New center could offer equine therapy to disabled veterans

New center could offer equine therapy to disabled veterans
UCF medical school, Osceola County may partner on project
By Jeannette Rivera-Lyles, Orlando Sentinel
7:34 p.m. EDT, August 31, 2011

An emerging partnership between UCF's College of Medicine and Osceola County could result in an unusual center that useshorses to help disabled veterans from across the country.

UCF wants to establish an equestrian center to help rehabilitate soldiers through therapeutic horse riding, also known as equine therapy. The program would draw patients from the Veterans Affairs hospital under construction at the Medical City at Lake Nona, which is also home to the college.

"What we would want to do is become the national center for this kind of therapy and its research," said Dr. Manette Monroe, a dean of students at the college who is developing the equine program.

Jim Sursely, a past commander of the Central Florida chapter of the Disabled American Veterans, said the center would be "wonderful" for disabled veterans, who don't have many local options.

"Not just for the young soldiers coming back from Iraq but for others, like me, who were wounded in Vietnam and other conflicts," said Sursely, who lost both legs and an arm in Vietnam. "Many of the older soldiers could benefit from additional therapy."

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