We currently operate from 4 locations: St. Paul, Minnetonka, Delano, and Marine on St. Croix. All of these locations are secure facilities.  Please contact the office to make an appointment if you need to visit any of our locations.

St. Paul - Louise and Doug Leatherdale Equine Center at the University of Minnesota

We Can Ride (WCR) offers a variety of therapeutic riding and carriage driving classes throughout the greater Twin Cities metro area. In October 2007, its newest and most versatile location is the new University of Minnesota Leatherdale Equine Center on the St. Paul campus.

WCR programs are in such demand that there is a waiting list for available spaces in the riding therapy program, which was founded in 1982 and has operated continuously for the past 25 years. WRC is based at the Hennepin County Home School, a residential correctional and treatment program in Minnetonka, and is accredited by NARHA, the premier organization for Equine Assisted Activities and Therapies world wide.

The staff and approximately 800 volunteers work with the program's 35 horses, which are specially selected for their quiet disposition, smooth gaits and reliability.

A horse's gait is similar to the human walk and helps strengthen a rider's spine and pelvic muscles, improves posture and coordination, and increases joint mobility. Beyond the tangible benefits, horseback riding and driving provides participants fun and freedom.

"Our move into the Louise and Doug Leatherdale Equine Center at University of Minnesota will immediately allow us to reduce our waiting list," said Tom Bezek, former Executive Director of WCR. "It will offer many unique opportunities to both our program and the therapeutic riding and carriage driving community and industry. University students from various departments on campus (veterinary medicine, physical, occupational, and recreational therapies, neurology, psychology, special education, kinesiology) will be introduced first hand to the value and benefits of equine therapy."

"They will become ambassadors for ways to use the horse to improve the quality of life for all of us, specifically those living with disabilities," he said.

Bezek hopes collaboration with WRC and UMEC in research on the effects and benefits of equine therapy will result in improvements for many aspects of our communities including "the horse industry, the therapeutic community and the overall general quality of life for those involved," he said. ,"Our hope is that insurance companies will continue to expand coverage for equine therapy programs such as ours."

Riding and driving a horse presents a combination of new sounds and sensations that help many individuals with a variety of sensory issues. Whether the disability is physical, cognitive, behavioral, or emotional, the accomplishments of mounting and riding a horse or driving a carriage provides a tremendous boost to self-confidence.

Children and adults with cognitive disabilities benefit from the discipline and concentration required to master riding or driving as well as to relate to the horse. This special bond and personal growth can help these individuals to think, dream, and perceive themselves in a new way.

"The last thing these riders need is another therapist with a white coat and a treatment table telling them what to do," said WCR consulting therapist Doug Merz, RPT. "The unique environment created by the barn, the horses and WCR staff ensures these riders will work harder during an equine session than they would in my clinic. The best part is they don't even realize how hard they have worked until the session is over."

"Multisensorial and integrative are the two words that best describe what happens during a hippotherapy session," Merz explained. "From the moment these riders enter the barn they are bombarded by smells, sights and tactile inputs that are unique to this form of therapy. Our primary tool, the horse, is amazing in its ability to stimulate, agitate or soothe depending on the rider's needs. I have worked with therapeutic riding classes for 12 years and hippotherapy classes for 8 years, and would not continue to do so if I hadn't seen profound and unique changes in many of our riders."

In the past 20 years, Dr. Karen Dahlgren of Partners in Pediatrics in Maple Grove has seen many patients who have participated in therapeutic horseback riding.

"These patients benefit from the program in a variety of ways: improved trunk strength, posture, balance, coordination and greater muscle stretching," said Dahlgren. "Many of these children are put through so much traditional therapy that often they experience therapy burn out. Riding is fun for them, and they don't even realize it is therapy. Often they have siblings playing sports they can't participate in. Riding is something they can do fairly independently, and it makes them feel special that they have their own thing. The therapeutic value in this type of program can't be found in a typical clinical setting and I would not hesitate to make a referral for the appropriate patient."

Minnetonka - Hennepin County Home School
We've been operating out of this location since 1982. Minnetonka has therapeutic riding and hippotherapy programs utilizing both indoor and outdoor arenas. This location features a specially made hydraulic lift to raise the client to the height of the horse. Minnetonka has approximately 20 horses used for We Can Ride and for the Hennepin County Home School residents.

Delano - Woodpecker Woods
We Can Ride has been operating out of this location with programs in therapeutic riding, carriage driving, and hippotherapy. Woodpecker Woods boasts a heated indoor arena and wooded outdoor trails. We Can Ride utilizes approximately 7 horses at this location.

Marine on St Croix - East Wind Farms
We've been operating out of this location for a few years. This location hosts therapeutic riding classes in an indoor arena. Here, approximately 5 horses are used for We Can Ride.

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