History of Main Stay
Main Stay first opened its' doors to students with disabilities in 1984. During the early years the program co-existed with an able bodied training & boarding facility, owned and operated by Rusty and Sara Foszcz. The idea to offer therapeutic riding was the brainchild of Sara Foszcz and Sandy Barcus. Sandy was a private student of Sara's who happened to be a physical therapist with SEDOM (Special Education of McHenry County). Combining their expertise, Sara and Sandy decided to open the doors of Main Stay to a whole new world of clients!
Due to the overwhelming response to the program, the decision was made to offer therapeutic riding services exclusively. In 1987, Main Stay became a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization & all activities since then have been devoted to therapeutic riding.
Initially, Main Stay worked exclusively with SEDOM. Students were bused to the farm during school hours & classes were developed to include riding, barn management & classroom sections. As the popularity of the program grew, classes expanded from 1-week trial sessions into 12-week sessions. Many of the SEDOM students began to ask for private lessons during the summer months. Private physicians, therapists & teachers were also hearing of the program and referring clients to Main Stay. As a result, teaching hours were expanded to evenings in order to accommodate the increased student base.
After working with the school district for a number of years, the teaching hours had grown considerably. Main Stay was forced to choose between private students and the school program due to limited staff and volunteers. The decision was made to discontinue the school students because of the limitations of the school calendar. Main Stay retains a good relationship with SEDOM and numerous field trips come to the farm throughout the year.
Currently Main Stay works with students five evenings a week and several mornings. We have both occupational and physical therapists involved with the program and are seeking a speech pathologist. Since its' inception in 1987, Main Stay has always held the highest level of accreditation with NARHA (North American Riding for the Handicapped). We currently hold NARHA's Premier Center membership - a distinction held by only 30% of centers nationwide!
Main Stay has long held the philosophy that quality is more important than quantity. It has never been our desire to be the biggest therapeutic riding program, only one of the best. We have worked hard to develop & uphold a reputation of providing our students with individualized lesson plans that incorporate their personal, medical, educational & social goals. Staff members and volunteers alike are constantly seeking ways to increase their depth of knowledge. It is the goal of everyone to develop our program to its' highest potential.
In 1998 the groundwork was put in place to allow Main Stay the ability for future growth and autonomy from the Foszcz family. December of '98 found the Foszcz family moving off the property and Main Stay leasing the entire facility -- the ultimate goal being that some day Main Stay would be able to purchase the facility from them. In February of 2001, through the generosity of Rusty/Sara Foszcz and Don/Barb Brodie, Main Stay was able to realize the goal of owning the facility!