All of our services are free of charge.
Our community has a high poverty level and we do not want to let financial or insurance issues get in the way of helping those in need. Our riders have enough on their plate without having to worry about where they're going to come up with the funds for our riding sessions.
We are proud to have reached out to our community through advertisements, word of mouth and recommendations of physicians and current riders from our program.
In addition to serving our local community, we have riders come from over 90 miles to take part in our program. We offer appearances at nursing and care facilities, school functions, community events as well as inviting classes over to our facility to participate in a "all about horses" educational program. We have opened our facility to the Girl Scouts of America as well as "Time Out Shelter", a domestic violence program.
We've done some work with Southwest Behavioral Center's residents. What is new this year, is that we will be working with Payson's High School Transition Program, which helps graduating special needs students assimilate into post high school life. We have also worked with foster children, offering them a safe environment to experience the healing trust none other than a horse can provide. Another aspect of our program that we are proud of is that we offer the siblings of our special needs rider the opportunity to participate in the session . We feel that it is just as important to serve the family members of the rider.
Sundays are typically our visitor's day where families from all demographics are offered the chance to experience a horse ride or simply a brushing session. We are big proponents of a better life through horses.
We are currently serving 25 clients every week. We have five new students that will be starting in the near future. This does not include the extra visiting classes, special appearances and working with the domestic violence shelter.
We do not require that our volunteers have horse experience. All we look for is a calm demeanor with the ability to be flexible as the rider's needs change. We have some volunteers that bring horse training skills to the table. One of our volunteers is certified with the British Riding Society, as well as cowboy dressage and Parelli trained. She possesses a great ability to teach our riders. This is just a small sample of our volunteer staff.