NCEFT History, Honoring Barb Heine

Thanks to Barb Heine’s tireless efforts, NCEFT is today an inspiration to the wider community and one of the nation’s largest equine-assisted therapy organizations, forever principled by her knowledge, compassion, and initiative.

Barb Heine
Volunteer, Executive Director, and Board President
Serving NCEFT from 1990-2000

Born and raised in Melbourne, Australia, Barb Heine began riding lessons at age seven. In a span of 20 years of competitive riding, she won more than 2,000 ribbons in dressage, one-day eventing, and show jumping. As part of her Pony Club activities, Barb began teaching other young people to ride when she was only 14 years old. At 16, she broke and trained her first horse. Eventually, she became the chief instructor and examiner for the Pony Club Association of South Australia.

Barb majored in physiotherapy at the University of Melbourne, where she met and married John Heine. Among other ventures, the couple ran a sheep farm in Kangarilla in southern Australia and there raised three children: Marc, Kate, and Peta.

In 1975, a fall caused Barb to break her spine. While the injury prevented Barb from continuing many of her competitive horseback riding activities, it did not stop her from training riders and horses from novice to advanced levels in dressage and eventing. In 1988, Barb and her husband relocated to Woodside, California where Barb quickly established herself with a new project — buying 2 four-year-old thoroughbreds from Bay Meadows Race Track. While training her new horses, making friends, and learning the extensive Woodside trail system, Barb discovered NCEFT.

In 1990, Barb began volunteering 4 hours a week at NCEFT, and the roots of a new passion took hold. Although the field of hippotherapy was new to her, Barb quickly established her vision for NCEFT, imagining it as a haven for children with disabilities and their families, a place where they could work, laugh, and play just as families of typically developing children do. As the years went by, Barb spent more and more time at NCEFT, volunteering as many as 60 hours a week to the organization and, in time, becoming NCEFT’s primary horse trainer, fundraiser, volunteer coordinator, director of physical therapy and, eventually, president and executive director. Barb worked diligently to help others reach their potential, whether that meant the children she treated lovingly every day, the therapists and staff she trained, or the volunteers she encouraged. Barb’s humor, sense of fun, wisdom, and respect for everyone are fondly recalled by those lucky enough to have been touched directly by her efforts. In 1993, Barb was the recipient of the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (now PATH International) Volunteer of the Year award for Region 11.

Under Barb’s leadership, NCEFT grew from serving roughly 4 patients a week to more than 80 and began accepting interns studying the incorporation of equine movement into the therapy plan of treatment. Today, NCEFT continues to thrive and currently helps about 100 children, adults, and military Veterans every week. Barb was also quick to grasp and emphasize the importance of volunteers to NCEFT, noting that running the program would be impossible without an army of dedicated volunteers. Today, our programs still rely heavily on volunteer assistance. Each year, volunteers log approximately 3,500 hours of selflessly donated time.

As an enthusiastic proponent of equine-assisted therapy, Barb was eager to see the therapies in wider use. In support of this, she served as the education chair for the American Hippotherapy Association (AHA, Inc.), was a founding member of the AHA Certification Board, and AHA President from 1997-2000. During her association with the AHA, Barb was instrumental in putting together coursework (the Level II and Long Lining courses), as well as in subsidizing an international scholarship fund that enabled therapists from Russia, China, Mexico, and elsewhere to benefit from AHA training. The videos that Barb created for AHA courses are still in use today. In honor of Barb’s contributions and considerable equine skills, AHA established the Barb Heine Horse of the Year award.

The Heines returned to Australia in 2000, where Barb and her husband were involved with many philanthropic ventures, such as providing college scholarships to at-risk youth, and setting up a charitable foundation to support foster children. Barb also continued with equine-assisted therapy through activities with the Riding for the Disabled Association of Australia. As part of her work in Australia, Barb developed a certification process for therapists, horse handlers, and horses. In 2001, Barb returned briefly to California to receive the Mounted Patrol of San Mateo County’s Outstanding Horseman-Citizen of the Year Award (her second), recognizing her exceptional work at NCEFT. She also frequently returned to NCEFT to teach AHA classes, and her courses were always in great demand. In 2010, she received the Medal of the Order (OAM), an appointment to the Order of Australia conferring the Australian government’s highest recognition for outstanding achievement and service based on nominations received directly from the community.

On March 30, 2010, Barb lost a battle with cancer, and our community lost a beloved friend and advocate. It has been said that knowing Barb was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In gratitude for Barb’s immeasurable contributions and our utmost respect and admiration, NCEFT inaugurated the Barb Heine Giving Circle for supporters who have given $5,000 or more to provide hope and healing to those with disabilities. While all of NCEFT’s supporters play an important role, the Barb Heine Giving Circle is our way of recognizing those who, like Barb, make extraordinary contributions to our life-changing work.

To read more about Barb Heine and her contributions to NCEFT and the field of equine-assisted therapy, explore the following links:

• The Almanac, November 8, 2000: Snapshot: Horse Power—Barbara Heine, a Hero to Disabled Kids and Adults
• The Almanac, February 7, 2001: Snapshot: Barbara Heine Honored as ‘Outstanding Horseperson’ by Mounted Patrol of San Mateo County
• Palo Alto Online: Lasting Memories, Barb Heine
• The Last Post: Tribute to Barbara Heine