When I share the dream of Jake's Place with other folks, I tend to get mixed reactions. Some are happy for me and instantly supportive, and other's tend to ask two questions: Aren't there already therapy centers out there? and Why aren't you going to be an NPO?
To answer the first question, yes, there are a lot of therapeutic riding centers out there, and they do great works and accomplish wonderful things and change lives. But as a parent of a child with a disability, I have to say that the majority of the therapeutic riding centers out there today do not meet my needs.
When children without disabilities go to ride horses or take riding lessons their experience is very, very different than the experience of those with disabilities. When a mainstream child goes for riding lessons, for example, they usually spend a day or two learning about horses, how to walk around them, how to approach them, how to brush them and groom them, and then how to saddle them and prepare for riding. Once they have learned these tasks, they are placed on the horse and either in a ring with the instructor holding a lead line that is attached to the horse, or without a line, they are taught how to sit and hold the reins and communicate with the horse to get it to walk, and then later to go faster. If the kids are going to a "trail ride" place, where trail horses are used to give people guided rides, they are usually put on the horse and allowed to ride by themselves.
Contrast this to therapeutic riding for kids with disabilities: They may or may not be given an opportunity to pet and greet the horse. Then they are placed on the horse with someone walking next to them on each side, and one person out front, leading the horse. They are then led around the ring in circles; sometimes they do therapeutic games like opening mail boxes or "picking apples." Then they are taken off the horse until they come back next time. It is assumed that because a child is disabled, he or she is not capable of approaching horses the way the rest of us are - maybe out of fear of injury, or out of lack of confidence, or whatever - but the fact is, in general, their experience with horses is very far removed from those of children without disabilities.
There are a few centers in the US that have started using a more hands on approach, but at this time, they are still few and far between. I know from my experience with my son and other children with autism that he is very capable of learning how to "be" with a horse. The teaching is different, the approach is different, but the end result is that children with autism are, in most cases, perfectly capable of learning to ride and care for a horse, and horses make excellent healers. It is a match made in heaven.
As to the second question, the reason that Jake's Place will be a for profit enterprise is pretty straight forward. Children with Autism have parents, and those parents are usually realllly stressed and realllyyy tired. It is rare that we have regular baby sitters and get out on our own on a regular basis, so it is important to me that when a parent brings their child to Jake's Place for their lesson, we have a first rate facility in place for the parent to relax. For the hour that they are at our ranch, I want those parents to be sitting back with their feet up, enjoying soft music and smelling good smells and snacking and relaxing and destressing. I do not want to have to justify to any entity - and especially the US Government - why my NPO horse center has a lush and plush lounge with state of the art electronics and gurgling fountains. And really, I know that there is only so much grant money to go around, so many NPO funds to go around, and I am confident we can operate on a for profit basis and with the help of the Lord and contributions from caring angels, we will be just fine.
If you're interested in helping Jake's Place, please visit our store, where you will find some great swag, or feel Free to make a non-tax deductible donation! Any little bit helps, and we appreciate every penny that comes in!
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