Turning Point Ranch Association

As a Premier Accredited PATH International center, we are dedicated to serving our community by providing services that will enable those with physical, emotional, or behavioral disabilities develop and maintain the skills necessary to live and work in our community through therapeutic horsemanship.

While under their parents' or guardians' care, we provide services that help individuals prepare for life. It is after graduation, or aging out of the educational system, that we strive to develop skills to help them gain and hold jobs where they may have been overlooked because of their diagnoses. We focus on ability and help our participants develop portfolios to show what they do well and can contribute,
"Horses Building Futures" is not just a tagline. It is our mission.

We perform equine assisted activities in five specific areas:
1. Therapeutic horsemanship - We provide recreation, horsemanship skills and extracuricular life skills to Special Education students at the Middle School, Junior High and High School level plus private clients.

2. HorseTales Literacy - We conduct an annual literacy program with first graders at a Title One Elementary school. The students- many of whom do not speak English at home- are given two books and the opportunity to read them to horses during a field trip that touches all the senses and includes visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning at short intervals suited to first graders.

3. Mobile Mini Programming - We take our mini horse to nursing homes in a program to address mobility and communications in dementia patients and to community events.

4. At Risk Youth - We offer unmounted leadership activities to foster care, domestic violence & youth shelter residents plus alternative school students.

5.Academic enrichment to OSU majors - We have executed agreements with several OSU academic departments to provide training and opportunities for OSU students in majors from Special Education to Developmental Disabilities to Non-profit Management to Pre-Vet to obtain hands-on experience relating to their classroom materials.

Our center is Premier Accredited under the standards of the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International/PATH, one of 262 out of 877 PATH Int'l centers worldwide. Every one of our instructors is also PATH certified.

Our facility includes a newly renovated barn/education center on 22 acres with stalls for each of 11 horses. There is a sensory trall, an indoor equine activity area for unmounted activities and a climate controlled classroom for tactile activities and video instruction plus private meetings. We are located minutes from the campus of Oklahoma State University - the source of volunteers who earn academic and service credits for their experiences working with our clients.

We are completing an enclosed arena that significantly increases our ability to provide services no matter the weather and for larger groups and a wider array of programming.

In addition, we are able to take our mini horses to community events and locations throughout the year.

As many individuals with disabilities learn dependence, our goal is to peel away support and foster independence. In 2015, most of our riders required a horse leader and two sidewalkers for support. Only 30% could ride independently even at a walk. In 2022, 70% can ride independently and will enter higher levels of competition at Special Olympics Equestrian in Fall 2022.

60% of our riders were considered non-verbal in 2015 but as we continue to emphasize life skills, only three could be considered non-verbal today and ALL participate in games that require planning and decision-making- often to the shock of their teachers and parents.

We have implemented a Portfolio Project that allows special education interns through a transition partnership with the High School to capture their specific strengths and skills in order to find jobs or volunteer positions in our community after they graduate.

We also expanded our partnership with the Stillwater Schools to include elementary school age riders and students from the Lincoln Academy Alternative School.
Overall, ridership DOUBLED in 2021.