Why Willowind’s Therapeutic Riding Program Makes Such a Big Impact.
Nov 25, 2025
The Bar Harbor Story is generously sponsored by Choco-Latté Café.
BAR HARBOR—It starts with a squealing gate, Rachel D’Angeli told the crowd at the Jesup Memorial Library in Bar Harbor on Thursday.
People enter an area of Willowind Therapeutic Riding Center through that gate, release a good kind of sigh, and they realize they can be themself there, really themself, in all their weird and funky and splendid and glorious parts.
D’Angeli knows that. So, do pretty much all the people who come onto the farm, who interact with the horses and people. Caitlin a rider knows that, too.
Assisted with a device to translate her speech to audio, Caitlin gave her first ever pubic speech at the Jesup, a joyous plea and love story, testimony to how Willowind has changed her life.
“I have CP and a hard time with balance. I’ve been riding since I was seven,” she told the crowd.
Riding at Willowind has helped strengthen her core, improved her balance, and helped her with walking and gripping items.
“Everyone there is very knowledgable, friendly, and helpful.” They notice all the details, Caitlin said. “Even how I tend to point my toes.”
“They make it so fun, safe, and diverse. It’s a great experience,” she said.
She gets to feed the horse after dismounting, which is a favorite part for a lot of riders there.
“I love Willowind and can’t wait to go back next year,” she said.
In the audience, one woman touched another’s shoulder.
“That was touching,” she whispered.
“She did nail it,” D’Angeli said.
Of course she did.
Back in 1997 next to their home in Town Hill David Folger and his ex-wife Joanna Crell raised the Willowind barn. Neighbors and community members helped them. At the time Willowind was already helping 20 people. They would go on to help hundreds and hundreds more.
Crell’s family had a history of therapeutic riding services, initially for her sister. But at the time, Crell and Folger were raising three kids, he told the Jesup crowd.
“We thought this is a great family opportunity,” he said.
At the time he knew very little about horses, but he did have a background in gymnastics and bodies in balance.
“Who are we going to help?” they wondered.
But then there was a 13-year-old across the street with bone cancer.
“Thank God you’re here,” the teen’s parents told them.
There was another neighbor with spina bifida. There was another with autism.
“Thank God you’re here,” they repeated. “Thank God you’re here.
“It blew me away,” Folger said.
In a 1998 article with the Ellsworth American’s Ann Porter, Crell said at the time that they were “beyond broke” and “hay money is a little tight.”
But they had dreams— an indoor riding ring, a place where everyone would feel welcome, a farm “that will belong to the community.”
Crell told Porter that starting Willowind was “the experience of our lives.”
Willowind is the experience of a lot of people’s lives.
“The community is huge and here we are 27 years later,” Folger said. “Every morning we have people coming to clean stalls, groom horses, assist with riders.”
They work with all island schools and Trenton. There’s outreach to Bangor, Deer Isle, and a bit of Washington Country. Students might not be thriving anywhere, then they come to Willowind and it changes the lives of so many of them.
“We suddenly have engaged riders,” Folger said.
Some of these children don’t talk in class.
Some of these children aren’t talking at all.
Some only talk with TikTok or video language.
“All of a sudden they walk in and they have a sensory explosion,” D’Angeli said. “All of a sudden the world is stinky and maybe a little bit dangerous even.”
At Willowind, they cheer each other on and connect to an animal.
“They come into Willowind and we hand them a horse,” D’Angeli said.
“Let’s open our eyes and let’s open our minds “ to how the horses interact, she tells them. And they do.
Riders and participants have an opportunity to observe and be curious about things outside of themselves. They can be motivated by the horses. They are encouraged to build a relationship from the ground up.
D’Angeli said, “It’s really an amazing sight to see a child who is despondent almost, completely silent.”
And then they have a home, a connection.
Some come up to the mounting block trembling, but the horses, she said, are amazing, incredibly patient and kind.
She’s seen it dawn on a child that horses are alive and having their own experiences. For some, it might be their first major moment of empathy.
“They take a breath and they sit on top of this beautiful animal and they feel empowered like they’ve overcome a challenge,” she said.
A therapeutic riding center like Willowind has benefits such as improved coordination and balance; support that’s both psychological and emotional; increased social interaction and self-esteem. Often riders feel empowered and accomplished as they interact with horses and staff. This can impact overall well-being.
“I’ve had children who are speaking in this language that is completely removed from reality,” D’Angeli said. The barn is a caring and compassionate community, including the volunteers. “They see what a functioning thriving community is like.”
“I really feel like Willowind makes people feel at home with themselves,” she said.
It all requires a lot of support and community. To take care of each horse on the farm costs approximately $20,000 per horse every year. The horses stay on the farm for their entire lives.
Koosh, one of the beloved lesson horses who was born on the farm back in 1999 died this fall after helping more than 900 riders. There is a goal of raising $400,000 in Koosh’s memory to provide a sustainable future for the Willowind herd.
The farm is a place for community and of community. It relies on the community just as the community relies on it. Those interactions are constant and of varying degrees with schools, individuals and other nonprofits. Along with volunteers, Island Connections will drive people to the farm.
“There are just so many pieces” of how Willowind is a cornerstone in the community, D’Angeli said before listing volunteers’ names. “It’s endless. We have a family, a community.”
They also have joy.
Auria Mauras came to Maine in 2012 from France. After graduating college, she worked at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor.
“I didn’t know anybody at the time. I didn’t have any family or any community. It was probably the worst winter of my life,” she said.
In the spring, however, things changed.
“I saw horses in the field.” She’d been around horses growing up. She thought, “I need to be around horses again.”
So, she built up her courage to ask if they needed a volunteer.
“If you can shovel horse poop, you can join,” Folger told her. He was on a tractor and soon Mauras was volunteering. There were eight horses then, she said, and when the weather was cold by the time you brought the last bucket of water up, the first was already frozen.
She eventually started helping at the office. Now she’s the development coordinator.
“All my people who I consider my family, they are from Willowind,” she said.
There are all sorts of people who come to Willowind, who are part of the community.
The beauty, she agreed is that “they allow them to be themselves.”
THE IMPACT OF PEOPLE AND HORSES AND WILLOWIND
Two young brothers come to the barn to learn real-life skills instead of horse riding because that’s what they want to do.
School children come. Adults come. The horses wait for them.
Josephine, a horse with arthritis, can’t ride any longer, but her work isn’t over, D’Angeli said. “She is a love bug and she loves being touched and she loves getting love.”
She stood absolutely still for 30 minutes while a woman with sight issues stood next to her, feeling her fur, existing beside her in the space. Then Josephine licked the woman’s cheeks.
Madeline is a Welsh pony.
“She’s brilliant and she’s also very expressive. She will let you know if you’re doing things wrong. She will let you know when you’re doing things right, too,” D’Angeli said.
On the horse people who have restrictions walking can have freedom.
“Ezra, he’s kind of famous around here. Ezra doesn’t walk as a lot of other people do. He gets to experience walking movements with a horse,” D’Angeli said, picking out Ezra, of Bar Harbor, out of the audience.
Ezra used to have a team of walkers, D’Angeli said, but now he can pretty much ride by himself.
Daisy, a horse gifted to Willowind, is currently being enriched by volunteers.
“It’s hard to have a Lamborghini in a schooling program,” D’Angeli said, laughing.
But she’ll be taken care of and worked with and help others just like Koosh did or Madeline does.
Those people they help often come back and help, too.
“Norman showed up at the farm when he was 6 or 7 years old,” Folger said of another Bar Harbor man. “Now he’s a horseman.”
“His catchphrase is teamwork makes the dream work,” D’Angeli said.
And that catchphrase is something that defines Willowind, which began with grants and volunteers, with a dream and neighbors and a community that made that dream happen.
The teamwork makes the dream work.
If you’d like to help out Willowind and build its endowment fund to support the horses’ needs, you can. More information is at the links below.
LINKS TO LEARN MORE
- Address: 1140 State Hwy 3, Bar Harbor, ME 04609
- Phone: +1 207 479 0085
- Email: willowindfarm@gmail.com
- Willowind’s website.
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