I saw a child who couldn't walk, 
sit on a horse, laugh and talk. 
Then ride it through a field of daisies and yet he could not walk unaided.

I saw a child, no legs below, 
sit on a horse, and make it go 
through woods of green 
and places he had never been 
to sit and stare except from chair. 

I saw a child who could only crawl, mount a horse and sit up tall.  Put
it through degrees of paces and laugh at the wonder in our faces.

I saw a child born into strife, 
take up and hold the reins of life 
and that same child was heard to say, Thank God for showing me
the way. 

Several years later she urged her parents to establish a small therapeutic riding program on their farm near the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind in Talladega, Alabama.  The Institute is renowned as one of the most

comprehensive facilities in the U.S. for the sensory-impaired, with residential quarters for 1,000+ children and separate schools for the deaf and blind.  Children with multiple handicaps are also served by the Institute’s Helen Keller School.  “You’ve got to get this thing started,” Marianna told her parents. “You have all those disabled children right down the road.”

But one day in 1989, before her parents could act, Marianna was diagnosed with Cardiomyopathy – a heart disease in which only a transplant could cure.  Marianna died in March of 1989 as surgeons tried to implant an artificial heart. 

Soon after Marianna’s death, Pat and Marilyn Greene founded the program in her memory.  “We just looked at each other,” recalls Marilyn, “and said, ‘She really wanted this.’” 

They started modestly with a few horses and a ring in the side yard.  But within months the program had blossomed beyond belief.  Today the program is housed inside a 39,000 square foot arena and serves 350 – 400 children per year; it is the largest in the Country that serves both deaf, blind and multi-disabled.  An endowment was established to help pay the operating cost of the program, and annual expansion is backed by generous foundations, companies and individuals.  Tim Greene, Marianna’s younger brother, is now the Program Administrator and Pat Greene sits as President of the MGH Foundation. 

Every Tuesday, Marilyn and Pat volunteer to help with the children at the MGH Arena.  They have watched the miraculous transformation of many of the disabled students and the joy and self-esteem that goes along with it.  “It wasn’t until I started working with these children that I saw what Marianna saw,” says Marilyn.  “It saved our lives.”