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Horses Helping Humans Heal
Sheryl Barto - Founder/Executive Director
Sheryl Barto grew up a horse-obsessed young girl in Pennsylvania. As the daughter of a veterinarian, she began showing horses at age 12 and continued with IHSA (Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association) in college.
A degree in journalism led her to work in public relations which has been her day job ever since. She is the founder and principal of O Communications, a boutique communications firm based in Carbondale that creates and executes integrated marketing communications strategies for entrepreneurial organizations, mostly in resort real estate, alcohol beverage, and political industries.
In 2015 with her husband, Karl Hanlon, she founded Smiling Goat Ranch using her passion for horses and experience as an autism mom to help people with neurosensory conditions. SGR is an equine-assisted therapy center based on the Horse Boy℠ Method and principles of neuroplasticity. Sheryl is a certified Horse Boy℠ Method trainer. She bases SGR horse training on classical dressage and collection, and is part of the worldwide Horse Boy Tribe, with centers now in 23 countries.
Sheryl came to the valley as a ski bum in 1987 with every intention of returning to Pennsylvania where she grew up. She worked as a lift attendant at the Silver Queen Gondola. After getting talked into staying for the summer, she got a job renting Jeeps at Eagle Rent-A-Car. And as they say, came for the winter but stayed for the summers. Armed with a journalism degree she eventually was hired in the PR department at Aspen Skiing Company. At age 25, she worked for a regional PR firm in Denver for a few years and then moved back to the RFV as the marketing director for Aspen Glen, the private residential golf community in Carbondale. Started her own PR firm in 1998. While doing the pro bono PR for Ascendigo, the local autism camp, she met the founder of the Horse Boy Method and knew what her life’s calling was and three years later founded Smiling Goat Ranch, based in Carbondale.
SGR brings the healing effects of horses, movement, nature, and an impassioned, supportive community to anyone with neuropsychiatric conditions including autism, depression, anxiety, and PTSD, as well as veterans, women in recovery, and those affected by grief, trauma, and related conditions. All of their programs are offered to families free of charge. Their clinically proven program puts those with neuropsychiatric conditions into a healing environment using horses, small social animals, and movement-based activities. In these activities, specific movements activate the cerebellum and prefrontal cortex, helping participants achieve emotional regulation, communication, learning, and more.
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