Ride On St. Louis
Love, Strength & Joy
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Therapy
Our therapy department employs licensed physical and occupational therapists who treat clients on an individual basis. A client’s treatment strategy includes hippotherapy or equine movement for core strengthening, motor control, balance reactions and developmental sequencing that demand constant sensory input and modulation/integration of this input. The combination of movements serves to facilitate postural and motor control reactions in clients with mild to severe impairments or multiple disabilities. Our therapists work with each client to evaluate and modify the client’s response to achieve functional goals.
*Suspended during COVID-19 and center relocation
Adaptive Riding
Students are encouraged to perform horsemanship activities directed toward functional goals. Partaking in various activities offers stimulation to muscle groups they may not utilize, problem solving, increased communication opportunities and social and sensory integration. These sessions incorporate horsemanship skills, which can be on the ground and/or mounted activities in a private class or small groups of two to three students. Lessons consist of a wide variety of cognitive and physical games, challenges and sequencing that are created by our therapeutic riding instructors, with information offered by parents, social workers or teachers, for the rider’s individual needs.
*Suspended during COVID-19 and center relocation
Sports Riding
The sports riding classes instruct and condition individuals to be true equestrians and embrace all aspects of the equine world. Riders work toward knowledge in their ability to care, groom, tack, ground handle, warm-up and or ride horses.
Equine Services for Heroes
The program accommodates service members who have been injured and strives to nurture the mind and body through both the physically healing movement of the horse and emotional interaction. Lesson components may consist of a variety of activities both on and off the horse.
Sensational Summer Camp
Sensational Summer Camp is an inclusive day camp open to new participants, current clients, those with developmental, physical or cognitive challenges, as well as able-bodied children who are interested in riding and learning about horses in a welcoming and positive environment! Siblings and friends are welcomed and encouraged to attend. During camp, campers will utilize all of their senses to explore the sight, sound, smell, taste, touch and movement that is inherent to learning about horsemanship. All camp activities are designed to be inclusive and collaborative to facilitate socialization with peers and development of skills in a safe environment.
*Suspended during COVID-19 and center relocation
Unmounted Activities
Clients engage in activities that support comprehensive care and handling of equines and activities that are necessary and useful regarding safety procedures for equine interaction. Lessons address equine behavior, communication, grooming, equipment, leading, health, handling and overall basic equine management.
Barn Buddies
The Ride On St. Louis Barn Buddies program is a unique skills program providing in-depth equine education, hands-on application and accountability for people with disabilities, health-related obstacles or hardships. Qualified applicants are interested in learning about stable and equine management in a positive and professional environment. The program focuses on vocational skills inherent to the equine industry and includes study and performance in husbandry, handling, grooming, sanitation management, first aid, record keeping and team management skills. The program addresses, relates and achieves personal goals relevant to skill development, accident/injury recovery and coping, and/or emotional, cognitive, physical or behavioral improvements, while producing confident individuals knowledgeable in equine care who may independently complete daily equine feed and sanitation requirements at Ride On St. Louis.
Virtual Service
Ride On St. Louis’s virtual program combats the day’s doldrums, chases away adverse health risks associated with loneliness/isolation, and brings back social life by providing opportunity for communication, self-discovery, and revitalization of the mind and body, and improvements in caregiver morale, attitude and connectedness. Ride On St. Louis’s program utilizes live “face-to-face” video that connects Ride On St. Louis staff and horses to caregivers and peoplewho are non-ambulatory and have medically complex disabilities.
Always Home
Our equine partners are the reason hundreds of people have found happiness, health and healing in life. Always Home is dedicated to the welfare of our retired equine partners. This program provides premier full care retirement for our equines who have ended their career in the field of equine assisted services. Our combined knowledge and the right balance between natural living conditions and controlled environments provides the highest quality atmosphere for the physical and mental well-being of our retirees as they live out their days, always home. Ride On St. Louis supports and protects our equines with a highly informed perspective and a knowledgeable team of experts that always puts the welfare of equines above convenience or commercial interests, while remaining fiscally judicious.
Where we work
Awards
Stellar Performer 2006
Variety-Childrens Charity
Voice of Caring Partner 2007
CBS-KMOX
Extraordinary Disability Ministry Award 2006
ST. Louis Archdiocese
Charity Giving Seal for Wise Giving Standards 2008
Better Business Bureau
Region 7 Volunteer of the Year - Jeanne Johnson 2018
PATH Intl.
External reviews
Photos
Videos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of clients receiving free care services or financial assistance
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with disabilities, Adolescents, Caregivers, People with diseases and illnesses
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Clients receiving direct or third party financial assistance funded by private donations and foundation grants.
Number of volunteers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults, Adolescents, Preteens
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Decreasing
Context Notes
Individuals who logged program, administrative or fundraising volunteer hours
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with disabilities, Children and youth, Caregivers, Economically disadvantaged people
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Includes regular program participants and one time special event participants
Number of staff members certified in subject area training
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Decreasing
Context Notes
Staff holding certification or credentialing through PATH, AHA or the State of MO.
Number of training programs created
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adults
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Holding steady
Number of new clients within the past 12 months
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with disabilities, Children and youth, Caregivers, Economically disadvantaged people
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Our Sustainable Development Goals
Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.
Goals & Strategy
Learn about the organization's key goals, strategies, capabilities, and progress.
Charting impact
Four powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.
What is the organization aiming to accomplish?
It is a goal of Ride On St. Louis that each participant make sustaining quality of life improvements. Each client enters with different needs and expectations. These range from very specific (strengthening muscles to achieve independent sitting) to bridging goals in other areas of life (taking an important step in overcoming a fear or learning how to ride a bicycle). It is a goal of Ride On St. Louis that each client makes at least one an incremental and sustaining improvement in his or her quality of life.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Ride On St. Louis is a member of the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH) of the American Hippotherapy Association (AHA). Our facility meets the highest standards and guidelines for the highest quality of care, professional service and safety. Our instructors are state-licensed therapists, PATH certified and/or registered with the AHA. All instructors are current with CPR and First Aid and meet or exceed their requirements of continuing education hours. Ride On St. Louis also adheres to the twenty Standards of Charitable Accountability as outlined by the Better Business Bureau, earning us the privilege of few, to display the BBB Wise Giving Seal.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Ride On St. Louis utilizes the efforts and expertise of knowledgeable staff and partners. Our programs are designed to reach each client individually to achieve the greatest results. Our approach to equine assisted services through customized procedures pursues physical, cognitive, emotional, social and/or spiritual developments and achievements important to our clients and their families— whether that is overcoming depression, improving core strength to control incontinency, repairing relationships, rewiring gait patterns to become more mobile, improving mental capacity, bettering job skills— responding to our client’s unmet needs is our foremost concern.
Our equines are specially selected and trained to work with people with disabilities. We recognize each horse’s individuality, strengths, needs, likes/dislikes, and desires when inviting them to contribute to our health programs. Our centers aims to provide each equine with the consistency of a well-run program that will extend his career, keep him healthy, useful and loved, healthy interaction with a closed herd of dynamic equines, affection and positive energy from daily interaction from staff, clients and trained volunteers, professional management, exercise, training, rehabilitation and medical attention.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Ride On St. Louis was founded in 1998 by Rick and Marita Wassman on their three-acre private residence in the Oakville area of South Saint Louis County as a response to community need. Ride On St. Louis became the first equine-assisted services center to serve the St. Louis County area. From their first summer camp program in 1998, their programs delivered un-duplicated services that achieved successful and meaningful health and quality of life improvements for children and adults with disabilities, and Ride On St. Louis immediately amassed a considerable waiting list. The Wassman’s were beginning to outgrow the resources of their private home residence, located on three acres in Oakville, Missouri as the programs continued to flourish. In 2002 Ride On St. Louis entered a philanthropic lease on estate grounds, just 15 minutes south. Ride On St. Louis has grown into one of the finest equine-assisted services centers in the Midwest. From 2013-2017 the center had been devastated by frequent flooding, which was disruptive to services for months at a time, and required hundreds of hours of laborious repairs after each event. In 2018, Ride On St. Louis exited in pursuit of a new flood-free home and continues to operate in Cedar Hill, MO. This essential relocation will resolve costly recurrent damages to the facility and grounds, and ensure continuous, uninterrupted service for people of all ages with disabilities and health related challenges.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, To identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, To make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, To inform the development of new programs/projects, To strengthen relationships with the people we serve, To understand people's needs and how we can help them achieve their goals
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Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We collect feedback from the people we serve at least annually, We aim to collect feedback from as many people we serve as possible, We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, We engage the people who provide feedback in looking for ways we can improve in response, We act on the feedback we receive, We tell the people who gave us feedback how we acted on their feedback
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What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?
It is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection, Staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time
Financials
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Operations
The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.
Connect with nonprofit leaders
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- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
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Connect with nonprofit leaders
SubscribeBuild relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.
- Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.
Ride On St. Louis
Board of directorsas of 01/18/2024
Dominic Lampasi
Marita Wassman
Ride On St. Louis
Dominic Lampasi
CBS Corporation
Keith O'Connell
Wells Fargo Advisors
Diane Eagan
David Goetz
Board leadership practices
GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.
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Board orientation and education
Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes -
Ethics and transparency
Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes -
Board composition
Does the board ensure an inclusive board member recruitment process that results in diversity of thought and leadership? Yes -
Board performance
Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes