believe that something magical happens between horse and rider over time to heal mental and physical wounds; at the very least create a sense of confidence and well being as a result of riding a horse.”