Therapeutic Horse Riding Center Coming To Kalamazoo County

One thing about life is that it happens to all of us and we all have our ups and downs. There are some phases of life that are harder to manage than others and other times that feel like nothing can go wrong. There are hundreds of factors that can affect our mood and how we navigate life but there are several resources available to assist during these times.

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There has been a major push for people to attend counseling and other therapy resources to help work through their trauma and heal, but therapy isn't the answer for everyone. Some people really struggle vocalizing themselves and some people need something other than just talking to feel better. Luckily, there are alternative options to traditional therapy that they can explore.

One of those options is therapeutic horseback riding, also known as Equine therapy, literally sounds awesome. Michigan is one of the many places that has organizations that offer this service to residents. The Cheff Therapeutic Riding Center in Augusta allows for clients to ride, lead, or groom a horse while receiving therapy services.

Kalamazoo County To Get Therapeutic Horse Riding Center

They are a therapy practice that serves those needing mental, physical, occupational, speech, and many other types of therapy. They are looking to expand and build a second location in Kalamazoo County. Their current location in Augusta has 14 horses on their Equine staff and currently serves about 600 clients. The new location would allow for approximately another 450 clients to be served.

Cheff started a "Raise The Roof" campaign to raise money to fund their expansion and is looking to raise $2.6 million. The new arena in Kalamazoo County would be about 2,100 sq feet and would be a smaller, more intimate arena to allow for one-on-one sessions. They have already brought in over $2 million and are hoping to exceed their goal.

They are hoping to have the arena built and running by next fall and have plans to partner with the therapy and nursing programs at Western Michigan University and Kellogg Community College. They currently offer services with local health professionals but only some of their services are reimbursable through insurance.