Frequenty Asked Questions:
What is Special Strides?
Special Strides is a non-profit organization devoted to improving the lives of handicapped children through hippotherapy and therapeutic riding.
What is Hippotherapy?
Hippotherapy is a physical, occupational, or speech treatment strategy that utilizes equine movement. Hippotherapy is part of an integrated treatment program to achieve greater functional outcomes.
What is Therapeutic Riding?
Therapeutic Riding is horseback riding instruction by specially trained and certified therapeutic riding instructors. These instructors not only have great skills in teaching children to ride but they are also knowledgeable about teaching children with disabilities to ride.
Where is Special Strides located?
We are located in Central New Jersey in Monroe Township, New Jersey. Our home is on a beautiful 210 acre farm named Congress Hill. Special Strides is accessible from the New Jersey Turnpike, Route 33 and Route 9.
How do I get my child involved in the program?
Give us a call at 732-446-0945 to set up an evaluation and a tour of the farm.
Do you use volunteers?
Yes, we use adult and teenage volunteers. We use volunteers with horse experience and those without. The volunteers that have experience with horses are then specially trained to assist with our horses. The volunteers without horse experience are utilized as sidewalkers during our lessons. We also provide ongoing volunteer workshops.
What is a “sidewalker”?
A sidewalker is a volunteer, or another therapist, who is alongside the horse to assist the therapist and to provide additional stability and safety to the rider. They also engage in therapeutic activities such as singing songs and playing games.
Who benefits from Hippotherapy?
Any child with special needs will benefit from this unique riding experience. For children with primarily communication and auditory processing problems the horse offers a unique companion and an extremely motivating reason to communicate. To be able to stop a huge horse with a simple command “ho” is an unparalled experience.
For the child with Cerebral Palsy or other syndromes causing low muscle tone or poor motor control, the horse offers a movement experience that cannot be replicated in any clinic. The symmetric movement of the horse mimics human gait and provides very powerful neuromuscular information to the children’s nervous systems. In addition, the child with sensory processing and a diagnosis in the Autistic Spectrum greatly benefits from this sensory intergrative experience.
Are Hippotherapy and Therapeutic Riding only for children?
No it is not but at Special Strides we only provide service to children.
How long is a therapy session?
Each session is 1 hour.
How much does a lesson cost?
A hippotherapy visit to Special Strides costs $160 per hour, and therapeudic riding costs $60 per session. Therapy sessions are partially subsidized by the ongoing, intensive fundraising efforts. It is our mission to be able to provide all children who are in need of our services with financial assistance through the Steven Werthan Memorial Fund.
What type of fundraising do you do at Special Strides?
We have two events annually; Casino Night in spring and our Barn Dance in fall which includes entertainment, live and silent auction and a riding demonstration by several of our students.
How do I become a Special Strides Sponsor?
There are many sponsorship opportunities available throughout the year from Corporate Sponsors to private donations. Please call 732-446-0945 for more information.