OLYMPIC THERAPEUTIC RIDING & RESPITE CARE

Providing outdoor learning experiences for people with special needs around the North Olympic Peninsula.

We're back to offering limited outdoor programs. Participants must be fully vaccinated and boosted, bring vaccine card and mask, and (at this time while Covid transmissions are still high even among those vaccinated) test negative for Covid on the day of the scheduled outing. Watch this space for updates!

Thank you for your cooperation to help keep each other healthy.

OTR&R offers small group day excursions and activities and limited summertime horsemanship and riding lessons for youth and adults with developmental disabilities living in Clallam and Jefferson Counties. Come explore, discover, learn and ride with us!

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WHO WE ARE

As a parent of a child with developmental disabilities and with 10 years of experience creating and leading life-enriching programs for people with special needs, Cheryl Smith brings her deep love and compassion for her clients, to offer this new, experiential learning program on the North Olympic Peninsula...while providing much-needed respite for families and caregivers.

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WHAT WE DO

Experiential learning activities in the great outdoors!

Offering pre-planned, regularly scheduled or customized outings, field trips, and casual community-based respite care for individuals or small groups of friends with special needs. See calendar and rates below.

New events are being added weekly, so check back often!

THERAPEUTIC RIDING (MAY-SEPT)

As a therapeutic riding instructor (certified through Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship Int'l), Cheryl leads fun horsemanship games and teaches basic riding skills with her gentle, trained horse partners Jack and Jill. Horseback riding (with the unique, diagonal gait and proprioceptive input from the horse) has proven to be a powerful treatment modality for various physical disabilities. Riding can help people increase muscle tone and balance, improve posture and walking, and help with focus and communication for people with autism and speech disorders. Given Cheryl's love for animals and history rescuing them, it comes as no surprise that Jack & Jill were rescued too. In fact, Captain Jack is blind in his right eye, but thanks to Cheryl's kind leadership, he is trusting, brave, calm, and loves trail rides. So come meet the horses, play fun games with them, and learn to ride the safe way.

DAY EXCURSIONS FOR SMALL GROUPS
(YEAR-ROUND)

What do you like to do? Where would you like to go with a few friends? In addition to our published activity calendar, we will work with families to design and schedule outings and activities per your interests and goals that fit your schedule and needs: nature walks, swimming, berry picking, beach combing, movies, zoo, aquarium, west coast day trip to explore tide pools and search for Sasquatch, even to the Seattle waterfront, Seattle Aquarium, sports games, Pacific Science Center, and Great Wheel are just some ideas. Groups are limited to just four people to ensure high levels of attention, support, and safety. Scroll down to see what's on the calendar! To register or get more info, please email

cheryldtr@gmail.com

MEANINGFUL RESPITE CARE
YOU CAN TRUST

At Olympic Therapeutic Riding & Respite (OTR&R), we are dedicated to offering quality respite programming with a purpose: to help families and engage their loved ones with meaningful, fun, educational outings and activities. Need a break at a different time than what we offer with our planned outings? Give us a call, we're happy to serve you with custom dates and times for respite when you need it, if given at least a week's advance notice. We are insured; staff has undergone state-required background checks; and we pride ourselves in safety first!

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WHO WE SERVE

Youth and adults with developmental disabilities are at greater risk of experiencing loneliness, isolation, sedentary lifestyles, lack of friendships, and secondary health problems. Individuals with autism, who are blind, have cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome, or other conditions often don't have many opportunities to experience, visit, explore the outdoors and participate in community events and resources, especially if they are out of school, live at home and their families work or need a break from caregiving. Cheryl provides quality preplanned programs and activities or customized outings just for you!

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OUR STORY

At 22 years old, our son may not be able to speak in the traditional sense, but he sure expresses himself in other ways! When we adopted our sweet Daniel at birth (our only child), we didn't know he would soon (at 4 months old) be diagnosed with debilitating seizures known as Infantile spasms; that he would have profound learning and developmental and some physical disabilities. Still, he was the teacher that my husband and I needed, and continues to be the love and light of our lives. He is the single most happy and joyous person we know: he wakes up happy, goes to sleep happy, and never cries in between. While most parents measure their children's development, success and achievements against standardized "norms" or others' expectations and definitions of "success", we--with other parents of kids with special needs--know that we must focus on and celebrate even the smallest tries. So, like you, we strive to give our son every opportunity to try. To grow. To learn. And to succeed: at whatever that looks like for him. We'd be honored to offer these opportunities for your loved one, too. Contact us to learn more. We look forward to sharing our adventures with you.

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"Act as if what you do makes a difference.

It does"

William James

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ABOUT OTR&R and FEES

Here at Olympic Therapeutic Riding & Respite, we see and honor the value in everyone. We want to be a catalyst for our loved ones to be visible and engaged in their communities, to be included in events and to maximize their potential for living their best lives. Our fees for providing quality programs and guided group outings are nominal, set by the Washington Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) for whom we are a contracted community respite provider. Fees are $18.16 per person per hour. If your family has a case resource manager with the Developmental Disabilities Administration (DDA), please check with them to see if your loved one is eligible and has funds available to bill DDA for their participation in the activity. When registering, you will have the option to self-pay or to instruct us to bill DDA. The fee for each activity/event is listed in the detailed event description below (includes actual care time plus transportation and sometimes other applicable expenses).

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MEET THE HORSES

Captain Jack has been with the Smith family since 2001, when Cheryl rescued him from a filthy stall at a livestock auction yard, saving him from slaughter. He was 7 years old and blind in his right eye. Still, he could run and trot and jump like the best of them and has safely carried her on many trail rides! Early on, he challenged Cheryl in many ways, but also taught her patience, kind leadership, persistence, clear communication, and to trust him. And her abilities. He patiently gives her son Danny safe rides; her son beams and squeals and bounces with delight in the saddle. And when he's done, he walks a little more smoothly, evenly, and taller.
When the family moved to Washington in 2013, they wanted to find a friend (horses are safer and calmer in herds) for Jack, so they searched and searched for an older, kind, gentle horse that would be a nice companion for him. They rescued a white mare from a feedlot (holding pen for horses bound for slaughter in Mexico and Canada). She is a bit bigger than Jack, but very kind and steady and slow-moving. They named her...Jill!

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