Riding Through Sensory Therapy
What is Riding Through?
Riding Though (RT) is a non-profit organization dedicated to transforming lives by an advanced, innovative and unique equine-assisted sensory-based therapy designed for individuals facing mental trauma, mental illness and neurological disorders. All of which struggle with chemical imbalances in the body, chronic stress and a faulty vestibular system.
Our program is guided by Draper Sensory Therapy (DST) a proprietary, evidence- and science-backed method rooted in kinesiology, neurophysiology, and sensory integration. Developed by Terry Draper in 1991, DST has been continuously refined.
Core Treatment Focus
At Riding Through, we are committed to helping individuals of all ages who have experienced abuse, neglect, trauma, or challenges related to mental health and neurological disorders.
No prior horseback riding experience is required to participate in our sessions which are designed to address a wide range of conditions including:
PTS
TBI
Tinnitus
Vertigo
Fear
Anxiety
Depression
Insomnia
Impulse control
Frustration Tolerance
Childhood Trauma
Trust Issues
Lack of Focus
Low Self Esteem
and more....
Session Basics
At Riding Through, our sessions are guided by Draper Sensory Therapy. A specific movement of the horse is used as a catalyst to 'reset' and clear damage caused by traumatic events and chronic stress. This movement shifts the participants brain wave to the Alpha brain wave (peaceful / calming).
This therapy helps restore connectivity in parts of the brain that are otherwise inaccessible. This process neutralizes stress, balances neuro-chemicals, and repairs the vestibular resulting in increased relaxation, calm/peacefulness, enhanced connection with others, greater focused energy, mental clarity, and more.
Sessions are 20 - 30 minutes. No horseback riding experience is required. A trained practitioner will guide you through the session activities, most of which will be non-verbal.
We recommend a total of 10 session and need to have 3 sessions within seven days of starting the healing process.
SERVICE FEES
For the mechanical horse, $150 per session. We are offering a limited time introductory rate of $100 per session.
For the horse, $250 per session (weather permitting). We are offering a limited time introductory rate of $175 per session.
At Riding Through, it is our belief that anyone needing this therapy would not be turned away. Reach out to inquire about financial assistance and other options.
Vision
Serve hundreds of thousands of individuals struggling with mental illness or neurological disorders.
At Riding Though, we are dedicated to empowering individuals facing mental and neurological disorders through the healing power of equine-assisted, sensory-based therapy. Guided by the transformative Draper Sensory Therapy (DST) method, we provide a safe and supportive environment where those in need - ensuring cost is never a barrier - can embark on a journey toward healing, growth, and newfound possibilities. Our mission is to help individuals begin lives they once thought unimaginable, fostering confidence, rational thinking, reduced stress and well-being.
Mission
Organization Goal
For clients to develop resiliency and inner strength by creating solid relationships, envisioning a positive future and overcoming life challenges and family dysfunctions by connecting with others.
Testimonial
Nichole's experience
To say I’ve been through my fair share of horrible is an understatement. However, one day in June of 2024, my life and who I am changed forever. I have never been as low as I was then. Those at Riding Through have known me my whole life. They knew I was struggling.
They introduced me to BLU. My first ride was unlike anything I could ever expect. I closed my eyes as I was told. They asked if I had Fallen In yet. They describe it as feeling like you're going in a straight line, despite traveling in a circle, you feel like you're going straight. When you Fall In you know it. It is undescribable, however, once it happens, you know it. All of the sudden you
feel like you're going straight. It is calming, peaceful, and warm. This is the exact same feeling I would get when I would saddle up and ride off to nowhere.
I was four sessions in when I stopped taking my sleeping meds. I woke up feeling energized and rested. This was a first for me, I mean a first ever for me. It wasn't until my sixth session that I stopped taking my anti-anxiety and antidepressants. Other people had started to notice, my spark and personality were coming back. I was starting to live again. By the time I was done with all my sessions, my smile was back. Not the smile you fake so people wont show pity or pry for information, but the smile you feel in your soul.
You see, I was stuck in grief and sorrow. I was depressed, lost, confused and everything else that comes with it. I was drowning in the pain. I lost hope, happiness and my will to live. I was strictly alive because my kids breathed. Bill, Tammy, Josh and BLU found me in that dark place, with a hand and a mechanical horse, they saved me. They helped me heal without a word spoken. They helped me find my strength again. I’ve never been that lost or that low. Sadly, I didn't realize exactly how bad it was. I thought, considering everything, I was doing ok. Once I started to feel again, I realized just how badly I needed BLU and the crew at Riding Through.
A pain like mine never leaves, however thanks to Riding Through, I’m making peace with the pain. I have tried talk therapy and intensive trauma therapy, several times in my past. However, it never seemed to help. Nothing worked as well and as fast as BLU with Riding Through and Draper therapy. I recommend this for anyone and everyone. I’m still grieving, it still hurts and that's ok. I am now making peace with the pain and living again. It's liberating!!!
Phil's experience
After a recent heart-related hospitalization, I found myself overwhelmed with stress, anxiety, and persistently high blood pressure. Sleep became elusive—while I could fall asleep easily, staying asleep was a different story. My physical and mental well-being were unraveling.
Then I discovered Bill and Tammy’s therapeutic riding program, Riding Through Therapy, and it changed everything.
From my very first session, the experience was nothing short of extraordinary. The sense of peace and relaxation I felt while riding was immediate and profound. With each ride, I noticed my mind entering an alpha-wave state more quickly—a calm, meditative focus that helped me confront and begin to heal long-buried emotional stress. Remarkably, I learned to recall that same mental state when I awoke in the middle of the night, which allowed me to fall back asleep effortlessly. This alone made a tremendous difference in my sleep quality and overall health.
Even more incredible was the tangible impact these sessions had on my body. My sense of calm and mental clarity grew stronger with each visit, and my blood pressure dropped significantly—both systolic and diastolic—without any medication changes.
Bill and Tammy’s program is far more than therapeutic riding. It is healing in motion—an extraordinary tool for anyone battling stress, anxiety, sleep disruption, or even PTSD. I cannot recommend it highly enough. It has been one of the most beneficial and restorative experiences of my life.
Jerry's experience
Life can take you in so many different directions. Some good and some bad, but everything puts you to where you need to be. The questions is how do you handle each situation. I can honestly say I did not handle them all with grace but Horse Back Miracles has helped put me back on track.
Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Jerry and grew up as what most know as a military brat. My family moved from location to location every couple of years. This made growing up difficult as you don’t make long lasting meaningful relationships. You don’t have friends and family to confide in. It also took its tole on my family which often times left me in situations where I did not feel loved, I did not feel understood and sometimes simply felt forgotten. These emotions followed me into my teens where I did not make the best decisions for myself or my future. I knew joining the military was going to be the best option for me.
I joined the military in 1998 where I was a combat controller and after 9/11 I cross trained to be JTACH. I was deployed numerous times to the middle east to undisclosed locations. Going in I was well aware that there were going to be some incredibly difficult times, but I was not prepared just how difficult it would be. The saying “Better them than me” became a quick reality. Every day we had to make choices and decisions to ensure that we and those around us made it home alive. Daily we were aware that a uniformed officer may make it to the doors of our loved ones. We wanted to go home, but not in a flag draped pine box. The decisions I had to make haunt me daily and nightly.
There are many nights that I have woken up in a sweat, screaming with fear or rage, sometimes both. So many memories haunted me to the point of not wanting to sleep. The lack of sleep put me in a perpetual state of anger and frustration. What are my options or coping mechanisms? Alcohol, drugs, fighting, meaningless companionship, suicide? All of them had gone through my mind and I had danced with all options.
I was going down a very dark road until I found a partner that was able to communicate with me the way I needed to be communicated with. Even that wasn’t enough some days. As we both struggled with our demons we made it through each day, sometimes with laughter, sometimes with fear but we had each other. There was something else missing though. Then I met Bill who introduced me to Horseback Miracles.
At first I was a skeptic; how on earth would riding a horse backwards help me? Don’t get me wrong, I grew up around horses and knew the dopamine affect they can have on you. The joy of bliss you get just being around them, but that feeling goes away as soon as you separate yourself from them. So how can riding a horse be a lasting option? Bill and his wife Tammy really put things into perspective for me when they placed me on one of their two horses backwards. They had me close my eyes and we walked in a circle. They asked, did it feel like you were going in a circle? “Of course!” was my response because how else should it feel. They had me do an exercise that forced my left and right brain to communicate with each other and we moved on with the ride. Suddenly the world around me stood still, everything sounded and felt differently. I could feel the horse breathing beneath me, I could hear his hoofs hitting the ground and kicking the rocks, the wind on my face felt different, and I swear we were out of the round pen walking down the road in a straight line, but most of all…… I was present. That may not mean much to most, but I was no where else but there. I wasn’t in the middle east, I wasn’t in fight or flight mode, I wasn’t thinking about anything except about how I felt in that moment. Then there it was, the emotional release. Suddenly, out of no where I began to well up with tears. This emotion was extremely foreign to me, not because I was afraid of crying but because the tears weren’t anger, they weren’t fear and they weren’t happiness, they were just there. The drive home that night my eyes were heavy but my heart and head have never felt lighter. That night was the best night sleep I have had in as long as I can remember.
It didn’t end there, every ride I became more aware of my surroundings. I was able to logically think through things and even noticed the things I had put my loving wife through all these years. I did not have rage out moments when someone in front of me drove slower than I would have liked them to, when the person in front of me at Walmart was standing in the middle of the isle just visiting with someone. Things did not affect me the way they did before. This process has been absolutely mind blowing and has allowed me to be happy in my everyday life vs struggling with the demons. Don’t get me wrong, they are still ever present but they seem much more distant and I am able to cope with them much better.