Back In The Saddle Equine Therapy Center

BITS provides therapeutic riding and equine-assisted learning for children, teens, and adults with a wide range of physical, emotional, and developmental challenges. Many of these individuals have limited financial resources, so we offer our programs at a discounted rate or at no cost through scholarships. 

As clients engage in horseback riding, care for, and form meaningful bonds with their horses, they experience positive emotional growth. This journey leads them to discover a newfound sense of accomplishment and fosters the development of an identity as skilled equestrians that goes beyond their disabilities or impairments. 

The introduction of our SOAR program, designed to assist young people facing emotional challenges during the pandemic, has markedly widened BITS's scope, benefiting 205 clients and doubling our impact. Initially launching with 31 participants in 2020, the SOAR program grew to include 200 participants by 2023.

BITS offers a number of programs, including:

SOAR. An eight-week initiative tailored for adolescents and young adults grappling with mental health issues draws inspiration from the principles of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT).  Participants are divided into small groups, each engaging in two key activities: a therapeutic riding session lasting one hour and a mental health counseling session, also one hour in duration. The counseling segment addresses vital topics such as self-care, compassion, self-assurance, time management, stress management, establishing healthy boundaries, rectifying erroneous thought patterns, and enhancing coping mechanisms. 

Therapeutic Riding. This year-round program is for children and adults facing physical, cognitive, mental, or emotional challenges. This includes veterans, uniformed professionals, and their families, who participate in the program at no cost as a thank-you for their service and to help them cope with the stress and challenges of serving their country. Each hour-long therapeutic session is tailored to the individual and focuses on increasing strength, balance, coordination, cognition, thought-processing, and confidence, through the connection they build with their horse. 

Project Connect. This new eight-week program for parents with young children from ages 2 to 5 is designed to help parents form a bond with their children at an early age. We've transformed core early childhood development themes —Connection, Positivity, Behavior Meaning, Routines, Instruction, Intentional Responses, and Comprehensive Planning—into equestrian activities. For instance, the session focused on Connection and emphasized bonding between parents and children through activities such as grooming and preparing a horse for riding. 

Summer Camp. Children ages 6-12 facing hardships at home can escape those difficulties for a fun week of summer camp where they develop friendships and learn social-emotional skills to help them face the challenges in their lives. Children come for a week of camp where they learn about caring for horses, gain farm life experience, and enjoy interacting with horses through grooming, general care, and riding. 

Equine-Assisted Learning. This program is for individuals who are unable to ride, or for those who are seeking to build confidence and trust with our horses before riding. This program emphasizes horse care and keeping, equine communication and body language, and safe handling techniques, and builds confidence in our participants, often resulting in participants advancing to our mounted programs.  

If you would like to help today during NH Gives, we enthusiastically THANK YOU!!!!!

Who We Are

BITS ETC exists to bring therapeutic riding and equine assisted activities to people living with disabilities. We find ourselves in a new world of heartache and challenge. Unimaginable changes in daily life affect us all. At BITS we have initiated measures so lessons can resume safely. A phased reopening with guidance from the CDC and others, will bring the healing power of horses to KICK COVID!