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Our Mission:
Our Faith enables us to nurture abilities in individuals with special needs.
Equine Dreams is a not-for-profit therapeutic horseback riding program dedicated to providing free sessions to children and adults with physical, cognitive, and social disabilities.
Equine assisted therapy is a unique tool in that with the assistance of a horse, an individual who is learning to balance can experience the three dimensional movement of ambulation. Through this movement the rider learns the functional tasks for weight shifting, balance, and equilibrium responses which are all necessary components of simple ambulation.
Social isolation and limited access to services remain major problems to individuals with disabilities. Equine Dreams provides services to individuals and groups from neighboring group homes and schools from three surrounding counties in Northern Illinois. Equine Dreams operates entirely on funds generated by private donation, foundation grants, fundraising, and in-kind donations. This assistance allows access to services without placing a financial burden on its participants.
The demand is great and the benefits are remarkable. This drives all of us at Equine Dreams to continually seek new avenues to provide and expand services to the children and adults who need it most. Equine Dreams provides services to between 70-100 riders a week.
Equine Dreams is staffed by a large group of volunteers that includes six registered and one advanced NARHA Therapeutic Riding Instructors; of which one is a Physical Therapist with a specialty in Hippotherapy, one Occupational Therapist, and one Audiologist.
Volunteer run, donation driven.
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