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MANE is a non-profit organization formed in 1994 that provides safe and effective therapeutic horseback riding oppotunities to Montgomery and tri-county area children and adults with emotional, physical, cognitive, and developmental disabilities. MANE holds 501C3 corporation status, is a fully accredited Premier Riding Center throug h the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA), and all instructors are certified by NARHA. NHRHA is a regulatory agency that assures stringent standards for quality therapeutic horseback riding through instructor certification, site accreditation, and program monitoring.
Therapeutic horseback riding provides extremely important and effective intervention for people with cognitive, emotional, and/or physical disabilities. A rider straddling a horse stretches tight or spastic muscles throughout his or her body. Instructors and therapists use the three-dimensional rhythmic motion of the horse to reduce spasticity and abnormal movements, quicken reflexes, aid in motor planning, and strengthen muscles, joints, and tendons damaged by trauma or illness in their disabled patients. Riders with physical impairments or limited mobility can experience increased balance and muscle control; a wider range of motion; and improved respiration, circulation, appetite, and digestion. Confidence and enhanced self-esteem are positive by-products of therapeutic riding.
MANE�s new 44 acre site is located at 3699 Wallahatchie Road in East Montgomery, and includes an outdoor riding ring, office, 12 stall barn with indoor riding area, and a 3 acre state of the art sensory integration trail. MANE serves around 90 individuals weekly. Call 334-213-0909 today to get your rider put on one of our 4 yearly sessions.
Sensory Processing MANE Therapeutic Riding Program
Sensory Processing refers to the brain�s ability to take in, analyze and respond to information from the body�s five senses. Riders with Sensory Integration problems have difficulty screening and prioritizing input, and may be over or under sensitive to input, leading to delays with motor planning, attention span and focus, appropriate behaviors and responses, and orienting themselves in space/time. These classes use the input from the horse, as well as activities and positions on horseback to help improve organization of information. arning while participants are engaged in therapeutic riding or carriage driving, and family members are able to learn about sensory training concepts as they accompany their riders on foot. Activities along the path are designed to integrate and enrich the senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch, and presents learning opportunities in new and exciting ways.
Cognition refers to the many processes of the mind, including planning, judgment, memory, orientation, concepts, attention, and ability to attend and express language. Riders participating in the Cognitive riding Therapy classes are often individuals who may experience difficulty in any one or more of the aforementioned areas. These classes use from the horse and activities on horseback to help improve cognitive skills.
MANE Soci-emotional Therapeutic Riding Program
Horses are sentient beings with feelings, thoughts, emotions, memories, and empathetic abilities. Horses can be active facilitators, evoking emotions in those who work with and around them. Socio-emotional classes give riders the opportunity to enhance self-awareness and re-pattern maladaptive behaviors, feelings and attitudes by working with the horses. By developing riding skills and using the intrinsic bonds that horses create, this type of class aims to increase self-esteem, develop patterns of responsible behavior and create productive relations between the rider and other people.
MANE Physical Therapeutic Riding Program
Physical rehabilitation classes are aimed at riders with impairments affecting the musculosketal and nervous system (muscles, bones and nerves). Physical impairments can include muscles with increase tone (spasticity), or decreased tone (weakness), joints that have decreased range of motion (stiff joints), or riders that have difficulty with motor planning and coordination (making their muscles work smoothly together), The physical rehab class uses the input of the horse, activities on the horse and positioning on the horse to help provide various kinds of input. This in turn aids in increasing the physical function of the rider.
MANE Horsemanship/Sports Riding Program
Horsemanship/Sport classes are those aimed at riders whose focus is on acquiring and refining riding skills and other horse-related information. This may involve learning to prepare their horse for class, take care of their horse after classes, and learning about breeds, colors, markings and parts of the horse, an s well as the parts and care of the horse�s equipment. Riders are still passively receiving therapy through the input of the horses� movement as they work to master a new skill.
