UPREACH THERAPEUTIC RIDING CENTER

UpReach Therapeutic Equestrian Center serves individuals with a wide range of physical, emotional, and psychological abilities since 1992 through year-round, equine-assisted activities and therapies, including: therapeutic riding, therapeutic driving, equine-assisted learning, equine-facilitated mental health, and hippotherapy. In addition, UpReach has become a training facility for continuing professional education for individuals in the equine-assisted activities and therapies, mental health, and healthcare industries. Most participants have varying degrees of cognitive, physical, behavior, psychological, and sensory challenges. Some of these include autism spectrum disorders, Down syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, intellectual and learning disabilities, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, PTSD, traumatic brain injury, and sensory integration processing disorders. Through our unmounted equine programs, we also support youth, families and military veterans who have been through tragic loss, high-conflict divorce, physical or mental abuse, suicide, PTSD, substance abuse and bullying.

Horses are an integral part of UpReach’s programs. A horse’sperception is an immediate and honest expression communicated through their body language. Encounters with horses encourages the development of trust and the ability to experience emotional safety and mindfulness which is vital to building resiliency and self-confidence. Horses are authentic, assertive, trustworthy, clear communicators and preserve the dignity of the heard. Riding on a horse or sitting in a cart pulled by a horse, participants must use core muscles to maintain balance and posture. Other benefits include, but are not limited to normalization of muscle tone, development of head and trunk postural control, development of bilateral movement and body awareness, as well as improvement in spatial orientation and endurance.

Population Served: Individuals of all abilities benefit from UpReach programming. Participants range in age from as young as 3 years of age to those who are into their 90’s. For over 27 years, UpReach Therapeutic Equestrian Center continues to serve 132 communities in New Hampshire delivering excellence in programming with the very best staff, horses and volunteers. Today, we have 19 horses, eight staff members, serve over 250 program participants annually and have 448 unduplicated volunteers who donated more than 16,700 hours annually of their time to support our programs, along with care for our horses.