Jenny Landers (right) receives the Spirit Award from Nick DeNitto (left) in 2019
Challenge Unlimited at Ironstone Farm is mourning the loss of beloved community member and dear friend, Nicholas DeNitto, who passed earlier this month.
Nick first came to the farm in the mid-80s when his wife Barabara DeNitto began volunteering. He was an avid supporter of Barbara as she worked to launch the first Special Olympics equestrian program at Ironstone Farm and across Massachusetts. Over the next two decades, the program would take our riders to four international Special Olympics competitions, with the DeNittos involved in every one.
Nick took an interest in everything – he was an athlete, participating in the Senior Olympics nationwide, a poet, a writer. At Ironstone, he rode, volunteered, served on our board, and supported everything Ironstone with wisdom and enthusiasm.
Nick and Barbara’s five children also became involved – volunteering, working on the farm, and later bringing their own children.
When Barbara passed away in 2010, Challenge Unlimited at Ironstone Farm began its annual Barbara DeNitto Memorial Horse Show, fashioned in the spirit of Special Olympics equestrian sports. Nick and his family came each year to present the Spirit Award to a deserving rider in the program – the most recent going to Hayat Hallee in 2021.
Through these riders, Nick’s and Barbara’s legacies will live on – as Nick once said – in this “place born of heart.” Nick’s heart was and will remain part of the fabric of Ironstone. He is missed and will never be forgotten.
Nick DeNitto (center) and family during the Barbara DeNitto Horse Show’s opening ceremonies