Today we’d like to introduce you to Brook Boleyn.
Brook, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
White Bridle was founded as a nonprofit in 2007 as White Bridle Humane Society. Our goal was to rescue horses and use the ones that stayed with us for community service.
In 2009, we decided to change our priorities and do community service with our horses and decrease the amount of equine rescue work. That year, The Autism Society of America (Dallas Chapter) offered scholarship funding if we’d create a program for children with autism.
That program launched in the fall of 2009, and we partnered with Grand Prairie Parks and Recreation the next year to provide our program in Mike Lewis Park. We continued that program until 2013.
In 2014, we moved to a permanent location in Keller at Rocky Top Ranch to provide therapeutic riding and therapeutic cart driving (with miniature horses) in addition to launching a for profit ABA therapy program through White Bridle Learning and Therapy.
Has it been a smooth road?
The greatest struggle that we faced was during the recession – from 2009 until 2012 – when we had diminishing donations and over a dozen large horses. It was so difficult that it’s still painful thinking about it.
We were able to re-home most of our large horses; and we started the therapeutic cart driving program with some of our minis that was funded through The Autism Society of America (Dallas Chapter).
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the White Bridle Therapeutic Horsemanship story. Tell us more about the business.
We work almost entirely with children with autism. We believe that all children learn better through activity based learning programs that are fun for them, so we try to give our children as much fun as possible and break up the “table work” with lots of activities and fun.
I’m most proud of the inroads that we’ve been able to make with small children with severe autism. It’s the most amazing thing to see a child’s behavior and learning shaped through the techniques that we use.
We’re located on a 27 acre ranch and have lots of space for learning outside.
Our program is based on the model of the outdoor kindergarten; and we’ve adapted it for children with autism.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
The prevalence of autism in children is increasing, and there aren’t enough resources to meet the needs, so our industry is becoming very important.
Pricing:
- Therapeutic Riding and Therapeutic Driving Programs are $60/hour.
Contact Info:
- Address: 660 Keller Smithfield Rd.
- Website: www.whitebridle.org
- Phone: 9727400900
- Email: brook@whitebridle.org
- Facebook: White Bridle
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