Special People United to Ride

Individuals with disabilities can find a safe haven at Sunnyside Equestrian Center where limitations are replaced by the freedom of riding and handling a horse. Students work to improve self-esteem, social skills, balance, muscle tone and posture as well as to process sensory messages sent to the brain.

Riding a horse provides a variety of physical, emotional, and psychological stimuli. The movement of the horse's pelvis while walking is similar to that of a human. This allows the rider with a physical limitation to experience normal pelvic movement and trunk rotation. Variations in the horse's stride, speed and direction can elicit a response from the rider's musculoskeletal and neurological systems.

The psychological and emotional benefits of therapeutic riding and equine assisted activities are often reflected in increased self-esteem and improved social skills. A student's self-worth, self-confidence, and self-image can genuinely improve with just one half-hour riding lesson.

A dedicated group of individuals works together to staff the Equestrian Center year round. Instructors are certified by the NARHA, the governing body of therapeutic horseback riding. In addition to the staff, over 100 volunteers help  with programs every year.

Thanks to the team of staff and volunteers, over 200 students with disabilities are served each year.

Beginning in the late 1970s with a modest but energetic combination of borrowed horses and enthusiastic volunteers, Special People United to Ride, Monmouth County's horseback riding program for individuals with disabilities, found its first "permanent" home-- Thompson Park, Lincroft-- in 1981, the same year that SPUR became a not-for-profit organization.  Since then, the Monmouth County Park System has been an active partner, dedicated to furthering the benefits of therapeutic horseback riding.  In 1985, SPUR and the Park System were ready to expand their range of services, including a limited number of lessons for non-disabled riders, and moved to larger quarters at Huber Woods Park, Locust.

Although improvements were made to the facility at Huber Woods, the location lacked space for an essential program element-- year-round lessons. The SPUR Board initiated efforts to promote an indoor arena and teaching facility where therapeutic riding could be offered 12 months a year.  Eventually, a design concept emerged, the Park System and SPUR decided to relocate the program to Sunnyside Recreation Area, fundraising efforts blossomed, and construction began. 

In 2002, after years of dreaming, planning, and vigorous fund-raising, Special People United to Ride was delighted to celebrate its 21^st year with the grand opening of the Sunnyside Equestrian Center.

While SPUR continued to provide scholarships and support to the riding program for individuals with disabilities, it still had more work to do.  The next goal was to raise funds for an arena viewing area, classrooms, and offices to complete the Equestrian Center.  In 2008 SPUR and the Monmouth County Park System have achieved a new chapter in the history of SPUR: the official opening of Sunnyside Equestrian Center's Phase II.

Photos ©2000 Gerard M. Saydah

Phase II includes offices for the administrative staff and instructors, a classroom and a therapy room.  The addition also features a waiting area for participants and their families with large observation windows looking into the indoor arena.