Swiftsure Ranch Therapeutic Equestrian Center

Swiftsure Ranch's mission is to provide equine-assisted activities and therapies which encourage the physical, mental and emotional well-being of children and adults with disabilities. Our vision is to provide a positive, healing environment for all who participate in our programs and for all to leave feeling better than when they arrived. Through mutual participation in our program we empower our riders, volunteers and staff to experience more fulfilling lives. All of our services are provided at no charge to the student/rider. In 2022 we served 398 riders with the youngest rider, age 4 and oldest rider in their 90s. In addition to these regular students, we provide our services to several other organizations, again at no charge. These other organizations currently are: Idaho school for the deaf and blind, camp rainbow gold (camp for children with cancer)and veteran programs, higher ground and boise va hospital. The Idaho special olympics no longer provides an Equestrian component during their games, so we started hosting the jr. rodeo and stampede where riders from all over the state come and participate in Equestrian events and are treated to a bbq and dance. With these additional programs, the total individuals reached through our program are 250 - 300 riders a year, again all at no charge. Our students are referred to our program by their physicians, therapists, social workers or from the special education programs in the school system. We serve a large variety of disabilities including: genetic disabilities, learning/cognitive disabilities as well as those who have had a major event in their lives that have caused them to become disabled, such as a stoke, accident or degenerative disease. During the summer we provide a Ranch hand program which encourages young teens to develop employable skills, learn work ethics, the ability to work in groups, resume development and volunteerism.many of our students may receive traditional therapy in our community and we supplement this work but there are many who no longer have benefits or qualify for therapy and we provide a year round progressive resource. The horse's movement mimics human walking so those who are unable to move under their own power or do not have full range of motion can benefit from the horses core movement so when they are on the horse with no back support, they see improvement in their core strength and balance. There are also physical and emotional benefits from interacting with horses and we have had children speak their first words here on the Ranch. We have found that children with attention deficit issues are more engaged with their instructor while on horseback, as they have to pay attention to remain on the horse. We have also had teachers/aides tell us that this effect lasts long after the lesson. So no matter what the disability we have found that the use of horses, trained volunteers, and our certified instructors is providing a very important niche in our area.