HEALING WITH HORSES RANCH
where horses heal,... body, mind, and soul!
Programs and results
What we aim to solve
Healing with Horses Ranch is a 501(c)(3) equine-facilitated therapy center that promotes increase independence and resilience through the power of the horse. By creating space for healthy relationships between horses and humans, we help students learn life skills in a safe, inclusive environment. We don’t want to just touch lives, we want to change lives. Healing with Horses Ranch was founded in 2011 as a Professional Association for Therapeutic Horsemanship, International (PATH, Intl) member center by Patty D’Andrea, a PATH Intl Advanced Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor and Certified Equine Specialist. In 2018, we became a PATH Intl Premier Accredited Center. We are based in Austin, TX, and serve South East Austin, Travis and Bastrop Counties, and surrounding areas.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Adaptive Riding
Through our Adaptive Riding (AR) program students with physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges improve independence and functional life skills all while learning to ride. The rhythmic, three-dimensional and symmetrical movement of the horse provides physical benefits, and the connection and communication with both the horse and the community of the ranch foster social skills, emotional management, self-awareness, sensory integration, language skills and more. It is a fun, safe, and social environment, centered around interaction with the horse.
Veterans Helping Veterans
Our Veterans Helping Veterans program is a weekly group session that uses strategies from our Adaptive Riding and Equine Assisted Learning program to aid veterans, of all kinds, develop better communication and coping skills through horsemanship and horseback riding. The goal of this program is to strengthen veterans relationships with family, friends, and their community. This program is free program for all veterans and active duty military.
Equine Assisted Learning
Our Equine-Assisted Learning (EAL) program is an experiential learning program that promotes the development of life skills for educational, professional and personal growth through equine-assisted activities. With a focus on veterans and at-risk individuals, EFL creates an environment for creating new toolsets for individuals to overcome challenges in the day-to-day.
Equine Assisted Counseling
Equine Assisted Counseling (EAC) is an interactive process in which a licensed mental health professional working with a PATH Certified Equine Specialist and suitable equine(s) to address psychotherapy goals set forth by the mental health professional and the client. These sessions can be individual sessions, group sessions, or family sessions that focus on various aspects of mental and psychological wellness.
Where we work
Affiliations & memberships
PATH Intl. 2012
External reviews

Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Number of students enrolled
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Children and youth, Adults, People with disabilities, Veterans, Emergency responders
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Due to the 2020 Pandemic, Healing with Horses Ranch had to lower overall capacity to continue to provide safe access to therapeutic equestrian services.
Number of volunteers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Goals & Strategy
Reports and documents
Download strategic planLearn 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?
Our mission is to promote resilience and independence in mind, body, and soul through the power of the horse. We don’t want to just touch lives, we want to change lives.
We strive to offer the highest standard for equine-facilitated therapy that, in turn, impacts the holistic health of the surrounding community.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
Healing with Horses Ranch is a Premier Professional Association for Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH Intl) center and our instructors are PATH Intl certified riding instructors, equine specialist, and/or mental health professionals. We are one of ~250 PATH Premier centers globally which means PATH has audited our business processes and approved us to train others.
Our Program Director and founder is an Advance Level Certified PATH Intl instructor and Equine Specialist. She is a life long horse person with over 20 years experience with therapeutic riding. She also mentors numerous upcoming instructors playing a key role in their PATH certification.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Healing with Horses Ranch is located on 43 wooded acres just 20 minutes from downtown Austin TX. We have a staff of 20 horse and 15 humans primarily PATH certified instructors and mental health professions.
Over the last 8 years we had 5000+ individual volunteer at the ranch with ~ 200 of them currently involved in recurring volunteer activities supporting client lessons and facility maintenance.
We have 15 amazing volunteer board members who are very engaged in helping us with fundraising and governing.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
We are amazed as how far we've come in 8 years! Healing with Horses Ranch started in 2012 with 3 horses, 3 clients, a handful of volunteer, one volunteer staff member and a property that even lacked perimeter fencing.
We now serve over 100 clients each week, have a heard of 20 horses, a paid staff of 15, ~200 recurring volunteers, property that includes permanent fencing, a 120' x 120' covered arena, and 15 stalls. In addition, we are a PATH Premier Center, partnered with a local addiction recovery center, regularly mentor upcoming instructors.
This past year we also hired dedicated admin staff including full time development and volunteer directors.
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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Who are the people you serve with your mission?
Healing with Horses Ranch is a 501(c)(3) non-profit equine-facilitated learning and therapy center that promotes increased independence and resilience through the power of the horse. By creating space for healthy relationships between horses and humans, we help students learn life skills in a safe, inclusive environment. We want to change lives, not just touch lives. The equine is at the center of everything we do. They are the true teachers for each of our services, which include Adaptive Riding, Equine-Facilitated Learning, and Equine-Facilitated Psychotherapy. Each of our evidence-based programs allows us to address challenges experienced by at-risk individuals, veterans, and people with disabilities with a trauma-informed approach.
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How is your organization using feedback from the people you serve?
To identify and remedy poor client service experiences, 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 look for patterns in feedback based on people’s interactions with us (e.g., site, frequency of service, etc.), We act on the feedback we receive
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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
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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- Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations
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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.
HEALING WITH HORSES RANCH
Board of directorsas of 02/24/2023
Alexa Ball
Matt Nail
Chris Baker
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 ? No -
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
Organizational demographics
Who works and leads organizations that serve our diverse communities? Candid partnered with CHANGE Philanthropy on this demographic section.
Leadership
The organization's leader identifies as:
The organization's co-leader identifies as:
Race & ethnicity
No data
Gender identity
No data
No data
Sexual orientation
No data
Disability
No data