Business & Tech

$4 Milllion Horse Therapy Center Planned In Imperial

Arnold hotels and business would likely benefit from the center's location and owner's preference for local goods and services.

Arnold hotels, restaurants and builders could benefit if construction on a $4-million horse-therapy complex begins in September. 

Forrest Kennedy and his wife, Jennifer, want to build a 84,000 square foot facility on their 18-acre property, with a therapy swimming pool and water treadmill to rehabilitate and strengthen race horses.

They hope to open the center in July 2012.

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The Kennedys breed horses and come from a competitive horseback riding background.

The facility would be 10 miles from Arnold’s hotels and about a 20-minute drive from St. Louis.

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“Most owners travel with their horses during treatment and will need places to stay and dine overnight,” Forrest Kennedy said after a presentation at the Drury Inn in Arnold on March 23.

Arnold’s hotel rooms and abundant parking spaces could handle owners and their horse trailers.

Spokesman Michael Dempsey said the Imperial Equine Rehabilitation Veterinary Medical Center would provide horse owners a single location for surgery, medicine, physical therapy and strengthening facilities.

Most horse medical facilities are in Kentucky or Florida, Dempsey said. None of the other facilities has a full-time veterinarian.

“Most owners have horses valued in the seven-figure range,” Dempsey said. Horse owners have a lot of money invested in their animals and will do anything to assure their animals health, he said.

The facility would have 24-hour surveillance, high barriers, and require owners to make an appointment to visit their animals, Dempsey said.

The facility would serve horse owners in six states—Missouri, Illinois, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Colorado. It would also offer a full-time veterinary surgeon, 25 staffers and an ambulance service.

“The ambulance would be an air ride trailer with slings for the horses to lighten the weight on their injured legs and minimize the jostling that occurs during road trip,” Forrest Kennedy said. 

The ambulance would be GPS tracked and offer live video feeds of the horses during the trip, Kennedy said. The information would provide owners peace of mind about their horses’ well being, allow drivers to monitor the horses in transit and provide vets video information about their patients.

Jennifer Kennedy said she and her husband want to buy local products and hire local contractors to build the facility.

“We want a platinum LEED rating for the building,” Jennifer Kennedy said, in reference to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification for new buildings. A nonprofit group, the U.S. Green Building Council, created LEED to protect the environment.

Buying locally manufactured goods and services increases revenues for area businesses and reduces the amount of gasoline used to transport heavy material, according to LEED documents.

“It’s important to back up words with actions,” Jefferson County Executive Ken Waller said about the Kennedys’ emphasis on buying local items.

The Kennedys’ proposed facility is a privately owned and operated project, but they might announce the horse rehabilitation center in the local newspaper, Waller said.

“Everyone loves horses, but there will be people opposed to the facility. We learn that in politics, ” Waller said.

Increasing public knowledge about the facility prior to construction would lessen opposition, Waller said.


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