About NARHA
NARHA Mission
NARHA changes and enriches lives by promoting excellence in equine-assisted activities and therapies.NARHA Vision
NARHA is the global authority, resource and advocate for equine assisted activities and therapies and the equines in this work that inspire and enrich the human spirit.
What is NARHA?
NARHA was founded in 1969 as the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association to promote safe and effective therapeutic horseback riding throughout the United States and Canada. Today, NARHA has nearly 800 member centers and over 6,300 individual members in countries all over the world, who help and support more than 42,000 men, women and children with special needs each year through a variety of equine-assisted activity and therapy programs.
Though NARHA began with a focus on horseback riding as a form of physical and mental therapy, the organization and its dedicated members have since developed a multitude of different equine-related activities for therapeutic purposes, collectively known as equine-assisted activities and therapies (or EAAT). Besides horseback riding, EAAT also includes therapeutic carriage driving; interactive vaulting, which is similar to gymnastics on horseback; equine-facilitated learning and mental health, which use the horse as a partner in cognitive and behavioral therapy, usually with the participation of a licensed therapist; ground work and stable management; and NARHA Horses for Heroes, a new program that uses a variety of EAAT disciplines specifically to help war veterans and military personnel. In addition, many of NARHA’s 25 volunteer-driven committees are working on identifying and refining even more disciplines and activities that might be put to use in the world of EAAT.
Core Values
Access and inclusion – promoting diversity and opportunity in equine assisted activities.
Compassion and caring – providing a culture of safety, understanding and ethical treatment of humans and horses engaged in equine assisted activities.
NARHA History
NARHA, along with its dedicated members and volunteers, has been a pioneer in the field of EAAT, bringing the novel idea of therapeutic horseback riding to the United States from Europe in the middle of the twentieth century. Lis Hartel, an award-winning dressage rider from Denmark, is generally regarded as the impetus for the development of therapeutic riding in Europe. Despite being physically impaired by polio, Hartel took the silver medal in Grand Prix dressage at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, and medical and equine professionals around Europe soon began to implement programs for riding as a form of physical therapy.
Future Trends
NARHA is constantly seeking to expand and improve its programs and membership, which it has done with astonishing success over the past 40 years. Today NARHA boasts thousands of members, hundreds of volunteers, the best standards in the industry and several different EAAT disciplines and certification levels. Still, NARHA continues to seek newer and better ways to practice and promote EAAT.
Who is Served
NARHA members, instructors and centers serve participants of all ages and with a range of physical, emotional, behavioral and cognitive challenges. Not all NARHA instructors or programs serve every population, but the following is a very short list of conditions and challenges helped every day through NARHA and EAAT.
