History

EQUI-KIDS Therapeutic Riding Program was established in 1989 to offer horseback riding lessons to individuals with mental and physical disabling conditions such as Down syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and Learning Disabilities. Barbara S. Ford founded the program with only one pony and six riders. Ms. Ford recognized that through equine activities, the challenged rider could develop self-awareness, self-confidence and improve their concentration. Therapeutic riding also offers physical benefits such as muscle strengthening and stretching and increases fine motor skills. The horse provides the challenged rider with a feeling of freedom and independence that may be limited in their everyday life.

Today EQUI-KIDS is a Premier Accredited Center through the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association that accredits nearly 600 programs in the country that offer services to over 27,000 individuals.

Currently located on a 30-acres, tree-lined farm that is leased to us by the Bosher Family owners of Brookgreen Farm and their daughter, Kitty Herz.

EQUI-KIDS is one of the largest therapeutic programs in Virginia and the only one in the Hampton Roads region to provide year-round services.

Our current program includes 14 horses and ponies and serves between 70-80 riders weekly. Presently we have over 350 interested individuals on a program waiting list. However, Ms. Ford's goal remains the same: Put a rider with a disability on a horse and they forget it is therapy.

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Origins

We can trace the relationship between horses and physical therapy back to the ancient Greek, Aescalpius, the first physician and teacher of medicine. However, in modern times we look to the accomplishments of Madame Liz Hartel of Denmark, who was stricken with polio and rehabilitated herself from a wheelchair to horseback, winning the Silver Medal for Grand Prix Dressage at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952. The next major development in therapeutic riding came in 1958 in England, when the first ever purposely-built indoor arena for the disabled was established.

Therapeutic riding came to the North American Continent in the 1960s in Canada and later found its way to the first US program in Michigan in the mid 1960s. This later program laid the groundwork for what we now call the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association or NARHA.