757.721.7350
2626 Heritage Park Drive
Virginia Beach, VA
23456
Office hours:
Monday - Friday
8:30 am - 4:00 pm
Locate our facility
About EQUI-KIDS
EQUI-KIDS Therapeutic Riding Program was established in 1989 to offer horseback riding lessons to individuals with mental and physical disabling conditions such as Down syndrome, Cerebral Palsy and Learning Disabilities. Barbara S. Ford founded the program with only one pony and six riders. Ms. Ford recognized that through equine activities, the challenged rider could develop self-awareness, self-confidence and improve their concentration. Therapeutic riding also offers physical benefits such as muscle strengthening and stretching and increases fine motor skills. The horse provides the challenged rider with a feeling of freedom and independence that may be limited in their everyday life.
Today EQUI-KIDS is a Premier Accredited Center through NARHA (formerly the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association) that accredits nearly 600 programs in the country that offer services to over 27,000 individuals.
In August 2007, EQUI-KIDS acquired the title to 92 acres of donated, undeveloped land valued at $2.7 million on Sandbridge Road (part of the Heritage Park housing development) from a local developer and his partners in Virginia Beach. EQUI-KIDS had formerly leased 30 acres of farmland for 13 years in Virginia Beach. This smaller leased site prohibited EQUI-KIDS from expanding because additional structures could not be constructed due to airspace restrictions and the acreage did not allow adequate expansion for the program’s needs.
In August 2009, EQUI-KIDS relocated to its new facility debt free, raising just over $5.3 million in an aggressive capital campaign. Buildings already completed include an equipment storage shed, a 24-horse stall barn, and an Administrative Building.
In March 2010, construction began on an Indoor Riding Arena that will enable the program to operate year-round. EQUI-KIDS’ goal is to not to incur any debt during this construction phase. Once complete, this facility will be one of the largest riding centers on the East Coast dedicated solely for those with physical and mental disabilities.
After completion of the Indoor Riding Arena, the final phase of site development will begin with construction of a Sensory Garden. These ten themed garden areas comprise of roses, herbs, wind chimes, birdhouses and a memorial garden that will allow riders, volunteers and staff to experience outdoor sensory integration.
Our current program includes 14 horses and ponies and serves between 70-80 riders weekly. Presently we have individuals on a program waiting list. However, Ms. Ford's goal remains the same: Put a rider with a disability on a horse and they forget it is therapy.
Origins
We can trace the relationship between horses and physical therapy back to the ancient Greek, Aescalpius, the first physician and teacher of medicine. However, in modern times we look to the accomplishments of Madame Liz Hartel of Denmark, who was stricken with polio and rehabilitated herself from a wheelchair to horseback, winning the Silver Medal for Grand Prix Dressage at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952. The next major development in therapeutic riding came in 1958 in England, when the first ever purposely-built indoor arena for the disabled was established.
Therapeutic riding came to the North American Continent in the 1960s in Canada and later found its way to the first US program in Michigan in the mid 1960s. This later program laid the groundwork for what we now call NARHA (North American Riding for the Handicapped Association).