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CORINTH (CBS 11) — A program that has helped special needs children for years shut down suddenly and prompted a police investigation into the closure. Now the founder of the group behind the program is speaking out about what happened and his plans for the future.

Up until last week, Spirithorse Therapeutic Riding Center was a facility where families could bring special needs children to receive free riding lessons that many found therapeutic. But that part of the Spirithorse organization came to an end when the group's founder and CEO let staff members know he was shutting down the program.

Some staff members tell us this came as a shock to them, but Charles Fletcher says he has struggled for years to keep the program financially viable, even meeting payroll with his social security benefits. He says he warned his staff that they were in financial trouble before announcing his decision to end the program.

"It finally got to the point where we couldn't sustain any more major losses. The losses just kept getting larger and larger," Fletcher said.

The Corinth Police Department released few details about their investigation, and would only say it began after someone filed an information report about the closure. Fletcher says he will cooperate with investigators.

Moving forward, Spirithorse will focus on its instructor training program that will allow teachers from all over the world to use the same methods as as those used at the Corinth location.

"We're not closing altogether. We're still helping children all over the world with disabilities and even stronger than we were. We will affect more children by expanding our instructor program than we affected teaching them here," Fletcher said.

Spirithorse is also supporting a group of former employees that has started a paid service for special needs children to receive riding lessons in Flower Mound.

"We want to continue serving the community that we served so well at Spirithorse, and we are happy to reach beyond that," said former Spirithorse COO Shelly Turner, who now runs the group Unbridled Horse Therapy.

Fletcher says he also plans to support other local nonprofit groups he hopes will be able to work with the families Spirithorse used to serve, but he expects they will all have to charge a fee in order to operate.

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