NANCY PITCHFORD
Heads Up started with one horse, two children who used sign language, a piece of equipment known as a lunge line, and a person with a simple desire to share "the magic of the horse" with deaf children.Nancy Pitchford was born in Chicago with "manure in her veins" as she puts it. A real disadvantage for a city kid. She would do just about anything to get to a horse, and often got into trouble for her effort.
As a child she was taught the principal of kindness to others and that it was everyone's duty to help those less fortunate. And so, Heads Up was born. What Nancy did not realize at the time was the need would never stop growing, and this simple thought would become her life's work.
First, it was deaf children, then the first volunteer appeared, then it was why not mentally retarded children, why not physically challenged children, why not blind children, and so on, and so on.
Nancy's fourteen years of experience in management and training was put to the test. This combined with her horse background gave her a good foundation on which to build Heads Up. But, there was one ingredient missing. Knowing about the children and their disabilities. Nancy did some research and learned of an organization named Happy Horsemanship For The Handicapped (HHFTH). Remember, this was 1986. This organization was the founding organization of riding for people with disabilities. Maudie Hunter-Warfeld was located in Malvern, Pennsylvania. Maudie had originally trained in England and brought the first ideas of riding for the disabled to the United States. Nancy was fortunate to be in a hand picked class of five students. This was the last class that Maudie was to teach before her death. After training and certification with HHTFH Nancy filed the paperwork for Heads Up to become a 501(C)3 Non Profit Organization. The 501(C)3 federal rating makes all donations, cash or in-kind, tax deductible.