Our Story
Our mission at Birch Grove Therapeutic Riding Center (BGTRC) is to improve the quality of life for our participants. It's as simple as that! Every horse person knows the relationship with a horse is unique and special. For our participants with disabilities, partnering with a horse opens a new world of possibilities and abilities. Be it grooming, leading, lunging, or riding the horse, it is all done in partnership. The horse is not a nautilus machine, or a yoga ball to bounce with. The benefits coming from partnering with this sentient being, are countless, and to be in the safe and welcoming environment of BGTRC, such joy is to come!
A sizable component of riding horses is the physical aspect. Therapeutic horseback riding improves the strength, tone, flexibility, and reflexes of postural muscles and leg muscles. This helps to increase the rider's stability of gait and balance, on and off the horse. Even with support from our side walkers, riders are in constant motion on the horse, making big to tiny postural adjustments for comfort and balance. Each of these adjustments engages muscles for a great workout! Cues from the instructor with or without the use of props like bean bags, hula hoops, cones, ground poles and much more, challenge the rider to stretch, coordinate movements, follow instructions, and of course, learn to ride and have fun!
There are so many great benefits beyond the physical. Practicing life skills, building a relationship in cooperation with the horse, cultivating mutual trust and respect, patience and compassion, assertiveness, and sensitivity. A therapy horse needs a leader, and when a rider is encouraged to work towards that goal, with an animal who is over 10 times their size, it is empowering and something to be celebrated. The mental, emotional and social benefits that start in the barn and arena, carry over into a rider's life, their relationships, building self-confidence and autonomy.
In EAS, Equine-Assisted Services, special attention is paid to facilitating improvements in muscle strength, coordination, balance, stamina, self-confidence and social interaction. Lesson plans are tailored individually to address the participant's special needs. Volunteers help with leading the horse, walking at the side of the rider to offer varying levels of rider support, and assiting with props, gates and 'horse apple' management! BGTRC also partners with licensed therapists to offer sessions in hippotherapy. An initial assessment with a potential rider will allow our program to determine our direction towards Adaptive Therapeutic Riding or Hippotherapy.
