Ivy Hill Therapeutic Equestrian Center is committed to establishing, maintaining and delivering professional programs designed to enhance the lives of those individuals with physical, social, educational, or psychological challenges.  

About Ivy Hill:

A Little Bit of History:
Therapeutic riding, also known, as Equine-Assisted Therapy, Equine-Facilitated Therapy, and riding for the disabled, is known as the use of the horse and equine based activities.  Therapeutic Riding uses the horse to achieve a variety of therapeutic goals, including cognitive, physical, social, educational, and behavioral goals.  Therapeutic riding has been used since before WWI when Germans rode horses for therapy.  The first study on the value of riding as a therapy was reported in 1875, when a French physician used riding as a treatment for a variety of conditions.  He concluded that it was helpful in the treatment of certain neurological disorders by improving balance and joint movement, as well as psychological improvements.

Therapeutic riding is practiced in some form all over the world.  Great Britain formed riding for the disabled (RDA) program to promote competition and equine sports for the disabled.  Germany and Switzerland have been in the forefront of developing and establishing Hippotherapy as a medical mode of equine assisted therapy.  Therapeutic riding has incorporated therapy, education, sport, and recreation.

Therapeutic riding came to the United States and Canada in 1960 with the formation of The Community Association of Riding of the Disabled.  Today disabled riders demonstrate their accomplishments in national and international sport riding competitions.  Hippotherapy has developed as a medical field recognized by most major countries.  Equine-facilitated Mental Health, and other forms of therapy involving horses are gaining popularity.    Riding for the disabled has become a well-recognized and acclaimed method of improving the lives of those who refuse to let their disabilities limit them.