Catherine E. Conte is a retired attorney currently operating her own small businesses. As these projects wind down, she is honored to be beginning a new chapter. A field of work which will bring her back to the life of service she so embraces.
Catherine began her law career in 1999 as a sole practitioner with a concentration in Juvenile Law, Child Abuse and Neglect, and Family Law. She included in her general practice Elder and Mental Health Law.
Catherine brought the children she represented to her home to meet her horses. The children began to open their hearts sharing their worries, challenges and abuses. It was magical. Catherine wound her practice down after several years to be a full-time primary caregiver to her handicapped mother. During law school her mother suffered a catastrophic double amputation above the knee due to complications from diabetes. Upon her passing in 2001, Catherine focused on combining her love of horses with her love of children in need.
In 2005, Catherine founded and directed Nantucket Therapeutic Equestrian Center d/b/a SeaPony Farm, a 501(c)(3), a program for children and adults with disabilities. They served participants from the age of two to seventy with physical, emotional and behavioral challenges. This experience will always remain a truly extraordinary part of Catherine’s life. The incredible impact the animals; horses, donkeys, alpacas and dogs and cats of SeaPony Farm had on the participants with life challenging disabilities will always remain miraculous. Participants in wheelchairs with cerebral palsy walking in the backs of my ponies, children strengthening their core so that they could learn to sit tall and walk straight, children of abuse singing songs to the ponies and learning to trust, children learning the unconditional love and compassion exists in the eyes of a horse, a cancer survivor riding a pony as her last wish, a paraplegic non-verbal boy humming a tune as he rides the bucolic trails with his army of side-walkers to hold him safe.
The at-risk program for troubled teens was developed in conjunction to promote volunteerism and compassion into the lives of the participants becoming the side walkers and pony leaders to safely traverse the trail rides with the participants. Blossoming from troubled to empowered. Catherine’s father, her greatest fan, was able to be among these beautiful animals and participants while he lived through his cancer treatments and passing.
An attorney himself, he always told Catherine that her law degree was her greatest guide in life.
Catherine is currently caring for the remaining herd of therapy animals at her home as they live out their elder years in comfort and love. Her promise to all her animal children is to give them a beautiful life and a gracious passing.
In September 2023, Catherine embarked on a first-time solo trip to Kenya for a horse-riding safari. She was fortunate to experience the incredible wildlife sanctuaries and conservation efforts along with community outreach. This experience ignited her genuine love and compassion for all creatures with her desire to begin again a life of service.
Catherine is currently a supporter of several animal and child welfare organizations worldwide and working with a small family foundation with a focus on supporting wildlife and environmental organizations in the United States and Africa.