Margaret Dunlap

Little Bit Founder

Little Bit founder Margaret Dunlap was captivated by the stories of early work being done to understand the therapeutic benefits of riding horses. She began learning about therapeutic riding programs in 1974 both from a radio program in England and from an article in the “Western Horseman” magazine about a woman who had multiple sclerosis and rode her Tennessee Walking Horse. Margaret had developed multiple sclerosis in her 30s and found that being on the back of a horse slowed the advance of her disease.

Margaret’s outreach to a center in the Washington, D.C., area led her to a connection with the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA). The name was changed to the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) International in 2011. After attending a meeting of NARHA, Margaret did a significant amount of research on the topic of therapeutic horsemanship by reading books and contacting experts in this emerging field. She was urged to contact Lida McCowan, the founder of the Cheff Center in MI, who was deemed the foremost authority on therapeutic riding in the United States. (The Cheff Center opened in 1969 as the first therapeutic riding center built especially for the purpose of serving people with disabilities in North America.)

Local interest in therapeutic horsemanship was growing and the University of Washington held a meeting with 20 interested individuals. Through that time, Margaret continued her own research, including joining NARHA as a sustaining member and attending a clinic in Edmonton, Canada, conducted by Lida McCowan.

To help build interest in serving people with disabilities, Margaret reached out to LaVere Prestwich, who was deeply involved with local 4-H clubs and LaVere shared a slide show and video with 4-H clubs throughout the area for anyone who was interested in “riding therapy” as Margaret called it. This connection with 4-H clubs led to one of the first donations to support her efforts from a 4-H parent who worked for IBM. Margaret had been looking for a riding instructor to take her on—most instructors were skittish because Margaret had such limited use of her legs due to her multiple sclerosis. But she found riding instructor Debra Powell, who became Little Bit’s first full-time instructor. The early funds from IBM and from some of the 4-H clubs helped defray the costs of Debra’s three-month attendance at the Cheff Center to obtain her Head Instructor’s rating.

Margaret started taking lessons from Debra at Sterling Stables in Woodinville (later renamed Woodinville Riding Club), so she rented space and horses there to launch Little Bit Special Riders Program. Mary Musch was one of the first volunteers and program directors of Little Bit.

Through support from the Woodinville Lion’s Club helping to purchase gear, Little Bit Special Riders Program was able to get its set up completed and became the first NARHA accredited center in the Pacific Northwest. (The accreditation process was developed in 1975.) Little Bit Special Riders Program was renamed to Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center in 1995.

Margaret passed away in 1997 at the age of 71 from complications of her multiple sclerosis. She was known as an avid outdoorswoman with a fondness for our mountains having scaled Mount Baker, Mount Rainier, and Mount Hood in her 20s. Her daughter described her as a humanitarian, who loved the outdoors, and had a wonderful sense of humor.

Little Bit Therapeutic Riding Center will always be grateful to Margaret for her vision and dedication in creating Little Bit. Since its inception in 1976, Little Bit has served thousands of participants and their families.

Find more 50th anniversary stories HERE.