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Founder
- Jim Barton
"Riding
Unlimited creates an environment where the
participants, whether they be riders, volunteers,
or staff can motivate themselves to set goals,
and then reach these goals.".................Jim
Barton
Jim
Barton was born with athetoid cerebral palsy.
Though he cannot feed himself or sign his name, Jim
graduated from the University of Michigan in 1971
with a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics, and had
an 18-year career with IBM as a computer programmer/analyst.
He has also served as a board member of United Cerebral
Palsy of Metropolitan Dallas and the state board
of United Cerebral Palsy Association of Texas. Most
of the people who know Jim know of his involvement
in therapeutic horseback riding.
As a rider himself, he competed at The World Cup
for the Disabled in Sweden in 1987 as well as at
local and national competitions. However, Jim is
most proud of being a founder of Riding
Unlimited, Inc., bringing horseback riding
to the disabled in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
"My life's accomplishments can be summed up by
the three possessions that I hold dearest: my house,
my car and my saddle in that order, " says Jim." Each
of them represents an accomplishment in my life that
previously was thought unattainable.
"My
house is the culmination of the accomplishments
of many goals: obtaining a good college education
from a prestigious university, an 18-year career
with one of the foremost corporations in the
world, IBM."
Next
is my car. I had always wanted to drive, even before
the legal age. However, no one shared my dream,
even my parents. I was 35-years old when I first
learned to drive, and I learned on the streets
of Los Angeles. I figured if I could drive in L.A.,
I could drive almost anywhere.
Last is my saddle. I bought it about four months
after I got on my first horse in 1983. Since then
it has been to several national competitions, also
to an international competition in Sweden in 1987.
Now it is helping other disabled riders at a therapeutic
horseback riding program in Ponder, Texas that I
helped start. No one would ever have dreamed that
I would have become an accomplished horseman with
a world title to my name."
Ride
on, Jim!
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