SPECIAL EQUESTRIANS
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Mission Statement
Special Equestrians, a nonprofit therapeutic riding program located in Warrington, Pennsylvania, was founded in 1982, and has provided 32 years of mission-driven work to “improve the physical, mental and emotional well being of individuals with disabilities through the equine experience.”
About This Cause
Special Equestrians is a Registered PATH (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship) International Center; our facility, staff, and programming meet all relevant PATH Intl. Certification standards. We have a longstanding commitment to helping riders with physical disabilities improve strength, balance, posture and flexibility. Over the past decade, Special Equestrians has also worked steadily to enhance programming to serve our increasing numbers of riders with cognitive, emotional, and behavioral challenges. In 2014 we provided 4,353 lessons for riders aged 3-70. With 15 horses, 17 mostly part-time staff members, and 100 volunteers, we served more than 320 children and adults from Bucks, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties. We worked successfully with riders who meet criteria for more than 60 different disabling diagnoses, including Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Pervasive Developmental Delay, Sensory Integration Disorder, Brain Injuries, and Autism Spectrum Disorders. Representing diverse ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, 80 percent of our riders were 18 or younger. We are committed to serving anyone who can benefit from our services, regardless of their ability to pay. Special Equestrians’ general lesson fee covers slightly less than 50% of the actual cost to the organization of providing the service. If families cannot afford to pay this amount, they submit scholarship applications. We provide scholarships for roughly 25 percent of our riders and all members of our four school groups (approx. $54,579 in 2014). Programs Students in our Therapeutic Riding Program build confidence and independence as they develop mastery of different riding skills at their own pace. Lessons are structured to teach basic horse care, including grooming and tacking, as well as equitation skills. Mounted activities may include structured stretching, practice of new skills, games, independent riding, and exercises tailored to each student’s specific needs. Our Youth Connections Program, for at-risk youth, focuses special attention on using the horse-rider connection to promote emotional growth and learning and help teens develop positive communication and relationship skills. Youth who would not be open to individual counseling or group discussion might be more likely to participate fully and genuinely in therapeutic riding sessions. Through our Hippotherapy Program, staff and volunteer Occupational and Physical Therapists provide weekly individual lessons for children and adults facing more severe physical impairments and functional limitations. The focus of the riding session is on mounted activities that build gross and fine motor capability. The hippotherapy experience uses the unique movement of the horse to help riders develop fine and gross motor skills. In addition, the therapist-volunteer team uses verbal direction plus hands-on assistance to build riders’ concentration and communication skills. Through our REINS (Riders Excelling in New Skills) Program for children diagnosed on the autism spectrum, students are taught basic horse care and riding skills and participate in Equine Facilitated Learning (EFL) mounted and unmounted activities. For riders with social/emotional and behavioral challenges that interfere with school, work, and/or social adjustment EFL offers a powerful therapeutic approach to helping riders learn to manage external and internal stimuli, develop and sustain social relationships, and function in a setting where there are “rules.” Teachers and supervisors of these students at school have reported increased attention span and self-esteem as well as improved focus on academic performance among participants. Our goal in the Silver Saddles Program is to improve overall strength, endurance, and flexibility for people over the age of 55 with age-related disabilities. Lessons are focused on partnership with the horse through the use of classical dressage principles, which increases students’ range of motion, endurance, and core strength. Our Summer Horse Camp for children under 18 allows children with disabilities to spend an extended period of time in the special environment that Special Equestrians provides. Through the summer camp experience, young riders make significant strides in horsemanship while learning new life skills and social interaction abilities. GaitWays to School Success is an equine-assisted learning (EAL) program offered as a series of experiential workshops for at-risk children whose emotional or behavioral disabilities impede academic performance. GaitWays sessions consist of unmounted equine-assisted growth and learning activities that lead up to riding sessions. In each session, the experience of equine-human interaction is combined with counseling-based processing skills to increase students’ awareness and control of their emotions, cognitions, and behaviors. Impact Our experience at Special Equestrians bears out the findings of long-term, global research on the impact of therapeutic riding: students experience physical, emotional and mental rewards from horseback riding guided by trained therapeutic riding instructors. For individuals with impaired mobility, horseback riding gently and rhythmically moves their body in a manner similar to a walking gait. Oftentimes, this movement triggers neuromuscular responses that prompt students to walk and speak for the first time in their lives. For riders with cognitive or emotional disabilities, the unique relationship formed with a horse can help in improving interpersonal relationships, while the presence of the instructors and volunteers encourages social interaction and trust. An outcomes measurement tool that evaluates a rider’s physical condition as well as cognitive, behavioral, and social/communication skills is utilized after each student’s lesson. At least 80 percent of our riders show improvement on pre/post measures of two of the four or more targeted skills and behaviors. Ratings are assigned by instructors and, wherever possible, by parents/teachers as well. Since we offer a wide variety of services to a very diverse population, individual riders’ improvements will look very different: for example, a 20-percent improvement in physical condition in one client may indicate an improved tone in their core muscles, while the same percentage in another client may indicate that their tight arms and legs are beginning to relax and move more freely. Depending on the nature and severity of our clients’ disability, skills and behaviors that we focus on and give pre/post ratings to will vary. Common positive outcomes include 1) improved tone in their core muscles, 2) better modulation of emotional reactivity, 3) ability to break a large task into steps, and 4) development of teamwork skills. It is important to note that even statistically small changes may have a profound effect on a rider’s quality of life.