Riding Towards Independence-A Look Inside Partners for Progress Therapeutic Riding Facility

The Little Lake County Gives Back program is a community outreach effort to connect not-for-profit organizations with our readers.

Partners for Progress NFP

There are few times in life you can walk into a place and feel an immediate sense of warmth. When I visited Partners for Progress, a therapeutic riding facility located in Wauconda, that was exactly the way I felt. Upon entering, I was greeted by Executive Director Diane and the Director of Community Relations, Anne Margaret, and immediately knew that this would be an experience to share.

Partners for Progress was established in 2005  by Diane Helgeland. After a family tragedy brought her to a horse farm in Lake Geneva, a chance meeting with a friend started her journey that led her to the facility in Wauconda and the development of Partners for Progress here in Lake County. Diane grew up on a dairy farm and had her own experience with a family member with Downs Syndrome. With a previous career in special education, she had the knowledge and expertise to develop a program that she knew would benefit the children who needed it most.

Currently, Partners for Progress, NFP is a 501(c)(3) organization that provides equine therapy to children with physical, mental, and emotional challenges using quality trained horses. Partners for Progress sees each child who walks through the door is seen as an individual. Each child is given an individualized evaluation to ensure a quality placement. The riders are assessed by an Occupational Therapist, a Physical Therapist, and a Speech and Language Therapist. Deficient areas are pinpointed in this evaluation, and goals are set with a follow-up scheduled.

This organization specializes in direct treatment, which allows a rider to have therapy using a horse, and Therapeutic Riding, which helps students with goals and challenges them to move forward with life skills. Many of the riders that walk in the door stay with Partners for Progress for a very long time, averaging about seven years of riding, although some stay even longer! The organization has dedicated families that participate. Riders are not only coming in for therapy, but some even participate in competitive horse shows. Parents become involved and invested in the organization by helping out with show teams, taking the lead in fundraising, and planning special events.

Partners for Progress puts a lot of emphasis on building life skills. The riding center is clinically focused instead of recreationally focused. They want to help the riders build life skills, which will help them build job skills. They ride for one whole hour instead of the typical 1/2 hour riding slot. The riders ride inside and outside the facility. Although outside time is limited due to weather, bugs, and kids’ sensitivities, they try to get the kids outside as much as possible because it helps the riders with transition, an important life skill. Also, helping with transition is changing the rider from horse to horse. When riders are old enough and become more experienced and ready, the instructors expect them to read the chart to see who they are riding during their session. The riders are also expected to come in and assist in getting their horse ready, including feeding them. This helps with responsibility, job training, and executive functioning skills. The riders even wash their horses in the wash rack at times, assisting them with sensory integration. With all of these methods and more, Partners for Progress can boast a 79% goal achievement success rate, which means that this percentage of riders have demonstrated moderate or better progress toward their assigned goals. This amazing statistic comes from six years of documented outcome history.

Besides the amazing commitment and dedication by the riders at Partners for Progress, the horses at PFP are a huge asset to the facility. Serving over 225 riders, these horses work harder than one can ever dream. Last year alone, the horses gave over 20,000 hours of therapy! These amazing animals are not just any horses. Horses come to PFP to fill a particular spot/reason in the program. All horses are placed in a conditioning program when they arrive. The horses are treated extremely well, far surpassing the working “life” expectancy seen in some therapeutic riding centers. Most places see their horses lasting about three years helping riders, while horses at Partners for Progress are usually there an average of ten years or more! 

Not only does the facility take care of their horses, but the riders do too and develop a strong relationship with their horses. The horse and rider take care of each other emotionally.

Since their main focus at PFP is therapy for the rider, they must select horses that can work well with their riders. Diane has specific horses for specific needs and always makes sure her horses and riders are carefully matched for optimal therapeutic success. Diane’s love for horses was evident as she led me on tour and was able to tell me a little bit about each horse’s personality.

Working together with the horses, volunteers are also a huge part of the success rate of the riders. PFP has 125 volunteers working a minimum of two hours a week to help Partners for Progress be one of the best therapeutic riding facilities. Interested parties can begin volunteering at PFP at the age of 12 and then go through very important training. Volunteers can do various jobs, from assisting riders in the arena, caring for horses, helping with office and clerical work, training horses, and event planning. Besides volunteers, there are many paid employees as well, all working together to make the facility extremely successful and desirable for people searching for therapeutic riding options.

In order to keep the wonderful services of PFP running, fundraising is a huge part of the organization. You can find their upcoming fundraising events on the PFP website.

Just recently, Little Lake County and Cacao Sweets and Treats partnered together for their philanthropic event “Cupcakes For a Cause” to also raise money for Partners for Progress.

Although Partners for Progress has been helping countless individuals for a long time, Director Diane Helgeland still wants to see more. Plans to develop a large chunk of property in the back of the facility are on her “to do” list. She would love to see a sensory trail and a few more pastures come to fruition. That will all come with time and money. The continued support from the PFP families, fundraisers, and the community can one day make it happen. In the meantime, people who are a part of PFP have only great things to say about it. Nina Aliprandi, who has a daughter that has been attending the facility for a very long time, says that PFP has made all the difference in her daughter’s ability to walk. She expands on that even more, saying:

My daughter… who just began independent walking at fourteen years old, has been riding at P4Progress since she was two years old. This intervention has made all the difference in strengthening her core. Nothing can replicate the unique movement of a horse. The therapists here know how to position her and analyze her responses to maximize the input her body is receiving. The result is a much stronger body with greater balance. I am forever grateful for the skilled hands and gentle therapy horses at Partners for Progress.

Another mom, Michelle Thompson, gushes about PFP as well. She has a daughter who attends the facility for very different reasons than Nina’s daughter but has found complete happiness with the facility as well. She tells us more by saying:

Our experience with Partners for Progress has been outstanding. All of the therapists and volunteers are so warm, supportive, and caring! My daughter feels like she is special there, and loves going weekly even after 4 years!

If you, or someone you know, could benefit from the services that Partners for Progress offers, please contact them directly. They have changed the lives of many, and Diane believes that this is her “forever” job. She loves what she does, and loves the fact that “every child is a puzzle, and I get to have the challenge of helping”. She knows it is all worth it “when you see the differences you make every day in their lives”.  Anne Margaret also finds daily happiness in the work she does. She finds joy in “seeing kids who have the need for hope and then the hope grows bigger and bigger with each accomplishment”.

Amazing facility, talented, giving people, notable progress. Forward moving with goals, forward-moving with independence, forward-moving with hope.

Partners for Progress
23525 W. Milton Road, Wauconda
847-226-1300 | [email protected]  | [email protected]
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