After 15 years offering solace and healing on Sound Avenue, Spirit’s Promise Equine Rescue is preparing to leave Riverhead for good. The nonprofit’s founder, Marisa Striano, confirmed that she has purchased property upstate and plans to relocate the entire rescue and equine therapy operation there in the coming months.

The move comes after Riverhead Town issued a dozen code violations to the Spirit’s Promise property earlier this year. Striano said the summonses, stop-work orders and enforcement actions effectively brought her Long Island operations to a halt, prompting her decision to start over elsewhere.

Striano acknowledges failing to get her permitted uses “updated,” and said her contractor started building without permits while she was grieving the death of her father last year. But she said she feels blindsided because for years she hosted and openly advertised line dancing in one of her barns, as well as wedding events at the ranch — with no complaints or objections from anyone.

“It’s so sad,” she said. “This place has been around since the 1800s. It’s just heartbreaking to me.”

Riverhead Town Attorney Erik Howard said in a statement that the town’s goal was not to shut the ranch down but to bring it into compliance. He said the violations were related to unpermitted construction work on a home on the ranch and line dancing and wedding events in the barn.

“The property is located within a residential zoning district which allows for agricultural uses, but fitting line dancing instruction or events and horse rescue into agricultural uses is challenging,” he said.

Howard said there was “likely a path” for Striano to continue operations within town guidelines.

“Through permitting, the Planning Department, special event permits and/or an application to the Zoning Board of Appeals, there could have been a route to legalization — maybe not to the full extent of prior operations, but a path nonetheless,” Howard’s statement said, adding that the barn at the ranch “isn’t rated or approved for large assembly uses due to lack of safety features such as fire protection, egress and sanitation.”

Howard said the investigation into Spirit’s Promise stemmed from a separate complaint by owners of another property who had been cited for hosting weddings without permits. Those owners questioned why their business was targeted while Spirit’s Promise was not, according to the statement.

“I think it is unfortunate that Spirit’s Promise is planning to relocate,” the statement concluded, “and that was not our intended outcome.”

Striano said she has a different theory about the genesis of the code actions, but declined to elaborate on the record.

‘A strong pull’

A few weeks ago, Striano purchased a 236-acre Prohibition-era estate where Spirit’s Promise will relaunch in 2026.

“It’s got stables, a round pen, an arena — so much opportunity,” she said. “It’s such a strong pull to do this. I feel like my dad is guiding me there.”

The new property, she said, will provide room to expand therapy programs for new groups, including New York State troopers.

“My son is a state trooper,” she said. “I want to get involved with the state trooper academy up there, and the state troopers themselves, because of all of the trauma that they have to deal with.”

The move, she said, is also about preserving her own health and stamina for the work ahead.

“I’m a breast cancer survivor. I have too much life to live, and I’m only 62, and this is tremendous, tremendous responsibility. So my first goal is to myself, and then to the horses.”

Rooted in the concept that the human-animal bond can have powerful effects on mental well-being, equine therapy is used today to treat conditions including PTSD, anxiety, depression, autism and addiction. Sessions often involve grooming, feeding, leading or simply spending time with horses.

‘A void’

Striano told her employees and volunteers about the move two weeks ago.

“Some of them were happy at first,” she said. “But then everyone realized what a void this would be in their lives. It’s been very difficult for me to talk about it because everyone’s going through their own grief.”

Spirit’s Promise employs about a dozen workers and regularly draws 40 to 50 volunteers.

“It’s all women,” she said. “They come from all walks of life — teachers, police officers, corrections officers, nurses, doctors, lawyers.”

Roughly 30 animals, including 18 horses, will make the trip north in stages.

“Everybody’s coming with me,” she said, with a laugh at the thought. “I’m losing sleep at night, but they’re all coming with me.”

Debra Riva — a Greenport artist who was deeply moved by the equine therapy she did last year at Spirit’s Promise, where she was later featured in an art show — said this week that she’s “heartbroken” over plans to move the ranch upstate.

“From the experience I had there, it’s such a sacred place,” Riva said. “And so many people who came to the art show said the same thing: ‘what a sacred, beautiful space.’ You could feel it. It’s really a loss for the whole of the North Fork.”

Spirit’s Promise will continue private therapy sessions through the end of November.

“That’s OK because it doesn’t involve mass groups of people,” Striano said. “It’s just me and my clients in the round pen.”

For those seeking similar programs once Spirit’s Promise departs, Striano recommends Pal-O-Mine Equestrian in Islandia.

“They have a great program,” she said.