Equest Special Riders Inc.
Instruction for physically and mentally challenged horseback riders since 1982
Tacoma, Washington .
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Welcome
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Equest Special Riders Inc. is a non-profit organization of trained volunteers who provide therapeutic-recreational horseback riding and instruction for persons left physically or mentally dysfunctional through irregularites of birth, high fevers, disease or trauma from an accident. A few students are adults; the greatest majority of the Special Riders are children. Children, who might never have walked, enjoy a chance to experience the exhilaration of moving freely, mounted atop a horse. While riders are involved in specialized games designed to improve coordination, the horse's gait massages their leg muscles. You need only watch one session to realize how much riding impacts the self-confidence and well being of the students.
Equest is a member of the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International PATH. Our riding instructor is PATH Certified
Equest Special Riders, Inc. is a registered nonprofit corporation with tax-exempt status under Section 501(C)(3) of the IRS Tax Code. All monetary or in-kind Donations are tax deductible. Our tax ID number is 91-1220703
Thank you for your support!
click to go to PATH site
We are looking for Saturday volunteers that can come on a consistent basis each week. That can be every week, every other week or maybe just one or two sessions a Saturday. Our ability to offer classes depends on knowing if we have enough volunteers to ensure safe classes for our riders. Without consistent volunteers we cannot run classes safely and, in some cases, we have to send riders home if we don't have enough volunteers.
If you are interested in volunteering, we have 3 classes that are conducted on Saturdays from 10am and end at 1pm. You must be 14 years or older and can walk in a sand arena for 45 minutes at a time. You will be helping get the horses ready for class and sidewalking with our riders.
Please contact us at oldhawkin3@comcast.net and we will send you volunteer information and the time of our next training.
We are in need of Saturday Volunteers
With great sadness, we announce the passing of Debbie Maroon, Equest President and member of the Equest family for over 25 years. Her untiring devotion to Equest has allowed us to weather many a storm. She will be missed and remembered by many riders and volunteers that she has mentored thru the years. Remembrance gathering to be announced at a later date.
Avalon Photo May 2022
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Horse Health Expo
Thanks to Tacoma Equine Hospital for allowing us to have a booth and let everyone know what we do.
January 21, 2023
Susan Holloway, Michelle Provan, Linda Williams, Pat Bliss, Patty Gillette & Pam Earl
Not pictured Jolene Barabe
Twice a year Equest Special Riders takes a Thursday and Saturday off from classes to spend 5 days helping at the Morgan Horse Show in Monroe. We help at the Key Classic show in May and at the C-Fair show in August. This show currently is our biggest financial contributor to keep our program running.
We are looking for volunteers to help us set up and hand out the ribbons to the riders, May 10th-14th. We would also love help with the Silent Auction we will be hosting, (still looking for Donations). Wednesday is ribbon setup only for a few hours. Thursday session starts around mid afternoon. Classes Friday and Saturday generally start around 8-9am and can run until around 10:30pm. Sunday session is around 8am-2pm depending on how many classes and how long it takes to run them. We would greatly appreciate any amount of time volunteered, whether it’s a few hours, for the day or the entire show. We work hard and have a lot of fun helping at the show.
If interested in helping or more info, please respond below.
Patty Gillette stardust_n_amber@Yahoo.com
Jolene Barabe jbara19751@yahoo.com
Pat Bliss oldhawkin3@comcast.net
Tentative May schedule
Thursday 5-4
Saturday 5-6 No Classes
Thursday 5-11
Saturday 5-13 No Classes Morgan Show
Thursday 5-18 No Classes
Saturday 5-20
Thursday 5-25 Start of 2 riders a class
Saturday 5-27 No Classes
