General

The PATH International Equine Services for Heroes® mission is to assist military personnel and veterans through services available at PATH International Member Centers. Equine-assisted activity and therapy programs are tailored to address specific issues faced by wounded and traumatized military personnel, while also providing a supportive and therapeutic environment for their families and loved ones.  The PATH International Equine Services for Heroes Task Force, in conjunction with staff at PATH International’s national office, provides leadership and guidance for practicing EAAT with this special population.

To accomplish this mission and reach ever more veterans in need, PATH International Centers are encouraged to connect with Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Centers and Clinics, as well as individual military personnel and veterans.

If you are interested in starting a PATH International Equine Services for Heroes at your center, please read over the guidelines below. There are many important factors to consider and special measures to take before implementing PATH International Equine Services for Heroes, and it’s important that your center and community are ready for such undertakings.  If, after reviewing this information, you have any further questions on starting a PATH International Equine Services for Heroes, please contact Danielle Crooks or the PATH International office at (800) 369-7433, ext. 115.

Click here for the informational brochure on starting a program at your center.

PATH International Equine Services for Heroes Program Guidelines

1. Program Development
   1. Determine if working with veterans and/or wounded service members can be added now or in the near future to your current program.
   2. Determine a discipline or program area your center is capable of offering, and which might be the most useful:
      1. Ground lessons (grooming, tacking, horse care, etc.)
      2. Classroom activities
      3. Sports riding - setting goals for developing riding skills (may include competitions)
      4. Recreational/leisure riding skills
      5. Equine Facilitated Mental Health
      6. Hippotherapy
      7. Driving
      8. Vaulting
   3.  Determine the funding requirements needed to expand your current program.
   4.  Determine if the additional funding is available from existing resources or if it can be obtained through new scholarships or grants. This could include funding from Veterans’ Administration (VA) facilities, referring agencies, Disabled American Veterans (DAV), American Legion, etc.  PATH International offers members the use of the Foundation Directory Online, a database of grantmakers found in the Members Only section of the website.
   5. Are licensed, credentialed health professionals on staff that can provide services? As per the PATH International Standards for Certification and Accreditation, Glossary of Terms section, a Licensed/Credentialed Health Professional is defined as, “physical therapists, occupational therapists, speech-language pathologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, physicians, nurses and rehabilitation specialists. Health professionals providing direct service ‘therapy’ through equine activities should have additional specialized training in the use of the equine as a component of treatment in their respective areas of expertise.” If not, can the sending institution/agency provide a professional or someone equally qualified? A medical consultant who is knowledgeable about appropriate activities for medically fragile participants might be needed. Is a health professional available from the referring agency or organization?
   6. Is the center interested and in a good position to enter into a contractual agreement with a government agency or another organization?
2. Riders
   1. Can the program serve adults with a variety of disabilities?
   2. The Department of Veterans Affairs services all veterans, which include WWII, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Is the program willing to work with an older group of veterans?
   3. In working with an older population, conditions and equipment that are not typically used by participants may be used by the veterans or active duty personnel, such as urine collection and colostomy bags or catheters, oxygen tanks, prosthetic limbs, etc.
   4. Is the center willing to have a program where the spouses, children or other family members are present and may even want to ride at the same time?
   5. Riders will need to undergo a stringent screening for contraindications and precautions. Frequently, poly-trauma veterans have skull defects and other wounds that might contraindicate therapeutic riding, at least initially.
   6. Programs need to be aware that young men and women that are wounded in war may have a strong sense of “risk taking” or take advantage of the “dignity of risk” available through riding. Because they have been severely injured in their most virile and physically active years, riding may need to be as challenging for them as is safely appropriate.
   7. Some newly injured individuals continue to undergo treatments that may only allow them the opportunity to ride one or two times. This must be recognized and accommodated, especially when working with poly-trauma victims.
3. Volunteers
   1. Are volunteers available to handle the program expansion?
   2. Is the center willing to contact local veterans groups such as the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Disabled American Veterans (DAV), Reserve and National Guard units to identify volunteers who can help with transportation, and assist as side walkers for the veterans’ groups? All volunteers will need to be trained in accordance with the center policy. It has been proven that military personnel helping others in the military can be an enormous additional benefit of this program.  It is strongly recommended the military volunteers be trained as side walkers and/or horse leaders so they can help during the lesson.
   3. Wounded service members are adults and can be challenging for mounting/dismounting, and especially for emergency dismounts. Appropriately sized and trained volunteers need to be available to help during lessons with this population.
   4. Volunteers need to receive special briefings for working with recently wounded military personnel. The “wounded warriors” are adults and should be treated as such. Appropriate, specific praise is acceptable. Condescending, false praise is not acceptable.
4. Instructors and Licensed/Credentialed Health Professionals
   1. Are there PATH International Certified Instructors available to work with veterans and wounded service members?
   2. Are the health professionals certified by PATH International? If not, is a PATH International Certified Instructor “directly supervising” each equine-assisted activity? This means the certified instructor needs to be at the activity site and is aware of and responsible for the program activity in the arena or on the premises.
   3. Are the instructors willing to advance the riders’ skills to their fullest potential? Some of the recently wounded servicemen and women already have significant horse activity backgrounds. They need to be allowed to “be in charge” and ride to their full potential.
   4. Instructors should have a method for rider goal setting and tracking outcomes. The method must be acceptable to, and agreed upon, by the rider, and the goals must be acceptable to the rider, instructor and health care professionals involved.
5. Equipment, Facilities and Horses
   1. Does the program have all items in the areas listed above to work with adults with a variety of disabilities?
   2. Are the equines to be used trained to accept and comfortable with wheelchairs, scooters, canes, walkers, metal prosthetics and related equipment?
   3. What type of activities besides riding can the center provide? This may include driving or other therapeutic sports and activities. If driving is available, is there an easy-entry or wheelchair-accessible vehicle?
   4. Based on the number of horses, equipment and facilities, what is the total number of veterans and wounded servicemen and women that can be served by the center? This would include number and size of group lessons or the number of private lessons.

View the PDF of the PATH International Equine Services for Heroes Program Guidelines.

Thank you for your interest in supporting the PATH International Equine Services for Heroes program. We appreciate your desire to help our Military Personnel and Veterans.

If you have experience with carriage driving, or would like to offer something outside of regular horseback riding at your Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH Intl.) Center, then starting a therapeutic driving program might be a good option for you.  This discipline is becoming increasingly recognized for its therapeutic value, and PATH Intl. is working with our members and volunteer committeces to expand and improve our driving standards and certifications.  The following is a good guideline to follow before implementing a driving program at your own center.

1. Consult the PATH Intl. Driving Standards for center requirements.
2. Identify a staff member who can become a PATH Intl. Certified Driving Instructor Level II.  It is expected that a Level II driving instructor has the requisite skills to administer and develop a therapeutic driving program.
3. Assess your program and community to determine the clients’ needs versus your center’s ability to serve.  For instance, most fledgling driving programs do not start with teaching clients in wheelchairs or multiple students per lesson.
4. Identify a financial plan that will support your program.  Driving will require new expenses related to horse care and conditioning, instructor credentialing and equipment purchase and maintenance.  A sound plan to support a new program is highly recommended.  Funding sources may include local driving clubs, driving events, grants and private donations.
5. Identify potential therapeutic driving equines within your program or outside of your program.  Horses experienced in driving in a variety of environments and venues are your best option.  A great driving horse stands still, responds well to voice and whip and has at least three years of previous driving experience.
6. Get driving lessons!  Network with other drivers, participate in formal lessons and attend a peer review.  If you don’t know how to drive you will not be able to teach others to drive.  Practice your teaching skills by instructing individuals without disabilities on how to drive, which can strengthen your ability to teach driving concepts and understand the progression of acquiring driving skills.
7. Attend a PATH Intl. Driving Workshop to learn the skills and standards specific to PATH Intl.’s Driving Instructor Certification.
8. Attend a PATH Intl. Driving Certification, or have your designated instructor attend to become PATH Intl. certified.

Interactive vaulting is a therapeutic activity that provides participants with the benefits of working on and around the horse at all three gaits, in different – and somtimes greater – physical capacities than normal horseback riding. Adding interactive vaulting to your therapeutic riding program will provide participants at your center with the valuable benefits of most EAAT programs, like building confidence, encouraging social interaction and fostering independence, and some benefits unique to vaulting, like different gains in balance, strength and flexibility. In just a few steps your center will be ready to offer Interactive Vaulting to your special needs community.

1. Start by becoming familiar with the PATH Intl. Interactive Vaulting Specialty Standards for instructor and center requirements.
2. Register for a PATH Intl. Interactive Vaulting Workshop. You will find information on when and where these workshops are held by visiting the PATH Intl. Events Calendar.
3. Create and evaluate a financial plan for your vaulting program. This includes factors such as new horses, instructor training, special equipment and possibly new clients. Identify people or populations in your community who would use and benefit from interactive vaulting.
4. Choose your equine vaulting partner according to the population you will serve. Make sure your vaulting horse has the right temperament, smooth gaits and a sturdy build.
5. Make sure you own or have access to all equipment necessary for a safe vaulting program, such as a surcingle and pad, lunging equipment, a vaulting barrel and appropriate footwear for clients.
6. Now put your skills to the test and become a PATH Intl. Interactive Vaulting Instructor. Download the vaulting certification booklet to find out how this is done and what requisite skills you must have.
7. Finally, as you meet every Interactive Vaulting Standard, you may contact PATH Intl. to become an approved Interactive Vaulting Center and confidently offer this unique and therapeutic activity to people in your area.

Starting an Equine-Assisted Activities and Therapies (EAAT) Program

Become a PATH Intl. Member Center

Starting an Equine-Assisted Activities and Therapies (EAAT) Program

The idea of starting an equine-assisted activities and therapies program or opening a Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH Intl.) center can seem overwhelming at first, and many questions immediately come to mind.  How will I fund it?  What makes a good employee or volunteer?  Where do I advertise?  Thankfully, PATH Intl. has many resources available to help answer these questions, including instructional publications, a mentor program and online forums.

One of these great resources is the "How to Start an EAAT Center/Program" book, designed to give prospective PATH Intl. Member Centers an idea of the many facets involved in the planning stages of starting an EAAT program.  The start-up book contains information about selecting equines, budgets, personnel, facilities, instructor certification and much more. In addition, the PATH Intl. Standards for Certification & Accreditation provides direction as you plan your center’s site and program activities according to PATH Intl.’s administrative, program and facility standards.

PATH Intl. strongly recommends that you do some networking with other existing PATH Intl. Centers in your region. Networking with other PATH Intl. Centers can offer valuable information not found in any book. You can access a list of PATH Intl. Centers on the "Find a Center" page. Contacting your PATH Intl. Region Representative can also be every helpful. Many Region Representatives are also center owners, directors or instructors who work in the field and have gained valuable experience and information that they can share with you.

Become a PATH Intl. Individual Member. This will give you access to resources, discounts on merchandise and access to PATH Intl. Community Connections, a resource sharing site for PATH Intl. Individual Members. Learn more about PATH Intl. Community Connections or visit our email groups page.

Learn and connect with other PATH Intl. Members by attending PATH Intl. Region and International conferences.

For more information about PATH Intl., download the PATH Intl. Fact Sheets.

Become a PATH Intl. Member Center

• Center Members – organizations operating a program providing equine-assisted activities and therapies committed to PATH Intl.’s standards for safe, ethical and professional practices. See schedule based on center budget for annual dues.
  
• Premier Accredited Centers – organizations operating a program providing equine-assisted activities and therapies that have voluntarily undergone a peer review process with trained volunteers that visit and evaluate centers’ programs in accordance with PATH Intl. standards. Click here for more information about the PATH Intl. Accreditation program. PATH Intl. Premier Accredited Centers pay annual center dues as well as $750 for the accreditation process spread over 5 years ($150 annually)

Benefits include one CD version of the PATH Intl. Standards for Certification and Accreditation, use of the PATH Intl. Logo, discounts to PATH Intl. merchandise, discounts on liability insurance through PATH Intl. sponsors and much more. Click here to see a full list of benefits.

PATH Intl. Center Membership Requirements

Center Membership runs January 1^st to December 31^st. All centers are required to renew their center membership by December 31^st each year regardless of their join date. New center members that join after the first month will pay a pro-rated dues amount for the first year of membership. Renewal dues are not pro-rated after the first year.

After one year of membership center members are eligible to participate in the PATH Intl. Accreditation program. Centers are not required to participate upon eligibility. Accreditation fees are not included in the fees shown; they are in addition to center dues.

1. All centers must have either a PATH Intl. Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor or an Instructor in Training (IT) prior to joining PATH Intl. as a Center Member. If your center does not have a PATH Intl. certified instructor or IT, you will be contacted by the PATH Intl. office. Use the certifications page for a guide on becoming a PATH Intl. Certified Instructor.
2. All centers must have general liability insurance within 30 days of submitting center membership application. Click here for options or contact information about insurance.

PRINT A MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION AND EMAIL IT TO This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. OR MAIL IT TO PATH Intl. TODAY.

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