Thank-you for your interest in Horse Time.  Horse Time is committed to providing community-based services that provide safe, fun opportunities to interact with animals, the environment, and each other.  We believe that many clients experience enhanced physical and psychosocial well-being as a result of these experiences. Since 1997, we have served hundreds of adults, children and teens from mental health centers, residential treatment centers, and day treatment programs.  Additionally, we serve private clients in individual sessions. Horse Time is accredited by the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (www.narha.org) and is staffed by NARHA certified instructors and licensed psychotherapists.

  Depending on the individual’s clinical needs, we are able to serve as the primary source of psychotherapeutic intervention for some clients and as adjunct therapy for others.  In either case, we are invested in continuity of care and would like your permission (provided in the enclosed release of information forms) to communicate with other members of your child’s health care and educational team. Horse Time is not able to provide crisis services.

  If  you or your child does not require psychotherapy, we also offer therapeutic horsemanship for a variety of special needs.  Although this service is not therapy, clients often notice substantial improvement in a variety of domains with continued participation.  As Horse Time's host farm is not wheelchair accessible, we do have to limit our participants to those that we can safely serve.

Horse Time is pleased to announce the opening of our hippotherapy program.  We are now offering Physical Therapy (Hippotherapy) on a pilot basis (see details in FAQ's section of this website and see downloadable application, below).

  Because we are a specialized program with a limited schedule, it is most helpful for us to talk directly prior to applying to the program.  Please call me anytime at 770-784-9777.  After we have established that our program will be a good match for you or your family member's needs, please download our application packet.  When you have completed the packet, please contact us to make further arrangements. Some families like to drop off the packet during a free, informal visit (by appointment only) prior to beginning services.  Others would prefer to mail the packet to my attention at 10385 Highway 278, Covington, GA 30014.  Once we have received and reviewed the application we will be in touch to discuss setting up an initial treatment or service planning session.  Feel free to give us a call if you have questions, or would like additional information about Horse Time.  We look forward to meeting you and your child!

Sincerely,  

Maureen Vidrine MS, RN, CS

Director and Psychotherapist, Horse Time Inc.

Click here to download Horse Time hippotherapy (Physical Therapy) application

Click here to download Horse Time therapeutic riding application

Click here to download Horse Time psychotherapy services application

IF YOU RECEIVE A PROMPT TO PROVIDE A PASSWORD, HIT "CANCEL" AND WAIT FOR DOCUMENT TO DOWNLOAD. 

Organizational history and program overview

Horse Time was founded in 1996 by a group of individuals committed to the belief that horse-human interactions can provide the basis for uniquely effective mental health treatment.   The program opened August 18, 1997 on the grounds of Falconwood Farm, owned and operated by the Faulkner family, in Covington, Georgia.  501 (c ) 3 nonprofit status was attained in early 1998.  Since that time, Horse Time has served hundreds of children, adolescents, and adults with a variety of psychosocial and behavioral challenges in individual and group psychotherapy and in therapeutic horsemanship lessons.  Our clients have come to us through residential treatment programs, day treatment programs, mental health centers, pediatrician’s offices, schools, and self-referral throughout the Greater Atlanta area.

  Therapeutic horsemanship at Horse Time is simply providing a horsemanship lesson to individuals and groups with special needs while modifying the lesson to accommodate the special need.  The lesson may include grooming, horse handling and care, barn management (such as stall or tack cleaning; feeding), learning about horse behavior such as body language and herd behavior, or mounted activities such as riding and vaulting (gymnastics on the back of a horse).  Horse Time integrates psychosocial and behavioral goal achievement into the lessons as desired and appropriate (such as self-esteem, body awareness, social skills).

  While an equine-facilitated psychotherapy (EFP) session may look just like a therapeutic horsemanship session as far as the physical activities involved, the two are very different.  A client participating in EFP is working on the achievement of  measurable psychosocial and behavioral goals specified in their treatment plan.  The sessions are facilitated by a licensed, credentialed mental health professional and specially trained assistants.  Working with the horses is a special tool utilized by these  trained therapists to meet the needs of clients desiring and/or needing an experiential treatment approach.

Hippotherapy has recently been added to our menu of services at Horse Time.  Please see detailed information, below, for an explanation of this uniquely effective form of treatment.

  Special needs served at Horse Time have included cerebral palsy, acquired brain injuries, Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome, Down’s Syndrome, Fragile X syndrome, and a variety of other developmental, anxiety, behavioral, mood, psychotic, and substance abuse disorders.  Additionally, we have worked with clients with gender identity issues, abuse histories, and eating disorders. Typically, the youngest age we can work with in psychotherapy is 4 years old, with therapeutic riding generally requiring participants who are at least 5 or 6 years old.  There is no age maximum. 

  Horse Time is accredited by NARHA, the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association.(1-800-369-7433/www.narha.org)  Our instructors are certified by NARHA, and our therapists are all licensed and credentialed to independently practice in the state of Georgia. The program is insured through NARHA as well. 

Precautions and Contraindications for EFP (psychotherapy)

  While equine-facilitated psychotherapy is not appropriate for everyone, there are a wide variety of psychosocial needs and mental health disorders that are amenable to this type of treatment.  Horse Time follows the guidelines of the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association, which state that certain conditions preclude safe participation in equine experiences and that others must be handled with caution.  To that end, clients who are dangerous to themselves or others are not appropriate for participation.  Similarly, clients who are experiencing perceptual impairment (such as severe psychosis or dissociation) or intoxication may not participate.  Horse Time screens for a number of medical conditions such as severe, uncontrolled seizures that preclude safe participation and performs a thorough intake assessment to ensure that we can help clients achieve clinical goals.  Because it is an experiential program that operates part-time at a horse farm, Horse Time is not appropriate as a primary mental health resource for clients in crisis and requiring 24-hour access to care.

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