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GallopNYC

GallopNYC uses therapeutic horsemanship to help riders in NYC with disabilities walk, talk and learn, inspiring them to live their lives as fully, independently and productively as possible.
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Why Support GallopNYC?

GallopNYC is an extraordinary organization long championed by the Mind Brain Philanthropic Foundation, and one that Regina Schroeder has personally supported for years. It is proudly featured on our website as a charity we back.

GallopNYC uses therapeutic horsemanship to help riders with disabilities in New York City walk, talk, and learn, inspiring them to live fully, independently, and productively. As an inclusive community, GallopNYC welcomes riders of all abilities. 

To show why GallopNYC is so remarkable, we’ve put together this Q&A with Regina Schroeder, co-founder of the Mind Brain Foundation, in an interview below. 

What is GallopNYC?

Founded in 2005, GallopNYC is New York City’s largest therapeutic equine-assisted services provider. Each week, we serve over 450 individuals—people with disabilities, veterans, and seniors—through riding, hippotherapy, and unmounted programs. Our work transforms lives through the power of horses.

450

Riders Weekly

100s

Volunteers Citywide

$6,800

Fund raised

What Does GallopNYC Offer?

  • The therapeutic horsemanship programs
  • Riding for Veterans and Groundwork for Veterans
  • Summer Camp for young equestrians
  • Seniors
  • Recreational Riding
  • Job Skills Programs
  • Pony Club

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MAKING STRIDES

There's a place for everyone at GallopNYC!

The therapeutic horsemanship programs at GallopNYC provide measurable benefits for people with developmental, emotional, social and physical disabilities.

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Interview With Regina Schroeder

Regina, how did you first discover GallopNYC?

RS: I first rode regularly with my friend Robin Baker Weisbrod around 1978 on the magnificent Joker at Turkey Creek Stables in Colorado Springs. Back then, I thought I loved riding—but now, with visible trouble walking, needing hiking poles and often a wheelchair for distances over 100 meters, I truly understand what riding means to me. On horseback, I can cover ground as quickly and efficiently as any other rider.

As my walking declined after 2010, I began seeing horseback riding as therapy for my gait. A neighbor, Erin Gibson, who had been an instructor at GallopNYC, encouraged me to try it, explaining its benefits for people with MS.

GallopNYC truly stands for Giving Alternative Learners Uplifting Opportunities. Whether your mind or body functions differently, the program welcomes you. As founder Alicia Kershaw says, “Whatever the case, horses seem to have an answer.”

What’s the history behind GallopNYC?

GallopNYC has a long and complex history that’s too extensive to cover fully here.

Founder Alicia Kershaw, who had volunteered at a therapeutic riding center in Hong Kong, returned to New York determined to make therapeutic riding accessible to city residents. The program began accepting students in 2005.

Today, GallopNYC serves more than 500 children each week through school-based programs—where lessons are part of the curriculum—and individual sessions. Kershaw explains why it works:

“A horse is the perfect physical therapy tool. It provides 360-degree movement and responsive input, and it’s warm.”

The program is also effective in supporting individuals with PTSD, including those who have served in the police, fire departments, and military.

GallopNYC currently offers lessons at stables in Forest Hills and Howard Beach, and brings horses into Prospect Park’s Bowling Green for trailered lessons on about 30 horses. Volunteers play a critical role, helping with horse care and supporting students during lessons, ensuring that anyone willing can safely participate and benefit from the program.

MS led me to GallopNYC

Although Erin Gibson had often encouraged me to go to Gallop, it was not until my former boss at the US Census, Cherine Anderson, insisted that L’hava Israel and I meet, that I finally got the information I needed to enroll at Gallop.  L’hava also has MS and is doing everything she can to stave off the cascading effects.  L’hava gave me the contact information for Gallop, and by  October 2017, I had my first lesson in Prospect Park.  Dana Fairburne, who is also an aerialist(!), was my first instructor.  Dana was not amused when I tumbled to the ground after I attempted to dismount the horse without her assistance. I wound up on the ground, still attached to the horse by my left foot, which was still in the stirrup. Now, I wait for an instructor to tell me to dismount.

What do you love about GallopNYC?

There is such a profound sense of shared purpose when a group of people who know they have issues come together, trying to get better. It permeates GallopNYC completely and includes riders, their parents, their PCAs, the instructors, the mission-critical volunteers, and even the Board Members who visit.

Everyone is better just for being there, getting even better, and helping everyone they meet sling the way get better, too. 

Add the horses themselves, who I believe actually understand themselves to be helping humans, and your sense of awe and astonishment is complete.  (I have no idea if or how you could test this hypothesis that the horses know they are helping. I spoke once with a taxi driver who told me he had read that there were protests when cars began replacing horses.  These protesters decried the potential loss of invaluable human interaction with horses if cars were to replace horses.  Again, I’ve never been able to confirm the existence of these protests, but I never forgot the concept that some people have recognized that interaction with horses is beneficial to humans beyond the horse being a service animal.)

What is therapeutic riding like?

Liking horses the most is the obvious reason to like riding, but at Gallop, you soon begin to realize what a profoundly magical experience therapeutic riding is. And it’s not just your personal riding. 

I especially love watching the kids with their parents.  I’ve seen one young man whose dismount is routinely handled by his mother, a young, slim, and strong woman, who is about the same size as her son. The volunteers step back respectfully and let her handle this dismount. He leans his helmeted head to the side of the horse and down toward the ground, launching himself headfirst into the waiting arms of his mother. She grabs his torso and flips him upright.  Then, carrying him like an upright log, she totes him 20 feet to his wheelchair, where she sets him down.  It is an astonishing feat of trust and experience. You are likely to witness feats like this at all Gallop, NYC locations.

It is just incredible to see the looks on the parents’ faces as they watch their special needs kid ride a horse around the arena, controlling them with leg and voice commands. And I especially love to see the fathers accompanying their sons and daughters to their riding lessons.  It’s just a nice feeling to see everyone care.  To see the experience that can be afforded to anyone with a lot of will and coordination of effort. Yearly, there is a Gallop NYC horse show, where all the students demonstrate their abilities.  L’have and I, both women of vintage, especially love the horse show.  L’hava noted one year:

“I feel pretty good when they hand the ribbons out.  I have to laugh at how happy I am when I see the riders to my left and right are children!”

And we laugh some more.

Is my donation tax-deductible?

– Your donation is fully tax-deductible in the United States. The Mind Brain Foundation is an IRS-registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our Tax Identification Number (TIN) is 85-2839492.

That’s Why You, Too, Should Support GallopNYC!

Ride or volunteer at GallopNYC. It quietly changes you and gives you a better understanding of what we all do together.

Thanks for riding.

Updates

August 15, 2020

Financial figures (e.g. tax refund, revenue from fundraising, revenue from sale of goods and services or revenue from investment) are indicators to assess the financial sustainability of a charity, especially to charity evaluators. This information can impact a charity’s reputation with donors and societies, and thus the charity’s financial gains.

Charitable organizations often depend partly on donations from businesses. Such donations to charitable organizations represent a major form of corporate philanthropy.

July 22, 2020

Financial figures (e.g. tax refund, revenue from fundraising, revenue from sale of goods and services or revenue from investment) are indicators to assess the financial sustainability of a charity, especially to charity evaluators. This information can impact a charity’s reputation with donors and societies, and thus the charity’s financial gains.

Charitable organizations often depend partly on donations from businesses. Such donations to charitable organizations represent a major form of corporate philanthropy.

July 09, 2020

Financial figures (e.g. tax refund, revenue from fundraising, revenue from sale of goods and services or revenue from investment) are indicators to assess the financial sustainability of a charity, especially to charity evaluators. This information can impact a charity’s reputation with donors and societies, and thus the charity’s financial gains.

Charitable organizations often depend partly on donations from businesses. Such donations to charitable organizations represent a major form of corporate philanthropy.

April 09, 2020

Financial figures (e.g. tax refund, revenue from fundraising, revenue from sale of goods and services or revenue from investment) are indicators to assess the financial sustainability of a charity, especially to charity evaluators. This information can impact a charity’s reputation with donors and societies, and thus the charity’s financial gains.

Charitable organizations often depend partly on donations from businesses. Such donations to charitable organizations represent a major form of corporate philanthropy.

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