Special Partners
Special Partners is one of Special Equestrians’ outreach programs in which our therapy horses and outreach team make visits to local agencies, schools and community groups. During these visits, Special Partners facilitates the well-being of children and adults with special needs who can benefit from the human-animal bond.
The Special Partners program is designed to educate and provide human-animal contact for children and adults which can result in benefits such as: empathy building, outward focus, nurturing skills, rapport building, acceptance, entertainment, socialization, mental stimulation, physical contact and touch, and physiological benefits. Bringing a trained horse to meet with participants, is meant to facilitate growth in these areas as a natural source of healing in our community.
Our Special Partners horses and handlers are registered members of Pet Partners, which upholds standards of professionalism in the field of animal-assisted activities. Each Special Partners horse and handler team has been certified by the Pet Partners Therapy Animal Program.
The visit will last for approximately one hour and can be structured to include one or more of the following:
- Meet and Greet our Special Partners horses – pet and brush a Special Partners horse
- Learning about Horses – 4 learning stations (horses, grooming, feed, equipment)
- Reading Rodeo Literacy Program – Read, or listen to, three books about horses and earn a copy of our book, “Guiness the Rescue Pony.”
The places we have been and the people we have met...
- Artful Gardens
- Bonita Springs YMCA
- Brookdale Senior Living
- Buckingham Exceptional Student Center
- Camp United
- Diplomat Elementary
- Discovery Village Senior Living
- Eden School
- Estero High School
- Faith Academy
- Goodwill Pathways to Opportunity
- Goodwill Trailways Camp
- Hancock Creek Elementary
- Heights Elementary
- Impact for Development Education
- LARC
- Lighthouse of SWFL
- Lily Academy
- Mariner High School
- Oak Hammock Elementary
- Orange River Elementary
- PACE Center for Girls of Lee County
- Patriot Elementary
- Pinewoods Elementary
- Renaissance Montessori
- River Hall Elementary
- Salvation Army
- San Carlos Park Elementary
- Tanglewood Elementary
- The Palms of Fort Myers
- Tice Elementary
- Treeline Elementary
- LCEC Tunes & Taste Buds
Since 2012, Special Partners have enriched the lives of more than 1,300 children and adults in our community. Special Partners is available for visits to community groups, schools, assisted care facilities, agencies serving individuals with disabilities, and other community partners.
Contact Special Equestrians
For available scheduling and more information.