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Pegasus Therapeutic Riding was founded in 1975 at the Ox Ridge Hunt Club in Darien, Connecticut by a group of volunteers who believed in the therapeutic power of horseback riding. Beginning with eight students with physical disabilities, they were determined to bring the benefits and joys of horseback riding to the disabled of their community. Today, Pegasus has become one of the largest and most highly regarded therapeutic riding programs in the United States, servicing some 200 students each year in programs at nine locations throughout Fairfield County, Connecticut and Westchester County, New York. Their professional physical therapists and instructors provide riding therapy to students with such physical and intellectual disabilities as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, spina bifida, blindness, and Down syndrome, as well as learning and other developmental challenges. Students are currently accepted as young as four years old, but we serve many into their seventies. Supporting this work is a large group of dedicated volunteers. Some work as "sidewalkers" for students who need assistance. Others are trained as horse leaders and to assist in "tacking up" the horses for the day's lessons. The reward for performing these vital services is the special friendships that develop with the riders.
