Our History

As they say, it all started when…..

The Ivy Hill Foundation, a community-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was established in 1998.  Regina and Lee Greaser of Telford, Pennsylvania, started Ivy Hill’s therapy riding program for their autistic foster son, Michael, when conventional therapies failed to help him successfully interact or      communicate at home  or in school.  Regina, a Registered Nurse educated in Germany, was        familiar with the long history in Europe of effectively using horses to assist in unconventional learning and training situations across a broad spectrum of an individual’s challenges.

Working with a budget of $10,000, Ivy Hill’s initial Board members chartered a course through the early years, focusing on size and scope of the Foundation.   The rest, as they say, is history; in the last 25+ years,  Ivy Hill has assisted hundreds of children and adults with the help of their            professional staff, caring group of volunteers and some amazing horses.  To accommodate the   program’s growth, the Board of Directors approved the Foundation’s move in January 2015 to its current location in Perkasie, Pennsylvania.  The size of the new facility increased Ivy Hill’s capacity to respond to a growing need for specialized programs dedicated to the growing population of individuals with diverse needs.

As a member of the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International,  like our fellow members, Ivy Hill is at the crossroad created by today’s challenging science and new      thinking on ways to help individuals using one of the oldest animals on Earth.  Our goal to make the equation Horses + Love = Hope a reality for anyone who needs it remains unchanged.