The Leaps & Bounds Horse Assisted Therapy Center is now officially offering services.
Two services are presently offered, Therapeutic Riding and Hippotherapy (although we are currently also training our first Therapeutic Driving horse "Herbie", and are looking forward to eventual expansion into Equine Facilitated Mental Health.)
In a Therapeutic Riding session the goals are recreational as well as therapeutic. While riding a specially trained equine partner, special needs students will practice coordination, strength, endurance, body awareness, and basic principles of horsemanship.
In a Hippotherapy session, the client works to improve functional skills such as head control, sitting up straight by using core and postural muscles, bearing weight on hands to prepare for hand function in grasping (such as for holding a spoon or a pen), and looking up so they can perceive, anticipate, and learn. In Hippotherapy, the horse is a medical tool.
The goal of both programs is to help improve participants neuromuscular control, balance, and motorskills in a fun and recreational environment. All of these skills are necessary building blocks for growth and development into an independent and thriving human being.Individuals with the following disabilities commonly participate and benefit from Equine Assisted Therapies: ~ Muscular Dystrophy ~ Cerebral Palsy ~ Visual Impairment ~ Down Syndrome ~ Mental delays and disorders ~ Autism ~ Multiple Sclerosis ~ Spina Bifida ~ Emotional Disabilities ~ Brain Injuries ~ Spinal Cord Injuries ~ Amputations ~ Learning Disabilities ~ Attention Deficit Disorder ~ Deafness ~ Cardiovascular Accident/Stroke
Getting this multi-faceted program off the ground has taken a lot of work
Over the past many months, hours and hours have been spent training the horses rain or shine! Being a therapy horse is extremely mentally and physically taxing for the horses, and very few horses make the final cut. Therapeutic Horses are really the Special Ops soldiers of the horse world.
A lot of special equipment is also required, and the incredible boarders at Leap of Faith Farms alone gathered together and donated the initial $10,000 necessary to get the program off its feet. We also received an additional donation from the Clif Bar Foundation, and the Boy Scout Troop 363 from Crossroads Covenant Church built the crucial Wheelchair and Mounting Ramp over one weekend in January. Finally, a very generous private donor enabled us to build a dedicated therapy arena here on site, which means that our hours of operation can now expand. Please call for our current schedule.
But we still need your help! We would love to train you to work alongside the therapists and instructors in the role of horse handler or sidewalker. Horse handlers must have prior extensive horse experience, while sidewalkers need to be able to physically help the client be safe and stable on the horse, occasionally providing assistance as needed, and walking alongside for 30 minutes at a time (no horse experience is needed.) For us to train you, we need you to be available to volunteer 4 hours at a time, once a week, and to have the desire to make a difference in the life of a special needs person and to be willing to give of yourself as the occasion requires.
We also remain in need of your best fundraising efforts, not only in order to be able to acquire more horses, staff, and equipment, but also to be able to provide scholarships. Please contact us if you have expertise in fundraising or wish to donate to our program.
To join our team please call: To Volunteer: Steve Woods, Executive Director 925-519-9800 To Obtain Services: Tineke Jacobsen P.T., CTRI, NARHA Registered Therapist 925-708-1139 To Donate: Mariah Bradford-Urban, Leaps & Bounds Board Member 925-938-9550 All 100% tax deductible donations should be written to "The Headland's
Foundation" (our fiscal sponsor) and be mailed to Leap of Faith Farms. Thank you in advance
for your generous support of a program
that will be changing lives for the better, one hoof print at a time.
| 1550 CASTLE ROCK RD. WALNUT CREEK, CA 94598-5140 | PHONE: (925)938-9550 | FAX: (925)938-9556 |