Our Programs
In-Stride began operating in June 2006 with one student, since that time we have grown to service many children and adults and save several horses. In-Stride provides horseback riding experiences tailored to the individual rider. We have all levels of disabled riders, all working on various skills at various levels. We strive to provide our students with a pleasant and productive experience. Our riders start as young as 2 and we do not have an exit age. We are one ... Read More
Our Programs
In-Stride began operating in June 2006 with one student, since that time we have grown to service many children and adults and save several horses. In-Stride provides horseback riding experiences tailored to the individual rider. We have all levels of disabled riders, all working on various skills at various levels. We strive to provide our students with a pleasant and productive experience. Our riders start as young as 2 and we do not have an exit age. We are one of the few organizations that allow our students to remain into adulthood. We are also one of the few organizations to accept disabled adult riders.
We continue to expand our services to fill the needs of our students. In 2017, we partnered with Blueprints to provide work experience to students who needed extra support in the work environment. Through this program, work age students came and assisted our instructors during lessons, learned how to care for horses and completed barn chores. Students spent up to 90 hours working at our facility. We look forward to this continuing partnership and providing valuable work experience to their participants.
Our Pink Helmets Club also began in 2017. This program is in response to the comfort our program director felt while spending time with horses during her cancer treatment and after. The Pink Helmets Club is a chance for cancer survivors to come to the barn and relax and connect with horses.
Special Olympics program. New in 2023, we are starting a Special Olympics team. Our team will be different from other places as we are holding an all-inclusive show. This will allow both students with disabilities and typical students to participate together in a common activity.
Equine assisted psychotherapy. In 2023 we will be starting an equine assisted psychotherapy program. This EAP program will be open to any individual who needs this service. This is an important service for those who do not do well in typical therapy sessions.
In addition to our therapeutic riding program, our Work program and our Pink Helmets Club, we provide our students with summer camp opportunities, 4-H opportunities, horse show opportunities, and student to volunteer opportunities.
Our horses are our greatest asset and without them we would not have a program. Our horses primarily come to us through rescue. We have 5 horses that we have obtained through Second Wind Adoption, 2 that we have rescued privately, and 3 that were donated to us privately. We have a total of 10 horses currently in the program and are looking to add one more for 2018. Through In-Stride, these horses get a second lease on life. Many of them would have been slaughter bound had it not been for our efforts and those of the rescues we work with.
Our volunteers are our second greatest asset. We have volunteers of all ages (starting at age 14 and our oldest is in her 60's), that perform a host of duties. Everyone from our CEO to our barn help is a volunteer. Without the dedication of this very special group of people, we would not be able to help all of the children we have helped over the years. We are always in need of new volunteers to help out in our program.
Funding
Our organization is funded primarily through self paying students and private donations. We do apply for several grants per year but normally only receive one or two small grants. We rely on private support and fundraising to keep our program operating.
Projects/Fundraising campaigns
We have several ongoing projects:
Currently we are running our $150,000 initiative campaign. This campaign is an effort to reduce costs to our students and open more tuition assisted spaces. There are so many children in our area that could greatly benefit from our services, however, many of them are unable to afford these services. The more funding we receive the more students we can help.
Property acquisition. We are raising funds to assist in the purchase of the property we are currently renting. The purchase price of the property is $171,000. We need to raise $50,000 in order to secure a loan on the 13+ acres, horse barn and arena.
Installation of Sensory Area and Sensory Trail. We would love to install a sensory area for our students while they wait for their lesson. The sensory area would include a bubble light, special seating and other sensory objects for our students to interact with. We would also like to install a sensory trail. This trail would be used during our lessons and would include stations such as a music station, a mock boardwalk and a fishing pond. This would allow our students to become more engaged with their environment while riding.
On-going Fund Requests
We constantly need assistance in the care and maintenance of our horses. Assistance with our feed bill ($2000/month), our hay bill ($6,000/year), and veterinary bills.
Volunteer Opportunities
We work with area businesses to help assist us with projects at the barn and special events for our students. We have partnered with Kohl's A-Team, UPS and Peter's Township Rotary to complete several projects. These volunteers have helped us prepare the barn for the start/end of lessons, repaired and installed fence lines, made repairs to the facility and helped out with special events on and off site. We are always looking for area businesses to work with and to help us out. We need volunteers on a regular basis to help in our weekly lessons and to help with projects/special events.
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