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Therapeutic Riding, Pal-O-Mine Equestrian, Inc
Pal-O-Mine’s mission is to provide a comprehensive therapeutic equine program that uses horses to facilitate growth, learning and healing. Our population includes children and adults with disabilities, those who have been abused or neglected, the military and the economically compromised.
Pal-O-Mine Equestrian Programs
Therapeutic Riding:
Pal-O-Mine Equestrian continues to provide quality therapeutic horseback riding to individuals with disabilities. Each one of our program horses has been specifically picked and trained to meet the needs of our students. We offer riding 7 days a week, 12 months a year, regardless of weather. Our facility offers a myriad of arenas and activities for our riders. Our sensory track integrates language, counting, motor skills, sensory integration, social development and coordination, and makes for an engaging environment for our riders. We have a standard sized dressage arena, a large main arena, round pens, and a covered indoor arena as well as access to adjacent trails.
Therapeutic horseback riding provides unique benefits to our students. The goals for each lesson are tailored to make improvements in the most needed areas of your rider’s life. Therapeutic riding sessions are exceptional for improving: fine and gross motor skills, balance, coordination, sensorimotor skills, language, and social skills. In addition, each one of our therapeutic riding instructors excels in their field and continues with training and certification throughout their careers.
Pal-O-Mine’s Therapeutic Riding program currently works with various students with cognitive, physical, emotional, and multiple disabilities. The students at Pal-O-Mine are all ages, starting at 2 years old, continuing to well into their 60’s. Our therapeutic riding instructors have experience with the following diagnoses (plus many others):
Autism Spectrum Disorders, Pervasive Developmental Disorder Sensory Processing Disorder, Attention Deficit Disorder/Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, mental retardation, Cerebral Palsy, Traumatic Brain Injury, Multiple Sclerosis, Down syndrome, Spina Bifida, genetic disorders, schizoaffective disorder, borderline personality disorder, and emotional disturbances.
The staff at Pal-O-Mine is equipped to handle behavioral difficulties in students, and is willing to work with your child on these issues. For those interested in beginning therapeutic riding lessons, please first complete the required release forms. You may also call the office to schedule a tour at our facility, (631) 348-1389.
Competition:
Pal-O-Mine is proud to share the success of its’ competitive Equestrian Team with you!
The Pal-O-Mine Equestrian Team’s main objective is to provide riders with disabilities the opportunity to compete against other riders, with and without disabilities. Competition, in itself, has been shown to improve self-confidence, self esteem, and social skills in the participants and forms a network between the participants and their families. Participants will be given the opportunity to see and be seen for their strengths, rather than their deficits, with some individuals feeling that way for the first time in their lives.
Our Equestrian Team competes in recognized local, regional, and national horse competitions that allow the riders to demonstrate their abilities in competitions with peers of similar abilities, with and without disabilities. Each year, our team participates in shows in the Long Island Horse Show Series for Riders with Disabilities, with the intention of qualifying to ride in the Hampton Classic, held in August. This gives the team the opportunity to strive to a level not obtained by many experienced riders. Three of the horse shows that the Pal-O-Mine Equestrian Team will attend are not limited to only individuals with disabilities.
Workstudy:
For over 5 years, Pal-O-Mine has been giving adolescents and young adults valuable work experience through our work study program. These young participants become an integral part of the farm, and learn numerous skills. With so many pathways to choose from in adolescence, we aim to give teens a sense of belonging and a connection to their community, which has shown to increase positive development in our work study participants.
Each year, our job coaches assist the work study participants learn what it takes to keep a 13 acre farm running. Not all of the work is pretty, or easy, but our work study teens learn the value of hard work! Some of the skills our participants learn include: horse care and management, assurance personal safety, general property maintenance, cleanliness, punctuality, responsibility, respect, team work, self respect, organizational skills, ability to prioritize, resume development, decision making skills, and many other essential personal and job skills.
JStep:
In 2010, Pal-O-Mine Equestrian, Inc. received funding from the New York Community Bank Foundation to support the pilot run of the Job Security Through Equine Partnership (J-STEP) Program. The pilot run of the J-STEP Program was immediately successful. For the spring, summer and fall of 2011, Pal-O-Mine is aiming to continue and expand this program. Our main goal for the program is to foster growth and independence in our participants, with the objective for each of our participants to one day obtain employment in their community.
The major focus of the J-STEP Program is to provide meaningful employment opportunities to adults with disabilities and to establish a green living program and energy conservation program at Pal-O-Mine. Our J-STEP members have been successful at organic farming, implementing a recycling program, resume and job skill development, and the ability to work in a team atmosphere. For the upcoming summer, we plan on expanding the program and building on the success of the previous year.
EAL:
Pal-O-Mine’s Equine Assisted Learning programs incorporate horses experientially for educational, and emotional, growth and learning. EAL uses alternative approaches to create positive and constructive learning experiences for children and adolescents who are at risk of failing in a traditional academic setting. EAL sessions incorporate guided, and safe, horse interactions, classroom instruction, positive interaction between students, animals, and adults, as well as the incorporation of grade-level appropriate reading, writing, art, and math skills. These approaches, combined with a varied and very specialized, teaching staff helps to reengage the typically disengaged or defiant student, and recreate a positive learning experience that carries over into the students’ traditional classroom experiences.
Our Equine Assisted Learning program follows the practices and guidelines of the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA), and our teaching staff has done extensive certification and continuing education in order to provide a student centered approach. We constantly search for and develop the most effective EAL curriculum, activities, and approaches. Our main goal is to provide our students with a quality educational program that uses a different approach to education.
EAL Program classes typically spend one school day at Pal-O-Mine participating in the program with our staff and our horses and other animals, in our classroom. We encourage that the skills taught here at Pal-O-Mine be integrated into the traditional classroom.
Pal-O-Mine has a history of fully successful EAL Programs with local school districts, which includes reaching out to a wide variety of at risk populations. This successful application to various school settings, communities, and populations adds to the generalizability of the EAL Program to many different students at risk for school failure. In the past, we have worked with students with cognitive disabilities, emotional disturbances, adjudicated youth, at risk teens, hearing impaired students, learning disabled, and students with mental illnesses.
Respite:
Here at Pal-O-Mine, we understand the need for our families to have a structured and engaging environment for their children when school is not in session. As a result of this need, Pal-O-Mine provides a respite program that runs concurrently with typical school vacations. Respite allows for caretakers to continue their work schedule, catch up on personal errands, or just give a few hours to yourself. Our staff will work with the student on various activities, including: horseback riding, horse care, arts and crafts, adjusted daily living skills, social skills, writing, reading, listening skills, and many other skills that need to be improved. Currently our respite program is available for the following school breaks:
Winter break/Presidents week, Martin Luther King Day, Easter/spring break, summer break, Columbus Day, Rosh Hashanah, Election Day, Yom Kippur and Christmas break.
Please visit our website or Contact us for more information:
