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Saddle Up! is the oldest and largest recreational therapeutic riding program in the Middle Tennessee area, and the only one that caters exclusively to special needs children. In addition, we are one of only two centers in the State of Tennessee to earn the Premier Accredited Center from the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association. Saddle Up! currently operates with 8 full-time and 23-part time staff members. This includes 1 NARHA Advanced Instructor and 14 NARHA Registered Instructors.

Saddle Up!’s annual budget is used primarily to maintain a herd of 21 horses, farm and barn maintenance, insurance, payroll and national membership in the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA). As a nonprofit organization, Saddle Up! exists exclusively on tax deductible donations and bequests from private individuals and groups. We gratefully accept all forms of donations. Because Saddle Up! was founded in the belief that "all children are equal in the saddle", the ability to pay will never be a restricting factor for our children.

We continue to focus on providing a high quality, safe and fun program to the almost 130 children and youth who ride with us at Saddle Up!.

Our Goals
Our goal for the future is for Saddle Up! to be able to help more exceptional children achieve improved mental and physical capabilities, social skills and psychological well-being.

To achieve our goal, we must increase the number of students we serve, offer new programs such as summer camps, and add more volunteers. To this end we have set up the following objectives:

Objective: Increase volunteers by adding a Lesson Assistant, part-time staff position funded through grants.
Status: In July, 2005 we received a $25,000 grant from Fifth Third Bank that will provide for approximately 70 hours of Lesson Assistants per session for the next year.

Objective: Build an endowment fund to ensure the future of the program.
Status: The board has set an endowment fund as a 3 year goal. We have come a long way in the past 2 years, from buying the farm to building an indoor facility. We are now in the next phase of our capital campaign to secure the future of Saddle Up! by creating an endowment to cover the cost of operating the program.

It is also our goal that Saddle Up! will continue in the manner it was founded -- a "family" of volunteers, parents and friends working together with the help of horses, to bring happiness to special children.

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