Executive Summary
By creating a safe and comfortable environment, the Zia Ranch Horsemanship Program wishes to offer local individuals the ability to interact and learn through horsemanship. The program will provide an educational backdrop for equine assisted activities, as well as therapeutic riding for individuals with physical, social, emotional, and/or developmental struggles. This program also promotes Ecotherapy, encouraging our participants to enjoy the natural wonders around them.
The Zia Ranch Horsemanship Program would like to offer a world of encouragement and challenges to those people who feel they can be bettered by an equine experience. We offer a program set in nature, where trust, patience, and self-esteem can be nurtured and people can accomplish more than they ever imagined.
Mission Statement
Zia Ranch Horsemanship Program is dedicated to improving the physical and emotional well-being of equine students by providing therapeutic horsemanship, traditional horsemanship and eco-therapy programs.
The Business
Business Description
The Zia Ranch will strive to provide a safe, healthy, and natural environment, conducive to learning and growing, and will tender the relationships between humans and animals in order to achieve self-fulfillment. The program will work to provide recreational and educational opportunities to any child or adult with any physical, emotional, mental, or developmental challenge. We will provide an experience that is not only enriching for the rider, but for the whole family.
It is this program’s belief that horsemanship is therapeutic and beneficial in many aspects, and all stages of life. We believe, to our core, that the combination of horsemanship and Ecotherapy can enhance day-to-day life and help individuals fulfill their dreams, through exercise, endurance, and patience.
Our horses and volunteers are more important to this organization than anything else. It really is incredible to watch a horse and rider work together to better each other, and we hope to offer this to as many walks of life as possible. Without the help and dedication of our volunteers, this program would simply not be possible.
We are committed to making a difference in people’s lives, and we plan to start by letting people experience our wonderful animals at the Zia Ranch. We are an organization dedicated to helping people understand and appreciate not only horses, but nature, and natural life in general. We offer many different animals for students and family to interact with, and we wish to create the best healing and growing environment that we can.
We are dedicated to changing with our clients to constantly improve the Ranch. We hope that we can offer students something different; something that they can’t get from any ol’ ranch. We want to be the best at what we do, and we need your help to be able to do it. Without generosity, we would not be able to take this journey, and we sincerely thank anyone and everyone involved.
Marketing
We hope to develop a strong base to keep our organization afloat through generous donations from local businesses and citizens. An initial letter, introducing our program, will be hand delivered to local businesses. We also plan on hosting barbeques and “hang time” with our animals in order to get the word out and raise funds.
Marketing will be done through social networking sites, such as Facebook, in order to broaden our reach. We will also be working with other non-profit organizations, such as High Hurdles Horsemanship Program, and ranches like the KWIK Ranch in Herald, California, to better serve our students and their families.
We will also continually visit local businesses in order to update them and keep them involved with our program. We have hopes to grow this program, and make it the best that it can be. And we believe that comes with support from our local community.
Competition
There are several other local programs that offer a variation of what we are trying to do. The program that is most similar to ours is called Rhapsody Ranch. There is also another program, KC Riding Academy, which has been around for years, but is mostly a child and summer camp program.
Rhapsody Ranch is a program also specializing in equine therapy. They do everything at their ranch for free, and take on large groups, not individuals. It is a facility located just down the road from us, and they happen to be right on the railroad tracks. It is a gravel lot with sparse vegetation. The program is also religion-based, and we will be running a secular program. The property does have a quality barn and the advantage of a covered arena, but it lacks the comfort that ours can offer.
KC Riding Academy is, honestly, a sad display of horsemanship. It is a property covered in wired fence and mud. They host a summer camp and all I have seen in the shape of hospitality is a picnic table and one umbrella. They have little shade to speak of and the property is in disrepair. This program does have a name within the community, and is currently the go-to program for Brentwood Parks & Recreation.
We, as a program, will not be trying to take any business from these other programs. We are simply trying to bring in a new demographic and would like to encourage the other centers to work with us so that we can offer the best community-based programs in our area. The town of Knightsen, where Zia Ranch is located, is slowly gaining a reputation as a wholesome, country town, and we would love to capitalize on that.
Therapeutic Horsemanship
Therapeutic Horsemanship
Therapeutic Horsemanship was established in Germany in the 1960’s as an actual way to help patients with orthopedic disorders. A physician and a physical therapist would work together with an instructor and a specially trained horse in order to help each patient. The team worked with the patient for one year, and focused on increasing strength and addressing the disorder. After one year, the patient was discharged. This was later given the title of “Hippotherapy.” It is named so, as the first mention of such an activity was found in the ancient Greek writings of Hippocrates.
The first standardized Hippotherapy curriculum was established in the late 1980’s by a group of Canadian and American therapists after a trip to Germany. By 1992, the American Hippotherapy Association (AHA) was formed.
Benefits of Therapeutic Horsemanship
Benefits from therapeutic horsemanship vary from person to person. The benefits can range from decreasing depression and anxiety, to increasing flexibility, balance, and confidence. In this program’s opinion, everyone has a certain area in life that could be strengthened through equine therapy.
Equine assisted activities have been shown to help people with emotional problems, physical limitations, and developmental delays. Individuals with emotional problems, such as emotional disturbance, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, excessive fear, and even control issues, can gain something though equine therapy. Individuals with physical challenges such as Spina Bifida, Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, Paraplegia, Quadriplegia, Down Syndrome, Multiple Sclerosis, and many limitations resulting from brain injury can also experience improvement through this specialized therapy. Lastly, developmental delays such as Autism, Attention Deficit Disorder, Hyperactivity, Mental retardation, and other cognitive challenges have been bettered through many equine programs.
Here, at the Zia Ranch Horsemanship Program, we believe that most people in this world can benefit from experiencing a side of animals and nature that they are not accustomed to. We intend to make this experience attainable to as many people as possible. Being outdoors, experiencing wildlife, and socializing with animals brings a richness to life that no one can afford to live without.
Operating Procedures
Student Eligibility
The following should be considered prior to a student being accepted into the Zia Ranch Horsemanship Program. The following criteria will also be considered during the annual review process for currently enrolled students and at any time concerns regarding participation may arise.
1. Students will be considered for participation only if their medical, physical, and/or psychosocial condition is acceptable in accordance with the precautions and contraindications guidelines as defined by North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA).
2. Students must be approved for riding through a New Rider Evaluation conducted by the Zia Ranch Horsemanship Program Director and/or Head Instructor. Any concerns that may pose a safety risk for the rider, personnel, and/or the horses, may be grounds for disqualification from participation.
3. Students must have all forms completed and reviewed prior to participation. In addition, all forms must be updated and reviewed annually.
4. Students must be at least four years of age to participate.
5. Students may participate only if fees are paid in accordance with scheduled due dates.
6. Students are allowed to participate only if there is an adequate number of staff and volunteers to safely and effectively serve them.
7. Students will only be allowed to participate if their body weight is 20% or less that that of an available and capable horse. Students may further be assessed for exclusion if their size causes concern for safety of the horse, student, staff and/or volunteers, for example, in the event of an emergency dismount.
8. Students are allowed to participate only if there is a horse of suitable size, temperament, and strength available for them to ride.
9. Students will be assessed to ensure that their attitude and behavior is of sufficient control to insure their safety and that of the staff, volunteers, and horses.
10. Students will be assessed to determine if there are adequate facility and equipment available to safely meet their needs.
11. Students will be included as financial support and/or course enrollment will allow.
12. Students will be enrolled for one session. Further enrollment in the program will be determined on an individualized basis by the Program Director, Instructor, and/or consulting therapist. Further factors influencing length of participation may include: until such time that the student no longer meets program criteria for eligibility, student has been referred for inclusion in a higher functioning or more able bodied program, or the student has not demonstrated progression in the Zia Ranch Horsemanship Program.
Company Ownership
The Zia Ranch Horsemanship Program will be held in a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Corporation. The land will be leased from James and Debra Ewing at 2340 Sunset Road in Knightsen, California. The mailing address is Brentwood, California. The lease will be a two year lease. After the lease is up, a year-to-year lease will take place.
Services
The Zia Ranch Horsemanship Program, Inc. will offer three different programs working together as one. The whole program will consist of a Therapeutic Riding Program, a Traditional Riding Program and an Ecotherapy Program. In general, each student will either participate in the Therapeutic or Traditional Riding Program, along with the Ecotherapy Program. Lessons will be roughly 60 minutes long, with 15 minutes of Ecotherapy in either the beginning of the lesson, or at the end.
Therapeutic Riding Program
The Therapeutic Riding Program will offer individuals with different physical and emotional struggles an opportunity to bond with animals and improve balance, confidence, flexibility, endurance, and many other aspects. Each student will be evaluated and lesson structure will be developed.
Students, with help from a volunteer, will groom and saddle their own horse. That volunteer will then become the “leader” and will lead the horse and stay with each student through out the whole lesson. All students will also have “sidewalkers.” A sidewalker’s job is to steady the child by whatever hold is deemed appropriate (thigh hold, ankle hold, etc.). Some students may need a sidewalker on both sides of the horse, while others may need just one, or under rare circumstances, none at all. The sidewalkers are simply there for safety. This is why the evaluation process is so important.
Each student will have a lesson plan developed for them, and will be evaluated after each lesson and session. Records will be kept to determine a student’s growth and the best paths for them in the future.
Traditional Riding Program
The Traditional Riding Program will be a little different than the Therapeutic Program. Students will be evaluated to determine the best path for success, but any leaders or sidewalkers involved when the student is new, will slowly be phased out. This program is meant to teach responsibility and self-confidence, as well as educate participants on the wide world of horses, and any person effecting another student’s growth will not be tolerated.
Students will be educated on the different types of riding and will be encouraged to try different styles, and decide for themselves which direction they would like to go. All students will be encouraged to participate in the riding portion and the Ecotherapy portion of the program, but it will ultimately be the student and/or parent or guardians decision as to what students will participate in.
Ecotherapy
Ecotherapy is a relatively new concept and is about simplifying our lives and getting back to the basics: nature. Up until roughly 100 years ago, and for some people, fewer than that, connecting with nature used to be a way of life. You had to be in nature in order to survive. You had to grow and gather your own food and water, and this all came from the land. Over the last century, our dependency on nature has not lessened, it has merely changed. Now we get our food from the grocery store chain that we drive to, and water always comes out of the faucet. Always. We no longer need to cultivate our own crops, but we do need to feel the sun on our face and the breeze on our skin.
There are many different definitions of Ecotherapy, and they are all correct. Ecotherapy, in the eyes of Zia Ranch Horsemanship Program, is a way of promoting physical and mental health through the use of nature. It’s a very simple concept, but also a very powerful one.
A 2007 University of Essex study found that a walk in the country reduces depression in 71% of participants. They also found that as little as 5 minutes in a natural setting, whether walking in a park or gardening, improves mood, self-esteem, and motivation. Some scholars have theorized that regular doses of Ecotherapy can be as beneficial as taking anti-depressants, for those with mild to moderate depression.
Ecotherapy is an option for every participant, and is included as 25% of any lesson, unless other arrangements have been made. It can also be a program of it’s own. Some participants may only be interested in Ecotherapy and time slots will be scheduled and paid just like the riding programs.