Ride On LA Ride On Therapeutic Horsemanship

From our founding in 1994, Ride On has sought to build a sustainable, transparent and scalable organization that can provide world-class service. We train new professionals to national standards, we educate our community about disabilities and about horses, and we deliver service. In 2021, we put disabled individuals on horseback over 7,000. In all of Los Angeles and Ventura County, Ride On is the only nationally accredited provider in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties of physical, speech, and occupational therapy utilizing equine movement.

We focus on the long term by:
1. Investing in our staff for the long haul, ensuring our pay and benefits are fair and competitive and that our employees are empowered to perform at their highest level;
2. Investing in our capital facilities so that we have the infrastructure to provide generations of service to the community;
3. Continuing to focus on building a strong, independent board of directors to provide strategic vision and governance;
4. Focusing on succession planning by investing in key internal staff leaders and by creating the policies and culture needed to ensure stability as we move to a second generation of leaders;
5. By Building partnerships, for example with the Conejo Recreation and Park District which has leased us one two of our ranches for the next 40 years;
6. By cultivating diverse sources of funding; and
7. By building a transparent and accountable nonprofit and we encourage other nonprofits to to the same.

Ride On has put disabled individuals on horseback over 135,000 times in our history. Our staff includes 8 instructors and 4 licensed physical and occupational and psycho therapists. Our staff teaches and certifies new professional instructors and is faculty for the American Hippotherapy Association workshops. Our Staff has also participated in research to further establish the evidence supporting our work. Our operating budget is about $1.5 M per year. Ride On owns one facility and hast long-term, 40-yer leases with a public park district for the other two.

In our last 28 years, Ride On has accomplished much. We have survived and grown consistently and carefully. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Ride On closed for four months yet maintained the employment of our amazing staff. This is a crucial strategic goal: supporting our people. In 2021 and 2022 Ride On has rebuilt our service delivery to pre-Covid levels and has begin to re-build our volunteer base - so necessary to our program.

Ride On continues to build for the future at each our our 3 permanent operating sites. In 2022 Ride On was selected by the City of Los Angeles to lead it Para Equestrian Youth Sports Initiative leading to the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Finally, we have invested for the future. Ride On has put in place a comprehensive sustainability campaign designed precisely to ensure that our capital plant and our balance sheet are sufficient to ensure we provide service for generations to come.