United Cerebral Palsy, also known as the Kelberman Center, has teamed up with Sitrin Health Care Center and the Root Farm in an effort to raise $5 million in support of a horseback physical therapy facility in Oneida County.

The Root Farm has been working in the field for over a decade, providing hippotherapy for children suffering from cerebral palsy and other disabilities in Utica.

Founder, CEO and president Alice Root is thrilled to have this expansion opportunity, and hopes to impact the lives of many more disabled children.

“Such a collaboration will enable the The Root Farm to fulfill dreams frustrated for years by lack of resources,” she said. “The profound benefit of equine-assisted therapies and the horse-human partnership will become available to individuals and whole populations that the Root Farm alone could not reach.”

The Root Farm, as well as many other therapeutic stables, uses the motion of horses to stimulate riders both physically and mentally. The exercise is known to improve muscle tone, posture, balance and hand-eye coordination- issues with which cerebral palsy patients often struggle.

Rosemary Bonacci of Sitrin said, “Fundraising is in the early stages and a development campaign will be launched to help fund the project.”