Programs and results
What we aim to solve
People with disabilities all too often are unable to reach their maximum capabilities. For some it is their physical limitation that delays them. For many others it is the societal stigma. At Dream Catcher Stables, by teaching horsemanship, we develop the entire person. Physically they exercise every muscle and nerve ending in their body. Emotionally they learn to love and in turn are loved by the horses. Interaction with volunteers allows everyone to understand capabilities and hidden talents. Our people with disabilities are accepted as people first. Perhaps most importantly of all, after improved self-esteem, is the ability to critically think. With the ability to critically think comes an entire avenue of opportunities -- asking questions, sharing thoughts, exploring possibilities -- that lead to productive adult lives.
Our programs
What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?
Horsemanship for people with disabilities
Formal and informal lessons where youth age 5 and up and adults with disabilities learn to ride and care for horses to the extent that they are able. Where appropriate lessons and this program are tied to academic subjects.
Education to Work
Partnered with Humble ISD Mosaic program, 19-22 year old students with disabilities volunteer at Dream Catcher Stables Inc learning how to care for horses while better understanding the world of work. Pilot in 21-22 school year - all 8 students found jobs with one of them interning in the horse world. Year 22-23 program expanded to include two additional classrooms one of which is behavioral students.
Where we work
Awards
Horse of the Year 2008
Certified Horsemanship Association
Horse of the Year 2019
Certified Horsemanship Association
Volunteer of the Year 2016
Certified Horsemanship Association
Affiliations & memberships
Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International 1999
American Quarter Horse Association 2013
Arabian Horse Association 2017
Certified Horsemanship Association 1999
Equus Foundation 2013
Better Business Bureau charity status 2022
External reviews

Photos
Our results
How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.
Evaluation documents
Download evaluation reportsNumber of new donors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with disabilities
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
In 2020 actual donor numbers decreased by 19%. All fundraising was by word of mouth and loyal donors. Covid-19 severely limited amounts.
Average number of dollars given by new donors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with disabilities
Related Program
Horsemanship for people with disabilities
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We gained donors who give monthly.
Number of overall donors
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with disabilities
Related Program
Horsemanship for people with disabilities
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Donors followed us through newsletters and Facebook. Our teen advisory board manages our Instagram account. Families of athletes are helping more, financially.
Number of participants reporting change in behavior or cessation of activity
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with disabilities
Related Program
Horsemanship for people with disabilities
Type of Metric
Outcome - describing the effects on people or issues
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of youth service participants who have involvement in juvenile justice system
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
Adolescents
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Youth required to complete court ordered community service. This program reopened in part because of encouragement by the court and in part because the insurance company now understood the need.
Number of clients served
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with disabilities
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We call them athletes or participants, never clients at our facility. With a behavioral residential placement seeking our services numbers served increased.
Number of public events held to further mission
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with disabilities
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
With our Certificate of Occupancy in hand we publicly celebrated our 23rd birthday.
Number of volunteers
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with disabilities
Related Program
Horsemanship for people with disabilities
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
In 2022 18 volunteers contributed 80% of the volunteer hours.
Number of hours volunteers give.
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with disabilities
Related Program
Horsemanship for people with disabilities
Type of Metric
Input - describing resources we use
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
Volunteers cared for the horses, helped with facility maintenance, and with lessons.
Number of external speaking requests for members of the organization
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with disabilities
Related Program
Horsemanship for people with disabilities
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Number of lessons taught
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with disabilities
Related Program
Horsemanship for people with disabilities
Type of Metric
Output - describing our activities and reach
Direction of Success
Increasing
Context Notes
We surpassed our all time high in spite of 3 months of too hot weather and a number of rainy or too cold days.
Number of press articles published
This metric is no longer tracked.Totals By Year
Population(s) Served
People with disabilities
Related Program
Horsemanship for people with disabilities
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?
We have four immediate goals.
1) Continue our program which is currently weather dependent increasing services by 10% over 2021.
2) Secure a permanent home. Our grazing license on 22+ acres owned by the City of Houston and Bush Intercontinental Airport ends November 8, 2028.
3) To meet our needs with fundraising - Immediately efforts are underway to secure the remainder of the 2022 budget and obtain funds to pay off our EIDL loan. Efforts will continue to locate and fund our forever home. Expectation is that we will need to raise $5,000,000. Everyone can help. We continue aluminum can collection with a goal of 80,000,000 cans to fund purchase of that forever home while helping save the environment.
4) Complete Accreditation with GFAS (Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries by September 30, 2022.
5) Accredit our program with Certified Horsemanship Association by December 31, 2023.
6) Extend and enhance the current Cambridge Mosaic program through school year 2022-2023.
7) Pilot a behavioral weekday program in school year 2022-2023 with the goal of full behavioral weekday program launching in school year 2023-2024. This wrangler program will assist local school districts in redirecting students from behavioral to regular campus life.
What are the organization's key strategies for making this happen?
To achieve our goals we will:
1) Continue our in-house capital campaign including aluminum can recycling and GoFundMe launched by our Teen Advisory Board.
2) Continue to improve our Social Media presence as launched by our Social Media Committee in January 2022.
3) Build on marketing provided by Tx Elite and Pit Row Pit Stop to fund 2022 and build program.
4) Continue to identify and approach potential donors and work toward acquisition of major capital grants.
5) Work to improve our board and provide consistent training for new board members and all volunteers as we settle into our current facility.
6) Assess and review pilot projects currently underway with Humble ISD Mosaic program and Spring High School Agriculture internship program.
7) Refine the pilot project plans and present to targeted districts for their approval during the 2023-2024 school year.
8) Continue to expand current programming to return to pre-covid levels.
9) Add virtual workshop capability for volunteer training.
10) Work toward the ultimate goal of a permanent program home by November 8, 2028. Expected cost of property $5,000,000. Expected time to complete facility if non-existent 2 years from time of acquisition.
What are the organization's capabilities for doing this?
Our all volunteer public charity has the ability to
1) Continue to market through VolunteerMatch.org
2) Allow volunteers to select the time and extent to which they commit ensuring that volunteers remain/become enthusiastic about and dedicated to our mission.
3) Succeed on a minimal budget through careful shopping and a variety of in-kind donations (a large number of which are made anonymously or without documentation to us)
4) Serve people regardless of ability to pay. Athlete families now are beginning to "pay it forward" in order to ensure that this successful program will always be here for them. Since Covid began they contribute approximately 25% of our annual budget yearly.
4) Sustain itself demonstrated by completion of our 23rd year and continual growth of participants and volunteers without formal marketing.
5) Provide personal growth for everyone involved.
6) Expand our presence on social media and in the community with the help of our Board of Directors, Social Media Committee, and continuing word of mouth marketing.
7) Reach further to garner additional sustaining donors.
8) A Founder and President with a never give up attitude.
9) Continual planning, teaching, and encouraging of individual volunteers with a goal of developing a group of proteges to eventually redistribute the administrative and program duties currently completed by our founder.
10) Trainings for volunteers as future CHA instructors expected to begin Summer 2022.
11) In 2021 we began a Teen Advisory Board with it's first president setting a personal goal of becoming our program director for life.
What have they accomplished so far and what's next?
Celebrating completion of 23 years of program on August 23, 2022, we:
1) have made our current leased 22+ acres usable with - utilities, three cargo containers, an arena, sufficient fencing, a 14'x60' portable building, and a 40'x60' ten stall all weather portable barn for our horses. The all-weather driveway and parking area was donated by Cherry Construction and the lumber for the barn by Anglia Homes.
2) Completed the airport permitting process September 3, 2020 with Walter P Moore and H4 Architects and Engineers guiding us. Formal Certificate of Occupancy is still in progress.
3) Continue program with expansion planned. Before being interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic our weekend lesson program had returned to full strength. Sixteen athletes competed at Top Hands 2022 earning 1 first place belt buckles; 7 second, 6 third, 10 fourth, 9 fifth, and 9 sixth place trophies; and 2 participation awards.
4) Continue to have new athletes and volunteers join us.
5) Plan to strengthen our volunteer training in the next year. This effort is being lead by the most recent addition to our Board of Directors, Yarely Ramirez. Yarely first volunteered with us while in high school as a way to decide on career options. Choosing Speech Therapy she pledged to return after college and did so. 6) We have added an abridged form of our policies and procedures manual which is required reading with signature proof. Current volunteers are being sent an email copy with the request that they return the signature page no later than the reopening of program.
7) Baker Botts continues to guide us pro bono.
8) Instagram was added thanks to our teenage volunteers and has now been linked with our Facebook Page for ease in posting.
How we listen
Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.
-
Who are the people you serve with your mission?
We serve people with disabilities ages 5 and older, and youth at-risk of dropping out of school. They come to us as individuals, through school classes, and group settings as well.
-
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 identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, 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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What significant change resulted from feedback?
We now work to allow our athletes to help us untack and turn out our horses at the end of the program day AND are planning to create group lessons based on this desire. Consideration is being given to allow athletes participation in lesson day preparations too. 2021-2022 school year the in-school pilot program began with Cambridge School's Mosaic program. Through a year long introduction to horses students ages 19-22 are learning more about the world of work while understanding how to care for horses. The life lessons that are hidden in the everyday tasks have become far more important than the program itself. The overwhelming success of this program led to continuation and expansion of the classrooms involved for 22-23 school year.
-
Which of the following feedback practices does your organization routinely carry out?
We take steps to ensure people feel comfortable being honest with us, 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?
We don’t have the right technology to collect and aggregate feedback efficiently, The people we serve tell us they find data collection burdensome, It is difficult to find the ongoing funding to support feedback collection
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
- Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
- 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.
Dream Catcher Stables Inc
Board of directorsas of 02/23/2023
Mrs Sanna Roling
retired teacher
Term: 1999 - 2022
Denise Cheplick
Speech Therapist
Billie Jean Harris
ReMax East
Theresa Ramirez
Administrative Assistant
Sanna Roling
Retired Educator
Karen Streater
Retired ADA Administrator
Charles Streater
EMT
Yarely Ramirez
Speech Therapist
Mike Sarnoff
Food Service beverag gas provider
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? No -
CEO oversight
Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Not applicable -
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? No
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
Gender identity
Sexual orientation
Disability
We do not display disability information for organizations with fewer than 15 staff.
Equity strategies
Last updated: 01/26/2021GuideStar partnered with Equity in the Center - an organization that works to shift mindsets, practices, and systems to increase racial equity - to create this section. Learn more
- We review compensation data across the organization (and by staff levels) to identify disparities by race.
- We ask team members to identify racial disparities in their programs and / or portfolios.
- We analyze disaggregated data and root causes of race disparities that impact the organization's programs, portfolios, and the populations served.
- We disaggregate data to adjust programming goals to keep pace with changing needs of the communities we support.
- We employ non-traditional ways of gathering feedback on programs and trainings, which may include interviews, roundtables, and external reviews with/by community stakeholders.
- We disaggregate data by demographics, including race, in every policy and program measured.
- We have long-term strategic plans and measurable goals for creating a culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.
- We seek individuals from various race backgrounds for board and executive director/CEO positions within our organization.
- We have community representation at the board level, either on the board itself or through a community advisory board.
- We help senior leadership understand how to be inclusive leaders with learning approaches that emphasize reflection, iteration, and adaptability.
- We engage everyone, from the board to staff levels of the organization, in race equity work and ensure that individuals understand their roles in creating culture such that one’s race identity has no influence on how they fare within the organization.