Dedicated to enriching the lives of youth, adults and military Veterans with disabilities. Therapeutic Riding Program
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Be back later, we’re going fishing 🎣🐴
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Photo description: 1. the rider is on their horse and holding a DIY closing pole and the rider is concentrating on their catch. 2. The photo shows the rider proudly holding up a green foam fish they caught with the word “wild” on it. Their volunteer in the background looks impressed and the one next to them has their arm up to help guide the fish out of the basket pond
Taking advantage of the September heatwave!
Almost 90° weather in September calls for some painting and bathing. It’s not often we are able to do this during our fall session and the riders had so much fun! The horses are growing in their winter coats already, which adds a bit more “texture” to the paintings, but riders used that to their advantage 🎨🖌️
Our team and herd are looking forward to the cooler weather ahead, but did enjoy getting to do this (hopefully) one last time for the year🐴
Chiro day 2!
Dr. Callie was back today to work with the rest of the herd and they LOVED it. We’re so grateful to Callie and The Hive Chiropractic Center, LLC for everything they do for our herd members 🐴
Ditch the Cheetos for lunch and buy a bale of hay for Tito! Just $5 will buy a bale of hay for this handsome dude for one day this winter🐴
Hay for Tito ➡️ https://horsesense-for-special-riders.networkforgood.com/projects/233043-a-bale-a-day-2024
THANK YOU to everyone who has donated so far! Our herd is so grateful and we will most definitely reach our goal with the support our herd is receiving ❤️
Shout to Viterbo University for sending another awesome group our way this morning! They braved the rain and helped us check a bunch of things off the to-do list 😁
This group helped paint and prep some of our arena poles, stack some loads of hay, touch up pasture entrances with woodchips, and more! They worked hard and didn’t mind getting a little wet from the rain. We also had some feline and equine supervisors throughout the morning as well🐾🐴
Teamwork makes the dream work!🐴
Yesterday our riders got to help with some chores and they LOVED it. We got to talk about what taking care of the horses entail and what that responsibility looks like. The riders helped get hay from the hay barn, bring it over the pastures, and put the hay in the hay feeders. They also learned about all the different people that have a part in keeping our herd happy and healthy like the vet, chiro, farrier, and more!
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Trade in the morning coffee and buy a bale of hay for one of our therapy horses! For just $5 you can feed one of our herd members for a whole day this winter🐴
With 10 horses we go through 10 bales of hay every single day over the winter months and that adds up fast. For the average 6 month Wisconsin winter we will go through approximately 1,800 bales of hay which is $9,000! You can help make a difference buy donating at the link below. Our horses thank you 💕
Feed a therapy horse ➡️ https://horsesense-for-special-riders.networkforgood.com/projects/233043-a-bale-a-day-2024
Basement surveying his kingdom 🐾👑
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Happy Tuesday from Hermes! Fall session is underway and we can’t believe there is only 10 weeks left of our 2024 lesson year 🫣
Here’s to lots of laughs, learning, and memories for the next 10 weeks!🐴
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WOW! A huge shoutout of appreciation to everyone who joined us at Ponies, Pinots, & Pilsners last night! Our team continues to be blown away by the support of our community last night and all of the new faces that came and learned about us. Thank you to everyone who spread the word and made this event an absolute success, we are so grateful🐴
Thank you to Horstmann Homestead Farm and Event for allowing us to use their absolutely stunning venue. So many guests relayed how beautiful the space was and we it was a pleasure working with such a wonderful family!
Thank you to mike munson for the music entertainment. It was the perfect addition to such a beautiful evening.🎶
Thank you to the Apothik Eatery + Food Truck for supplying the yummy food! It was incredibly delicious and we are so grateful you were able to be there!
Thank you Hillsboro Brewing Company for coming to the event and helping make it a success! HorseSense is so thankful you came out to join us🍺
Thank you to Wooden Ship Brewing Company, Humble Forager Brewery, and Elmaro Vineyard for the tasting donations!
And last but not least thank you to all of our sponsors and those who donated other items to our event. Linda's Bakery for the yummy cookies we sent home with guests and Thrivent, Maxwell-White Plumbing, Inc. and WWHSA for financial donations and all of our volunteers who made this possible.
We hope to see you all again next year 🐴🍷🍺
It’s time! Come see us until 8:30 at Horstmann Homestead😆
TOMORROW is the day! We can’t wait to see you at 5pm for Ponies, Pinots, & Pilsners😆
You can still buy tickets online through tonight to participate in the unlimited tasting otherwise you can buy tickets at the door tomorrow! Remember, tickets are ONLY required to do the tasting. Everyone is welcome to come listen to music from mike munson, enjoy yummy food from Apothik (kid friendly options available!), tractor rides, and more for no charge at all. We will also have free soda and water available and the venue bar will be open for CASH drink purchases.
Cash is highly encouraged for the event if you want to partake in the 50/50 or bucket raffles or enjoy drinks from the venue bar.
Tickets➡️ https://horsesense-for-special-riders.networkforgood.com/events/74525-ponies-pinots-pilsners-2024
See you tomorrow at the beautiful Horstmann Homestead Farm and Event! 🐴🍷🍺
It’s that time of year again! With summer drawing to a close it means winter is getting closer and we need to stock up on hay for the winter months.
Did you know that each HorseSense herd member will eat one bale of hay per day?! That’s 10 bales of hay per day and 70 bales a week just for our herd of horses! For just $5 you can feed one of our therapy horses for one day this winter. Our horses are the backbone of the program and without them we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.🐴
Donate at the link below to help us feed the horses this winter ⬇️⬇️⬇️
https://horsesense-for-special-riders.networkforgood.com/projects/233043-a-bale-a-day-2024
CHIRO DAY😁
Thank you Dr. Callie (The Hive Chiropractic Center, LLC) for helping keep our herd in tip top shape for lessons!
We are looking forward to having Dr.Callie back in a few weeks to do the rest of the herd. The chiropractor is just one of the many tools that we use to maintain our herds health and happiness and we are so grateful for The Hive!
Ponies, Pinots, & Pilsners is ONE week away😆
Have you bought your ticket yet!?! Let us know if you’ll be joining us below!
If you haven’t gotten a ticket yet you can do so at this link ➡️➡️➡️ https://horsesense-for-special-riders.networkforgood.com/events/74525-ponies-pinots-pilsners-2024
Join us for a few hours of family fun from 5pm-8:30 with lawn games, tractor rides, live music from mike munson, 50/50 CASH Raffle, 3 bucket raffles, food from Apothik Eatery + Food Truck, mini cookies from Linda's Bakery, and more! *Please note CASH is required for raffle tickets and drinks purchased from the venue bar*
Tickets are only required for those participating in the tasting and entry is completely free otherwise! Horstmann Homestead Farm and Event has such a beautiful venue and we can’t wait for you to join us 🐴🍷🍺
Just 3 peas in a pod in their run-in shelter (and happier than ever)🐴☀️
The horses and humans (and felines) of HorseSense are definitely looking forward to cooler temperatures! What are you doing to stay cool the last few days!?
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Photo description: From L to R it is Elsa, Alma, and Lily Belle and they are inside their shelter. They are all looking at the camera with their ears forward
The perfect way to cool off on this super hot day🐴
Christy was getting ready to hose off the horses for a nice cool down and Hermes volunteered to be first! He put himself right in front of the hose all on his own and didn’t want to leave it. Pretty sure Hermes would have stood there for hours if he had the chance 😆
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Photo Description: Hermes is standing in his pasture and is right in front of a hose squirting water like a sprinkler. He doesn’t have a blaster on and has his face pointed up towards the falling water and his lips are curled out all happy
Thank you to Viterbo University and Life at Viterbo University for sending a phenomenal group of students our way this morning for their Service Saturday!
This group worked HARD and we are so grateful for their help and support. The students helped with salting the arena, pasture maintenance projects, and more! Thank you all😁🐴
Ended summer session with the most beautiful night of the week and lots of smiles ❤️🐴
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Photo Description: A rider is sitting on Tito’s back (you can only see his mane and neck) and is smiling at the camera. They are using a support pillow in the front and you can see their volunteer on the right helping support them and looking up at them with a smile. The sky is blue and filled with speckled white clouds
Thank you for having us! We are so thankful for this partnership with BBBB, it was wonderful working with you all last night 😁🐴
HorseSense co-hosted Bingo last night. We execute our games with nonprofits & groups doing good by others and donate $500 for their efforts.
Next Bingo is Wed. 9/4 ~ $5,000 Progressive Jackpot ~ Onalaska Omni Center ~ 1st call 6PM.
It’s the last day for early bird tickets for Ponies, Pinots, & Pilsners! After today tickets will still be available online but for $25 per ticket. Click the link below to get yours⬇️⬇️⬇️
https://horsesense-for-special-riders.networkforgood.com/events/74525-ponies-pinots-pilsners-2024
Tickets are ONLY required for this participating in the unlimited tasting. The event is free to attend otherwise and you can enjoy lawn games, 50/50 cash raffle, music by mike munson, delicious food by Apothik Eatery + Food Truck, and more!
Join us for a great evening at the beautiful Horstmann Homestead Farm and Event! We can’t wait to see you🐴🍷🍺
Happy Wednesday from an upside down Basement ☺️🐾
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It’s a beautiful week for lessons outside☀️
Our team can’t believe this is the last week of our summer session. It has certainly flown by and we’ve loved all the laughs and smiles along the way!
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Kit wants to know if you’ve purchased your tickets to Ponies, Pinots, & Pilsners yet🐴🍷🍺?! Click the link below to take advantage of early bird pricing that ends THIS Thursday the 22nd (Tickets are ONLY required for those participating in the tasting)⬇️⬇️⬇️
https://horsesense-for-special-riders.networkforgood.com/events/74525-ponies-pinots-pilsners-2024
Join us for an evening of fun at Horstmann Homestead Farm and Event and enjoy…
🎶Music by mike munson
🥙Food by Apothik Eatery + Food Truck
🚜Tractor rides
🎟️50/50 CASH raffles
🪣Bucket raffles
🎯Lawn games
AND MORE
See you there!
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Photo Description: Kit is standing outside and looking head first at the camera with her head slightly lowered and ears forward. On the left is a wine glass being held by someone’s hand and on the left is an unopened beer bottle being held by someone else. The sky is blue and full of white clouds and the grass is bright green
We had a great time promoting “HorseSense for Heros” at the Veterans Breakfast this morning!
Sometimes if you look up, you may just see a Cellar staring back at you 🐾
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Photo Description: Cellar is sitting up in the birch tree and staring down at the camera. You can really only see his bright yellow eyes against is dark black body. There is dots of the blue sky in the background behind the green leaves of the tree
Thank you to La Crosse Kiwanis Club for a generous financial donation towards Access Trax! We are so grateful for their gift and can’t wait to begin adding Access Trax into programming to make lessons even more accessible😆
Access Trax are durable, lightweight, portable mats that can be attached together to create pathways over terrain that may be uneven. In lessons we can put these in the sand arena or over grass and gravel to assist riders with mobility aids or those that do best with flatter surfaces. They will allow these riders to access even more areas of the barn that may have been hard to navigate before and broaden the scope of lessons.
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Photo description: Ashley is standing next to Fancy outside and holding a donation check. Ashley is smiling at the camera and Fancy has her head turned towards the left and almost looking at Ashley and the donation. The sky is light blue and speckled with clouds.
W4102 Ober Road
La Crosse, WI
54623
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Ditch the Cheetos for lunch and buy a bale of hay for Tito! Just $5 will buy a bale of hay for this handsome dude for one day this winter🐴 Hay for Tito ➡️ https://horsesense-for-special-riders.networkforgood.com/projects/233043-a-bale-a-day-2024 THANK YOU to everyone who has donated so far! Our herd is so grateful and we will most definitely reach our goal with the support our herd is receiving ❤️ #baleaday #horsesensewi #lacrossewisconsin #titothefjord #feedtito #thankyou #localnonprpfit #couleeregion
CHIRO DAY😁 Thank you Dr. Callie (The Hive Chiropractic Center, LLC) for helping keep our herd in tip top shape for lessons! We are looking forward to having Dr.Callie back in a few weeks to do the rest of the herd. The chiropractor is just one of the many tools that we use to maintain our herds health and happiness and we are so grateful for The Hive! #equinechiropractic #couleeregion #horsesensewi #lacrossewisconsin #happyhealthyhorses #thankyou
Friends that groom together stay together 🤝🐴 • • • Video description: Ozzy and Hermes are grooming eachother in their pasture. Ozzy is in front facing the left and scratching Hermes’ back while Hermes is facing the right and behind Ozzy and scratching his back #accessibility #horsesensewi #lacrossewisconsin #fatherson #ozzythehalflingercross #hermesthehalflingercross #handsomeboys #backscratches #june
Hot weather doesn’t keep us down😎🐴 Riders got to start the day with grooming and horse painting and ended it with water relays. Originally they were only supposed to only get Sam wet, but that’s not fun enough and they wanted a cool down too🤣 • • • Video Description: a collage of photos and videos form the water relay with riders squeezing water into buckets from sponges, jumping over barrels, and water buckets being poured on Sam and the riders who wanted to join #accessibility #waterrelay #cooldowntime #horsesensewi #lacrossewisconsin #grateful #june #heatwave #funtimes #laughsallaround #couleeregion
Tracy wanted to join us for the drawing and look—she won!!! ❤️
Bloody Mary basket!! Ticket #389
The Derby celebration basket winner!!
Congratulations to the weekend Charmant getaway winner!!
4PM 50/50 cash raffle winner is ticket #2634! Congratulations, still time to join the 6PM draw!!
Happy Wednesday from a very happy (and itchy) Poptart 😆 Poptart absolutely LOVES his scratching post! Some generous supporters bought these scratching pieces off of our Amazon Wishlist and we attached them to this post. Now the horses can get endless scratches whenever they want and Poptart takes full advantage of this 🐴 Want to support the horses? Check out our Amazon wishlist today at the link below! https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/3R8LNYSS0DMR9?ref_=wl_share • • • Video Description: the video takes place in the pasture and there is a post in the center with some black rubber scratching pieces attached. Poptart is next to the post facing the camera and rubbing his big neck along the rubber pieces on his right side. Then he switches and moves to the left of the post to get his left side of the next. At the end he looks up at the camera very satisfied and licking his lips #accessibility #horsesensewi #scratchingpost #poptartthefjord #wednesday #midweek #loveit #couleeregion #lacrossewisconsin
Elsa says don’t forget to donate to our Bale a Day campaign if you haven’t already! Each of our therapy horses can eat one bale of hay per day during the winter and with 7 therapy horses that adds up. Check out the link below and find out more 🐴 Elsa says thank you😁 https://horsesense-for-special-riders.networkforgood.com/projects/207443-a-bale-a-day-2023 #asmr #elsathefjord #horsesensewi #lacrossewisconsin #yay #baleadaycampaign #donatetoday
Ditch the bag of Cheetos and buy a bale of hay for Tito! For the price of a bag of Cheetos you can buy Tito food for a whole day this winter. Just $5 buys one bale of hay which is a full days worth of food for one of our equine herd members. Will you donate today? Lick the link below to find out more! https://horsesense-for-special-riders.networkforgood.com/projects/207443-a-bale-a-day-2023 #baleaday #titothefjord #ditchthecheetos #horsesensewi #nonprofit #helpfeedtheherd #winter #donatetoday #couleeregion #lacrossewisconsin *we do not own the rights to the music*
Bud is strutting into the weekend like….😆🐴 • • • Video Description: Bud is strutting in his pasture up the the gate. The video is slightly sped up then reversed and then sped up again #accessibility #strutyourstuff #budthedraft #horsesensewi #lacrossewisconsin #weekend #friyay #funtime
Basement is running into the lesson week like…😁 #lessonweek #yay #monday #lacrossewisconsin #horsesensewi #basementthebarncat #socute #loveit
Merry Christmas Eve from Bud and his candy cane! There’s only one more sleep till Christmas and it’ll certainly be a very white one🎄 Our team hopes everyone has had safe travels so far and is enjoying time with loved ones💛 • • • #christmaseve #december #candycane #yum #lacrossewisconsin #socute #draftcross #horsesensewi #bud
While everyone is hunkering down and hopefully staying cozy inside, here’s a cute video of Poptart, Kit, and a photo of Noah getting their candy canes! Our staff prefilmed on one of the not-so-cold days🥶 Stay tuned for the final candy cane of the season tomorrow…any guesses which horse that is?😉🐴 • • • #video #candycanes #yum #lacrossewisconsin #horsesensewi #sweettreat #peppermint #fjord #quarterhorse #halflinger #december
HorseSense is an organization dedicated to enriching the lives of individuals with and without disabilities through a friendship with the horse. We strives to improve the bodies, minds and spirits of riders by providing weekly therapeutic horseback riding lessons that:
Create a positive environment for learning Emphasize the capabilities of each rider Improve physical health Provide a sense of accomplishment and control
There are several benefits youth and adults with cognitive, physical and psychological disabilities experience throughout lessons as they master their riding skills. Sitting astride a horse increases balance and coordination, strengthens muscles and brings about body awareness, for example. And through complex, interactive lessons, riders practice their speech, reading and problem-solving skills as they learn to follow instructions. Other benefits include: improved reflexes, weight-bearing ability, range of motion, stamina, hand-eye coordination, sensory integration, left/right discrimination, decision-making, independence, patience, physical fitness and responsibility.
The impact of therapeutic horseback riding is life-long as such benefits hit the very core of our riders: their identities. Riders build their self-esteem and self-efficacy by regulating their emotions to convert negative feelings into constructive motivation. This motivation they experience throughout lessons carries into their everyday lives, empowering them to believe in themselves and their abilities.
Wags & Whiskers Pet Food / Supplies - La Cros
Losey Boulevard S
