Victoria Acres Equine Facility, Inc.

Victoria Acres Equine Facility, Inc. was founded in May of 2012, by Erin Pashley our Executive Director. Ms. Pashley has extensive equine experience and has personally seen the benefit of horses providing healing. She imagined the impact that equines could have on individuals of all ages and abilities with a concentrated effort. It became her goal to provide empowering, encouraging and educational equine assisted opportunities to serve people living in the Capital Region community with a wide range of Developmental Disabilities, Physical Limitations, Mental Illness and Trauma.

This vision has become our driving mission “Promoting Empowerment, Encouragement and Education through Equine Assisted Therapies” to a wide range of very diverse individuals. Everyone has a story, a challenge they are facing. The Board of Directors believes that dedicated work with equines, professionals, and trained volunteers can help people heal and achieve great goals. From the girl who desperately wants to do something her typical peers do, but is too afraid to try to ride and fail, to the Veteran returning stateside from Active Duty with a diagnosis of PTSD who needs time and encouragement to heal, to the young boy that has been bullied and beaten down and needs self-esteem enhancement and a safe place, to the adolescent boy living with Autism who benefits greatly from the challenge of working with horses and gains a sense of calm after visiting the barn and to so many more who haven’t been met yet, Victoria Acres Equine Facility, Inc. provides hope, and the opportunity to “change lives one individual at a time.”

Victoria Acres Equine Facility, Inc., provides five distinct programs at this time. Horse Sense, Path International, Therapeutic Riding, Hippotherapy, and Horses4Heroes as well as riding lessons for able-bodied individuals in both English and Western disciplines and Ground working lessons. All the programs/lessons offered at our facility offer a complex and exciting means of therapy, which produces tangible physical, psychological, cognitive, social and educational benefits to those we serve. In February of 2014, with the help of Congressman Paul Tonko, Victoria Acres Equine Facility, Inc. became a designated 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization.

What sets Victoria Acres Equine Facility, Inc., apart from the competition is our commitment to provide the highest level of safety, ethics, and effectiveness within our programs and our community. That is why Victoria Acres made the decision this year to become a PATH Intl. Member center. PATH (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International) requires instructors to go through extensive training. Victoria Acres certified PATH instructors bring an effective skill set along with extensive knowledge to provide safe and effective programs to our clients. Our mission guides the management of our organization to ensure that the programs Victoria Acres offers meets or exceeds the needs of our clients. Our management team encourages our staff and volunteers to continually better their education and training experiences. Currently, a riding instructor and volunteer are in the process of becoming PATH Certified Riding Instructors and should complete their certification by the spring of 2017. Victoria Acres is currently collaborating with The Equus Effect to bring their training program to Victoria Acres in the spring of 2017. The Equus Effect will enrich our veterans program and provide our staff with a wealth of knowledge and hands-on training.