• Carriage/Cart Driving
• Horseback Riding

• Adaptive equipment available
  

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

The Beekman Therapeutic Riding Center (BTRC) is a non-profit organization under the Lansing School District located in Lansing, MI. Our program currently operates year round, five days a week (Monday through Friday), for six sessions per year. (See Classes/Clinics on this site for more information). Classes are scheduled from mid- morning into the evening hours. During Beekman Center school months (September through June), Beekman students have priority for our riding services during the school day. From mid-afternoon through evening, we open our schedule to outside students who pay for lessons. By creating a schedule to accommodate a wide range of abilities and levels of experience, we are able to place all students in classes that best suit their needs.

Our riding and driving classes are taught by our experienced instructors, who are certified by NARHA (North American Riding for the Handicapped Association) and facilitated by our assisting staff and volunteers. All assisting staff and volunteers are required to attend class training before they are allowed to assist in classes. Our program functions under NARHA guidelines, providing an enjoyable and safe environment for all participants.

We are proud to offer riding and driving lessons to people of all ages, with and without disabilities. We accept students 3 years of age and older.

• Therapeutic Riding (TR) Lessons
  TR riding is highly recommended for all disabilities and for rehabilitaion. It is a unique and enjoyable way to improve muscle tone and balance and to develop confidence and a sense of responsibility. Students' needs are assessed before they are scheduled into classes. Instructors write lesson plans based on an initial assesment and update them as the student progresses. Class material is tailored to each student according to the severity of the disability, personal needs, and cognative level. For example, some students with disabilites may simply benefit from the horse's movement, while others may participate in steering exercises, games, and verbalizing.
  Class time may include games on horse back, simple steering, verbal exercises, and muscle-stretching exercises while in the arena as well as trail rides on our campus trails (weather permitting).
• Independent Riding Lessons
  Independent riding lessons are offered for people of all ages with and without disabilites, in levels based on the experience of the rider. "Independant" refers to the student's ability to handle the horse with minimal or no help from a class assistant. All independant riders are placed into classes with students of the same level. Riders are assigned assistants while riding, based on their confidence level and riding abilities.
• Driving Classes
  BTRC is proud to be one of few riding facilities in the area to offer pleasure driving lessons as an option to riding! Enthusiasts will learn the basics of harnessing, hitching, horse, cart and harness selection, proper termonology, and reinsmanship with an emphasis on safety at all times! Driving classes are open to therapeutic and non-therapeutic students.
  • Therapeutic Driving
    Candidates for therapeutic driving may be students with disabilities that prevent them from mounting a horse safley or who exceed our 200-pound maximum weight limit for riding. Though the phyical benefits of driving differ from those of horseback riding, driving, like riding, can build confidence and give the student a sense of control and responsibility. The driver is accompanied in the cart at all times by either the instructor or an aide.
    What's more exciting is that, to the best of our knowledge, BTRC is the only program in the state of Michigan to own a specially designed cart, equipped with hydrolics and removable seats, that can be coverted for wheelchair accessability in a snap!
    Our "Bennington cart" is build of high-quality materials and crafted with superior workmanship that exceeds European equipment standards for people with disabilities.
  • Students in Wheelchairs
    We can easily accommodate you with our wheelchair-accessable Bennington cart! Students remain seated in their wheelchair while the cart is lowered and the wheelchair is loaded. Once the wheelchair is secured with standard transportation straps, the cart is raised back to its running (level ) position by its hydrolic system. Students will learn driving skills based on their abilities and level of learning. Lesson plans may include basic reinsmanship, terminology, execution of simple patterns, and relaxing rides on our campus trails.