WINDSOR, ONT. -- The Windsor-Essex Therapeutic Riding Association is taking their equine friends on the road, thanks to The Windsor Essex Community Foundation.

A $5,000 grant will allow the group to make personal visits to their students.

Earlier this year, WETRA shut down due to COVID-19.

Since then, they’ve reopened but on a limited schedule.

On Tuesday, WETRA made a visit to Vanessa Muscat, who’s had only one treatment in several months.

“Just to have the pony here, you can see the look on her face. It’s just phenomenal,” says Nancy Sauve, a volunteer trainer at WETRA.

In years past, Muscat would receive treatment at the WETRA facility once a week, to help with her mobility.

“We were told by her doctors when she was born that she more than likely would never walk and now she’s walking with assistance and braces on her legs,” says Criztina Muscat, Vanessa’s mother.

On Tuesday, she was reunited with her equine friend, Wendy.

“It’s just a nice added touch. She really misses the pony,” Sauve tells CTV Windsor.

With the funding, WETRA expects to visit their patients a couple of times a week.

“I explained it to one of my students last week and she was very nervous and when I put her on I said he will take care of you,” says Sauve.

WETRA hopes the personal visits will last until Christmas.

“Being able to have the horses come here to our home is a whole other level,” Muscat said.