Womacks family donates model horse collection to therapy arena

A collection of over 400 model horses that once belonged to New Rockford resident Maynard Womacks was donated to RED Arena in Dripping Springs, Texas on Aug. 15. RED Arena is a non-profit organization that serves children and adults through equine assisted therapies, mental health services, therapeutic riding lessons, beginner riding lessons, family support, social skill groups, job training programs and inclusive horse camps. Their mission is to empower individuals with disabilities through horses.

The non-profit organization operates two facilities in Texas, about 100 miles apart. Between the two facilities, they help over 300 disabled children every week. They use their 20-acre riding facility to help motivate children with disabilities to complete physical and mental tasks, which become part of their therapy programs. The physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy benefits children with ADD/ADHD, autism, cancer, cerebral palsy, developmental delays, down syndrome, emotional disabilities, eye disorders, head injuries, learning disabilities, multiple sclerosis, speech disorders, strokes and traumatic brain injuries. The goal of RED Arena, which is operated by licensed therapist Jan Young and her husband David, is to help participants develop skills and confidence that can be carried into every aspect of their lives.

As the children attending RED Arena complete their activities and skill levels, they will be given one of Womacks' horses as a keepsake to remember their time there. At the same time, they'll learn about how Womacks used his model horse collection to help cope with his own disabilities over his lifetime, as he also had cerebral palsy.

He was born on Feb. 7, 1937 to Alvin and Ida (Slim) Womacks and was the oldest of five children, followed by Shirley, William, Maryann and Vida. His mother cared for him until he was in his fifties. His younger sister, Shirley Packard, still lives in New Rockford.

Womacks was named North Dakota Easter Seal Child in 1951. He started loving horses at an early age. His father operated a dray service and broke horses. Both his father and Uncle Franky Struck were cowboys. Although Womacks was unable to ride horses himself, he started collecting model horses of every type and description in 1947, including teams with handmade Amish harnesses and wagons. People knew about his collection and would bring him horses from all over the world.

Womacks started attending Camp Grassick, an Elks Club camp near Dawson, N.D., for a week every summer where he was able to ride horses. According to the report provided to RED Arena by his family, he thought Camp Grassick was the greatest place in the world! Womacks continued collecting horses until his passing in 1997, when there were over 600 model horses in his collection.

His nephew, Todd Harrison, who is Maryann's son, said that the entire collection stayed in boxes for years until after Harrison's grandmother Ida died. That's when Harrison purchased the entire collection at auction. After displaying the collection for a time, he gave some of the horses to other family members as keepsakes. Harrison then donated the remaining horses in the collection, over 400 in all, to RED Arena.

RED Arena will present the model horses to the children in their annual RED Arena Round-Up Horse Show for all ability levels. The arena plans to share photos of each child receiving a model horse, which will in turn be posted on the "New Rockford Friends" Facebook group page.