About Us

Founder
Director Emeritus

Larry Barnett is the founder of REACH Therapeutic Riding Center which began operation in the fall of 2007. He is now Executive Director Emeritus and was responsible for starting the Equine Service for Heroes program, also known as Horses for Warriors. He has been working in the therapeutic riding industry for 14 years. In 2004 he became certified as a therapeutic riding instructor by the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship, (PATH) International. He worked as a volunteer and a riding instructor at two other therapeutic riding centers in central Texas before starting REACH. Larry is a retired USAF Officer, combat veteran, and ex-fighter pilot. He has made many presentations to educational, religious, military, business, and community service organizations in the Waco, Texas area for several years. His goal is to help the community understand the viable benefits of therapeutic riding for special needs children and adults. He holds an AAS in Financial Accounting, a BBA in Marketing and an MBA in Aviation/Airway Management and Operations.

Executive Director
Staff Management
Marketing & Fundraising

Shannon started as a volunteer here in 2011. Her love of horses and desire to help others made volunteering at REACH Therapeutic Riding Center the perfect fit. Shannon is a native of Waco. She rode Hunter/Jumper and Cutting Horses competitively until 2002 when she decided to devote her time exclusively to raising her children. In 2015 Shannon became the Volunteer Director at REACH. In 2018, she was ready to take on a larger role here at REACH and became the Program Director where she remained until the opportunity presented itself and she is now our Executive Director.

Director of Programs

PATH Certified Riding Instructor

Catherine began volunteering at REACH in 2019 and took on the role of Volunteer Coordinator in 2022; in 2023 she became the Program Director. She is also a PATH Certified Riding Instructor. Catherine’s love for horses started when she was in elementary school, riding eventing ponies and competing in a few local shows in the DC area. She started volunteering at Lift Me Up Therapeutic Riding Center in Virginia when she was only 12 years old and realized that was where her passions for teaching, helping people, and horses could all come together. After moving to Texas in 2010, she discovered reining horses and began showing at NRHA shows most weekends through high school. Catherine holds a Bachelor of Science in Education and a Master of Science in Sports Pedagogy from Baylor University, where she was a member of the Equestrian Team. She met her husband, Jackson, during her years at Baylor and they live in the Waco area with their two dachshunds.

Volunteer Coordinator
Equine Assistant Director
Instructor

Lauren was born and raised in China Spring outside of Waco, Texas. She started riding when she was 7 years old and got her first horse Mooney at the age of 10. At the age of 19 she moved to California where she worked at a French classical dressage training barn and fell in love with Lusitanos for a year and seven months. She came back because her love of Texas and REACH. She recently completed her instructor certification for PATH so she can move forward with her work for REACH and is so excited to see what’s waiting around the next corner!

Instructor
CTRI
ESMHL

Equine Director
CHA Instructor
Instructor

Shea was introduced to the world of horses at about age ten at an Arabian horse breeding farm in Spring, Texas, where students learned to handle all ages and types of horses on the ground as well as while riding. She moved to a hunter/jumper barn and did some showing through high school. Once in college, Shea’s summer jobs were always about the horses: she spent two summers in the Rocky Mountains at a dude ranch - after operating for twenty years, she was their first female wrangler; another summer she worked in the trainer’s barn at Tommy Manion Ranch in Aubrey, Texas, and had a chance to ride and interact with the world famous Smart Little Lena. After college, Shea moved away from the horse world for a while. When she became a horse owner and was boarding at Highlander Ranch in Waco, she took the Certified Horsemanship Association’s riding instructor course and achieved a remarkable Level Three certification in both English and Western riding the first time she tested. She has taught summer camps, individual and group lessons in both disciplines, and has trained horses for other boarders at Highlander Ranch.

Shea began as a volunteer at REACH in 2010 and became the equine coordinator the following year. She spent a year at the Methodist Children’s Home Boys’ Ranch as the equine coordinator before returning to REACH in 2013 as the program director and becoming a PATH certified instructor. In 2016, she took a teaching position at Waco ISD but has now returned once again to REACH after eight years.