What therapeutic riding offers and what therapeutic services offer is this chance for people with disabilities to do the same thing that everybody else does with horses, but with the idea that there might be some extra things that they might need in order to be safe and to have fun and to to ride successfully.

I see confidence that grows.

for quite a few people with disabilities, their worlds are fairly small.

They may or may not go out and about all that much, just depending on a lot of factors.

And so when they come here, this is another way to blossom and grow I had a nephew that came here when he first came, he was kind of like, I don't know, that horse is really big.

I'm not you know, he had never been on a horse before, as the his time with TEC progressed, I would always ask him out on the way to the farm.

I would say.

So on a scale of 1 to 10, how you feel in any go to three, you know, and I so then I would ask him when we would leave.

So how you feel about eight nine?

I feel pretty good.

that was really positive him and for me to know that he had an opportunity to do something that he could be successful at and enjoy.

horseback riding in itself is is wonderful for everybody.

People with and without disabilities benefit from their interaction with horses.

It's not just the riding.

It's the everything with horses.

You know, they are so engaging and they are so connecting.

we are really giving great treatment to our equine partners because we could not be a riding program without them.

They are.

These are special, special guys and we want to do everything we can to keep them comfortable and keep them happy.

Most of them have worked two or three other jobs before they get here.

they're older but older and wiser in many ways, they have to have a unique temperament that they're able to work with a variety of different people.

It isn't a job for every horse, and that's not a criticism of any horse.

More than anything, they have to have a heart.

our horses have the biggest hearts because make that connection that they offer to the riders.

That is what really makes it special.

These horses are teachers we couldn't obviously do it without them.

And they provide a very valuable insight for a lot of folks.

Our instructors are all trained extremely well so that we we know how to break down skills to make sure that people can learn them easily enough.

Our center certified with PATH, our National organization, quite an intensive training classes to go through.

And then we have continuing education hours that have to be maintained every year as well.

It started over in Europe after World War Two as a way to help veterans that came back with a variety of of physical disabilities.

And they they used horses and found out it had some pretty amazing results.

Was good for the mind and body and soul.

And a lot of those folks needed all of that.

Right.

And from there they realized, okay, well, that's helping these folks with physical disabilities.

What can we do to help those maybe kids, you know?

And so they started looking at cerebral palsy.

And from there, it grew.

it's a great experience for learning to ride, for learning to be around horses and for being included in something that people without disabilities do as well.

I found that there was a connection that I had with working with horses and being around other people that were compassionate and caring and loved animals as much as I did that it just filled a spot in my heart that I didn't have for a really long time.

You know, when you go away to college, you kind of have to let go of some things.

And horseback riding was one of the things that I let go of.

it was an opportunity to come back in and engaged in activities that are important to me.

And as an educator, well, you know, it was another perfect fit for me to to be around people that are actively engaged in helping people learn about riding, learn about life skills.

I got my first pony when I was eight years old.

And how old am I?

69 now.

And I've loved what I've learned from that and I wanted to be able to share that with others.

I'm so proud of the care that that TEC takes in our in our horses, how much we value them as partners and I think the same goes with our riders and our volunteers.

We value every every person who comes here, whether they're coming to ride and to learn how to ride or whether to come in to volunteer and to help someone ride.

We value everybody.

And I think that's what keeps me coming back.