Healing with Horses Ranch is a 501(c)(3) non-profit therapeutic riding center. By creating space for healthy relationships between horses and humans, we help students learn transferable life skills in a safe, inclusive environment. We strive to promote resilience and independence in mind, body, and soul through the power of the horse. We want to change lives, not just touch lives.
OUR MISSION
Healing with Horses Ranch provides multiple equine-assisted services for people experiencing learning, behavioral, mental, emotional, and physical challenges.
We serve three core populations through a combination of Adaptive Riding, Equine-Assisted Learning, and Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy.
Interactions with horses provide a non-competitive, non-judgmental setting to build emotional and social capacity, while providing individuals with relationships that are both caring and consistent.
We focus on building self-awareness, enabling the individual to work through unexpressed emotional pain and learn how to recognize, verbalize and regulate their feelings.
Many veterans return from active duty with physical and/or emotional wounds. Horses assist these individuals through the challenges of transitioning back to civilian life.
Together, the horse and veteran work on relaxation, memory skills, patience, confidence, physical wellness, and focus that translates to life beyond the Ranch.
Because horseback riding rhythmically moves the rider’s body in a manner similar to a human gait, riders with physical disabilities often improve in flexibility, balance, muscle strength, and range of motion. In addition, due to the non-verbal communication between a horse and human, individuals practice communication in their own way.
Our program improves physical and cognitive skills that spark new independence within the rider that they can then carry over into everyday life.
Healing with Horses Ranch is a PATH (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship) International center that provides evidence-based, trauma-informed services led by certified professionals. PATH certifies and accredits centers, instructors, and equine specialists based on field-tested standards to ensure safety, ethics, and effectiveness in the equine-assisted services industry. To become certified, instructors must complete workshops, fulfill student teaching requirements, and pass both written and practical exams.
Founded in 2011 as a PATH-compliant center, we underwent a voluntary peer review in 2018 and successfully met the accreditation requirements to become a PATH Intl. Premier Accredited Center. This designation allows us to be recognized in the community for upholding PATH’s highest standards and enables us to train other centers.
Hooves & Talons Trail Walk & Market: A Roots & Wings Festival Event
Saturday, November 2nd, 2024. Join us for a celebration of Halloween, Day of the Dead, and our urban ecosystem at Healing with Horses Ranch! Explore our 47-acre natural landscape nestled on the edge of Austin. This family-friendly event invites the community to navigate our trails, engage in fun nature-themed activities, and gather plenty of treats along the way. RSVP is required!
Includes yearly events.
Healing with Horses Ranch is a vibrant community that is welcoming to all. There are many ways to get involved, from joining a committee, to becoming a regular on our feed team, to volunteering in lessons. No matter your time or talents, we can’t wait to welcome you to the Ranch.
As a volunteer at Healing with Horses Ranch, you become a part of our herd and a vital piece toward increasing independence and resilience through the power of the horse for at-risk youth, veterans, and people with disabilities.
We are committed to making our services affordable and accessible to all. Donations from community members like you help to sustain our herd and ensure equine-assisted services can continue year-round.
Volunteering as a group is a great way to bond as a team, build positive communication, and give back to the community! Group volunteering experiences are a single commitment of 2 hours for groups of 5 or more people.
Throughout the year, we host & attend events around greater Austin. We want to share our wonderful space with the community and raise funds to continue our mission of offering safe, affordable equine-assisted activities.
Healing with Horses Ranch is a PATH International Premier Riding Center. Our certified instructors and equine specialists, all of whom are PATH certified, believe deeply in the transformative power of the horse-human connection, and the ability for individuals from all backgrounds to improve their emotional, cognitive, and physical abilities.
A central part of our team is, of course, the horses – our true teachers. We partner with a variety of breeds, shapes, and personalities of horses to meet the needs of our riders.