Therapeutic Horse Back Riding 10 Week Spring & Fall Sessions
PRANCE has offered therapeutic riding lessons for children and adults with disabilities since our founding in 1993. This mounted horseback riding program is facilitated by CANTRA-trained riding instructors, volunteers and our incredible team of therapy horses!
Our ten-week sessions run from mid-September through the end of November and mid-April through to June. Classes are available week days with limited evening spots. Riders typically come for 1.5 hours per week and work with the same horse and volunteers as much as possible.
Benefits of therapeutic riding include: strength-building, increased flexibility, improved balance and gross and fine motor skills coordination. Riders also experience a boost in self-confidence and self-esteem and have opportunities to improve social integration.
We have seen first-hand over the years how the program has improved the lives of so many participants.
Mounted horseback riding is not however suitable for all individuals and it is important that any prospective rider with medical challenges first gets the approval of their physician. Please see below for contraindications to therapeutic riding:
- Atlantoaxial Instability (AAI): Instability of the C1 and C2 vertebrae in the neck.
- Unstable spine or Spondylolishesis (slipped verterba)
- Severe Ostepororosis or Scolilosis
- Uncontrolled Seizures (Seizures must be managed for at least six months prior to riding due to risk of falls)
- Shunt or Vascular Issues
- Paralysis
Other Considerations
- Our maximum rider weight is typically approximately 180 pounds for the safety of the rider, horse and staff handling the horse.
- Severe Allergies – Allergies to horses, dust and hay must be managed with medication.
- Aggression or Self-Abuse – Unpredictable behaviors can happen and are understandable with our client base but as much as possible it is important that the rider, instructors, volunteers and horses are not endangered.
Please email prance@bmts.com for an application form or for further questions. We look forward to hearing from you and hope to be able to support you or your rider.
To learn more about therapeutic riding and its role in Canada please visit Canadian Therapeutic Riding Association at cantra.ca
PRANCE is specifically tailored to the disabled and helps them both emotionally and physically. I live in a wheelchair and riding allows me to get out of the chair and feel free and independent. The horse becomes my legs and I get to be free of the chair for an hour. It is a wonderful feeling! It also helps me maintain my range of motion as it stretches my very tight muscles due to cerebral palsy, and it helps to strengthen my muscles that have no other means of being exercised.
Riding at PRANCE is not a luxury item for me. It is therapy. PRANCE is an integral part of managing my life as a disabled person. My life would be dramatically affected – both physically and emotionally, if I no longer could continue to be a rider at PRANCE.