End of the Year Newsletter
As Old Man Winter makes his way into town and the hectic holiday season begins, we wanted to share some of the exciting things that have been taking place at Three Gaits. Read on to learn more about our programs, families, staff, volunteers, and farm.
A Note from the Three Gaits Board of Directors
“As we close out a successful year filled with progress, we are all taking a moment to reflect on the incredible achievements made possible by the generosity of our supporters and volunteers like you. Your contributions have had a direct impact on Three Gaits’ ability to provide real growth for over 100 participants. As we returned to pre-pandemic programming levels, we are proud to have offered new programs such as Riding in the Moment and Jumping Barriers to Jumping in the Saddle. With your continued support in 2025, we are excited to expand our positive impact to even more community members.”.
PROGRAM UPDATE
Through the dedication of our instruction staff and the support of our community, we have been able to eliminate the waitlist to join our therapeutic riding programs and have dramatically decreased the wait time to enter our occupational therapy / hippotherapy program. To do so, we nearly doubled the number of therapy clients as well as the number of lesson spaces within therapeutic riding. This year there were over 2,000 opportunities for participants ranging in age from 3 to 92 to develop, gain confidence, socialize, and experience the JOY that comes with spending time with one of our amazing program horses!
Through the generous support of community grants funded through The Kids Fund and The Bradley Memorial Choices Award, we were able to add the “Jumping Barriers to Jumping in the Saddle” program to create programs geared towards providing our services to a more diverse part of our community and the “We Are All Riders” sibling riding program to create shared riding experiences
Our instruction staff will be growing next year! Our seasoned staff of Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructors and Occupational Therapists are currently mentoring three new Instructors in Training to help expand our therapeutic riding programs and to launch a new program – Equine Assisted Learning!
What is the new Riding in the Moment Program?
Riding in the Moment™* is an evidence informed program designed to increase the quality of life of people living with dementia and their family members and caregivers. Participants join trained Three Gaits staff members and volunteers working in partnership with the Geriatric Health Services Research Lab at UW-Madison at our farm in Stoughton and enjoy a morning of experiential horse related activities. Participants do not need to ride – they can simply enjoy time around our horses or out in nature. We have quickly seen the impact this amazing program has had on our community and look forward to building a long-term, sustainable service!
Scan the QR code or click the button below to watch a video highlighting this program as well as to see our instructors, horses, and volunteers in action!
*Generously funded by a three-year Community Impact Grant through the Wisconsin Partnership Program and in collaboration with the UW-Madison School of Health.
PROGRAM HORSE CORRAL
Horses are amazing animals, seeming to sense the emotions of the people around them and adapt their demeanor to match the needs of each individual. Anyone who has spent time with horses knows that riding is about more than sitting in the saddle. The skills and life lessons you learn while spending time with horses have a positive impact on life outside of the barn. The ability to build a strong team, effectively communicate, problem solve in dynamic situations, and the determination it takes to keep going are just a few examples.
While therapeutic riding lessons are uniquely structured, our riders develop the same types of life skills helping them to grow, gain confidence, and experience joy. This year, we grew our program horse herd adding younger, sounder horses to better ensure our riders can maintain longer term partnerships!
Meet our Amazing, Hard-Working Horses.
KNOX
CHAI
JAVA
I need a sponsor!
CHAI
CHAI
HORSES HAVE HOLIDAY WISH LISTS TOO!
Click the button below to see their list!
MAVERICK
HENDRIX
ALASTAR
BULLSEYE
BERRY
I need a sponsor!
Sponsorships allow us to provide not only routine veterinary care, but also proactive training, exercise rides, and maintenance support as needed to keep our horses fit and healthy. Sponsorships also help bridge the gap between program income and the cost of caring for and keeping our horses, allowing us to hire caring, capable stable hands and provide quality hay and feed. We believe when you put the horse first, everyone will be successful, and sponsorships allow us to do just that!
If you would like to learn more about how you can sponsor one of our amazing program horses, please visit our website our reach out to our Executive Director at jolie@three-gaits.org.
Around the Farm
Looking back to our childhoods when our mothers always encouraged us to clean up our rooms, we looked to our farm to find ways to make it a more enjoyable and inviting environment. Our staff and board added a little muscle and time and renovated our main office area creating a better space for our staff to take on the good work of the organization, a separate therapy area for Equicizer lessons, and a common area for our volunteers to socialize in. Through the support of Logan’s Hearts and Smiles, our bathrooms were renovated to ensure they met the needs of our rider community. Our truly amazing barn crew, Facility Manager, and volunteer mowers, fence line trimmers, and gardeners organized tack rooms, cleaned out and tidied rider areas, and took on the task of clearing brush, trimming trees, and maintaining our 20-acre farm with a determination that was nothing short of awe inspiring!
Through the generous support of a local foundation, we were also able to add shelters and on demand water systems to better care for our hardworking horses, subdivide our large grass pasture to allow us to better manage our growing program herd, and improved the lighting in our barn and arena spaces to provide a better work environment for our barn crew, volunteers, veterinarians, and farriers!
…next year we hope to replace the footing in both our indoor and outdoor arenas to provide an even more enjoyable space for our riders, horses, volunteers and staff!
How you can help with this project…
To make a gift to continue to your support of Three Gaits, visit three-gaits.org/ways-to-contribute for online donations, scan the QR code for online donations, use the attached donation form, or text the code "3GAITS" to 44-321.
VOLUNTEER CORNER
It is not an overstatement to say that we could not have accomplished all that we have this year without the support and participation of our community of over 100 active volunteers. Our volunteers donated thousands of hours of their time this year to sidewalk and lead in lessons, share their expertise and talent in committees, and roll up their sleeves to plant, mow, paint, and tackle projects on the farm.
Volunteers have shared with us how special their time is at Three Gaits and how much they look forward to not only spending time with our riders and horses, but also with their fellow volunteers. There is something really special about coming together to share in the successes of others and to be a part of something that is positive and mission driven.
This year, we focused on improving our volunteers’ experiences by adding small group training sessions to expand their knowledge and comfort level with special mounts and specialized sidewalking scenarios. Our equine trainer also created opportunities for groundwork lessons to improve volunteers horse handling skills. Our wonderful Volunteer Committee also spearheaded many appreciation activities including monthly drawings and even a barbeque in the summer!
As we gear up for winter break, Three Gaits will offer new training events for volunteers and opportunities to spend time with the horses. Stay tuned!
As our programs and services continue to expand, there will be many more opportunities to join us on the farm and to support our riders! To learn more and to apply, click here.
Thank you for a wonderful year. Wishing you and yours a happy and healthy holiday season. We hope you will join us in the New Year as we look to build an even brighter future and welcome more riders into Three Gaits' life-changing programs!