Four-year old Paityn was born with optic nerve hypoplasia, causing complete blindness. As a rider at Free Rein Therapeutic Riding, her sensory skills have flourished, smelling the horses, brushing their soft manes, hearing them neigh, and experiencing the joy of moving fast.
Based in Spokane, Free Rein is a nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of children and adults with special needs like Paityn. For over 15 years, they have helped hundreds of people discover health, hope and happiness through adaptive and therapeutic riding.
To support their search for a permanent facility to reach hundreds more, they established the Free Rein Therapeutic Riding Endowment Fund at Innovia.
I have learned the value of community and how impactful Free Rein’s services can be, which creates this amazing community of support and assistance. That goodwill spreads well beyond the confines of our arena.”
About Free Rein
Free Rein Therapeutic Riding transforms the lives of children and adults with disabilities through horsemanship. Founded as a nonprofit in 2008, Free Rein started in a backyard with just 18 riders. Today, the organization is a member of the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH). Driven by a vision to offer adaptive and therapeutic horseback riding to the community, Free Rein’s programs have provided over 20,000 service hours for those seeking physical and emotional healing over the past 15 years.
Central to Free Rein’s success are the remarkable horses that make up their herd. Horses must undergo a challenging 45-day trial that only 50% of animals pass, ensuring they have the right temperament, can withstand any distractions and support unbalanced riders. With a focus on personalized instruction, Free Rein offers three programs: Adaptive Riding, Military Horsemanship and Equine Summer Camps that build strength, independence and freedom.
Introduced in 2013, the Military Horsemanship program offers veterans, active military personnel and their immediate family members healing at no cost. One veteran’s story serves as a testament to the dedicated volunteers at Free Rein. Struggling with PTSD after deployment, he found civilian life and employment challenging. At Free Rein, volunteers remained persistent, encouraging him to consistently attend lessons. Eventually, he stopped showing up, not due to a lack of commitment, but because he had secured a full-time job, marking a rewarding milestone toward stability.
Looking to the Future
As Free Rein grows, finding a permanent facility is the highest priority. To help support this goal, they established the Free Rein Therapeutic Riding Endowment Fund at Innovia as a way to supplement their financial stability and maintain exceptional programs in the community for generations to come.
“Our number one focus right now is to find and fund our own forever home so that we can really become a cornerstone for the community,” says Lisa.
