• Hippotherapy
• Horseback Riding

• Accessible by Public Transportation: No
  
  
• Transportation Provided by the Program: No

Ride on St. Louis, also known as ROSL, is a community-focused not for profit organization, that offers offers Equine-Assisted therapy. Founded in 1998, the program is dedicated to using equine-assisted therapy to achieve emotional, mental,physical and spiritual benefits for individuals with developmental physical disabilities, youth who are at-risk youth adults in assisted living settings.

The ROSL program provides individuals with disabilities the foundation for achieving improved neurological function and sensory processing. Riders with physical disabilities often show improvement in flexibility, balance and muscle strength. Riders with intellectual or emotional disabilities often experience increased confidence, patience and self-esteem as a result of the unique bond formed with the horse.

ROSL offers hippotherapy and a therapeutic riding camp in the spring, summer and fall, beginning in late April and extending through the beginning of November. Eight-week hippotherapy sessions are offered in the spring and fall. A six-week session, a mixture of hippotherapy and therapeutic riding, is offered in the summer. Lessons run weekly and biweekly and are held on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for one-hour each. The cooler morning hours are especially advantageous during the warmer months. (When school starts, sessions are held in the afternoons to accommodate students' schedules.)

Following one of two curricula attains ROSL objectives: a curriculum for group therapy, the therapeutic riding camp, and a curriculum for individual therapy, hippotherapy. The camp curriculum focuses on the following three major areas of riding therapy:

• Stable Management Component. These lessons are intended to provide vocational skills useful for the students who are able to enter the work force. Students learn tasks such as cleaning and bedding stalls, sweeping, raking, feeding, and watering. Supervised grooming, horse care and organization of equipment are integral parts of this component. Stable management lessons complement skills and concepts taught in the classroom component.
• Classroom Instruction Component. Classroom instruction includes lessons in animal science, such as basic equine care, nutrition, anatomy, growth and reproduction. Parts and care of appropriate tack* are also taught in the classroom. Lessons relate to life experience as well as to self-help. (* Tack is the gear used in equipping a horse, including saddle, bridle, harness, straps, etc.)
• Mounted Component. The mounted component consists of lessons in all phases of horsemanship. The goal of this component is to build confidence and self-esteem, as well as to develop muscle tone and balance. The mounted lesson is always taught by a qualified riding instructor and uses a qualified leader.