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Meet Stephanie Mitchell of Sunshine Ranch Therapeutic Riding

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Mitchell.

So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I grew up loving and riding horses. They have always been my passion, even though my family was not able to afford our own. I took lessons and we leased a horse named Lady from my trainer when I was a teenager. As the years went by and life got busier, I stopped riding for a while. But I never stopped loving horses, and when I was searching for a volunteer opportunity to serve both humans and animals as an adult, I discovered therapeutic riding. I volunteered with a program that offered therapeutic horseback riding lessons to people with special needs.

I fell in love with this pairing, discovered that it was a very good match for my training and passion, and have since turned it into my life’s mission! I founded Sunshine Ranch Therapeutic Riding in 2012 and received my Therapeutic Riding Instructor Certification through the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) International the following year. My fiancé, family, and friends have helped make this dream a reality, and together we get to serve and help so many different people in many different ways, in partnership with our amazing horses.

Our mission at Sunshine Ranch Therapeutic Riding is “to provide accessible, high-quality instruction in therapeutic horsemanship to improve the physical, mental, and social abilities of children and adults with special needs.” We work toward these goals for our students (ages 3 & up) in individualized weekly riding lessons with our team of volunteers and 3 therapy horses. We currently operate from Heartland Ranch Equestrian Center in Lakeside, CA.

Has it been a smooth road?
Of course, we have had some challenges along the way, but God has always provided for us! In the beginning, it took almost a year to receive our non-profit status. We’ve moved our program 4 different times. We have lost loved ones, both human and equine. We’ve had to work really hard to bring in enough funds from donors and outside sources in order to keep our lesson costs low for our students and their families. But it has all been completely worth it, and we’ve learned a lot about life, love, and business.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
Sunshine Ranch Therapeutic Riding provides one-on-one, goal-centered riding and horsemanship lessons for children and adults who have disabilities and special needs. We purposely pair students with horses and volunteers that will help them reach their goals, whether those goals are strength, balance/flexibility, confidence, empathy, physiological needs, emotion regulation, communication/social skills, independent mobility, following through on multi-step instructions, spatial awareness, and so many more. We are able to disguise a lot of work as fun and games, and our horses provide a very dynamic motivation for our students.

I am most proud of the loving, inclusive community that we foster. We provide a positive, encouraging environment for our students. Regardless of our differences, each person and animal in our program has amazing things to offer, share, and teach. I frequently refer to Sunshine Ranch as a “family,” because that really is what it has become. We are there for each other during hard times, we celebrate each others’ life’s milestones, and our volunteers and students’ families are always willing to help me with any program needs, including physical work and our many fundraising events throughout the year. We work very hard on fundraising in order to keep our students’ fees low. Therapeutic riding is incredibly effective but is not yet covered by insurance companies.

Not only do we love and cherish our students, we feel the same way about our equine partners. The physical and emotional well-being of our therapy horses is one of our top priorities. We have incredible vets and a skilled farrier who help care for our horses and their needs. Our horses are 18-25 years old, and they each have their own physical limitations. Working in our lessons is healthy and therapeutic for them as well.

Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I grew up in San Diego and love this city. There are so many opportunities for people to pursue their passions and find the right niche. Of course, it is also an expensive city to live and work in, and Sunshine Ranch is a bit limited on potential locations due to the fact that we have horses. We also work outside year-round and are limited by weather and other environmental factors.

My fiancé’s and my long-term goal is to buy a house with horse property and run Sunshine Ranch from our home. I would encourage others to start businesses here; there is always a great need for programs that serve people with disabilities, and all of the therapeutic riding programs that I know of have a lengthy waiting list, including us. However, I would also share my concerns about the financial and temperature/weather-related challenges that we face in our business.

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