Stable Connections: Help build therapy centre
Donation protected
Make a difference with a 10$ contribution. Stable Connections is embarking on a $160,000 Healing through Horses capital campaign to build an accessible and heated therapy arena and treatment space to avoid interrupted services.
We help rehabilitate people with disabilities, trauma or victims of abuse.
83% of our clientele are under the age of 18,
20% of our clientele are women and young girls who are victims of abuse, and
54% of our clientele have suffered trauma.
We also help with the rehabilitation of horses.
We rehabilitate their health and train them to join our team, helping to provide therapy services.
Due to the significant demand for services, Stable Connections is embarking on a $160,000 Healing through Horses capital campaign to build a therapy arena and treatment space by the end of 2022. The reality in Manitoba is that we cannot operate without a heated space to provide year round services (occupational, physical and speech therapy, trauma resolution and educational offerings) as weather can reach significantly cold temperatures such as -40's. With these improvements, we will fulfill the significant demand for equine-assisted therapies, changing lives one session at a time. Stable Connections faces significant scheduling and space restraints in our attempt to accommodate more clients at high-demand times such as weekends and after-school/work hours.
We are excited to design a professional facility that will allow Stable Connections to expand its programming and better serve our participants. The design of the new space will permit multiple programs to operate at the same time in a way that is not currently possible. Planning this new facility is inspiring and exciting, and we look forward to providing life-changing programs to people of all ages with special needs in Manitoba (and Canada) for many years to come.
Your financial support of Stable Connections enables the continuation and expansion of the program.
The new Stable Connections Therapy Center in Manitoba, when upgraded to become a state of the art therapy center, will provide fully handicap accessible buildings and grounds, a heated barn, a warm indoor riding ring, a mechanized mounting assist device, heated viewing area, heated classroom and therapy room space, plenty of parking, office space, a caretaker’s facility, an outdoor arena and a round pen for outdoor riding, sensory trails around the facility, and a large barn and pastures suitable for our team of horses, with the necessary farm equipment to support these horses.
See what some of our participants have to say:
Testimonial:
For a few years, we have traveled all over Canada and the United States in search of therapies for our daughter. After not seeing results with conventional physiotherapy and occupational therapy, we traveled with our special needs child in hope of finding treatment with positive outcomes. Sometimes we were successful and sometimes we saw a regression in our daughter’s development. Upon my research, I came across Hippotherapy and was intrigued with the idea of using the movement of a horse for the facilitation of the neuromotor system that supports the functional inputs of the patient. We were very fortunate to find out that Stable Connections is located in our home province of Manitoba.
During our first session, the team at Stable Connections proved their knowledge and experience with children. The team takes time to connect with our daughter, she is engaged in all the activities, and the animals provide comfort. The treatment my daughter receives at Stable Connections helps her to organize her sensory system and unlock abilities that we thought we would never see. After each session we notice that our daughter is calmer, stronger and better coordinated.
After a few sessions, we were able to see our daughter’s core muscles strong enough to be able to ride along with the horse’s movement. Our daughter’s neurologist told us that our daughter would walk independently around the age of five. Our daughter started walking independently a month before her fourth birthday. Without a doubt, she was able to meet this major milestone thanks to the few months of sessions at Stable Connections. We witness her strength, balance and confidence grow as she attends sessions at Stable Connections.
I wish and pray that Stable Connections establishes into a year-round facility that can accommodate more people in need because it has proven to work far better than all the other therapeutic practices we have visited. Sarah at Stable Connections is committed to her patients, the families and her profession. We are forever grateful for Sarah’s commitment to our daughter’s goals in becoming independent, as well as educating us as caregivers in assisting our daughter in everyday activities. Sarah is an inspirational therapist and we are so blessed to have her on our daughter’s health team.
Sincerely,
Carla Nejmark
Testimonial:
A remarkable team and outstanding advocates! Both Sarah-Michelle and Karen are incredible. There are no true words that can describe the care, knowledge and passion they have.
After only a few short weeks under Stable Connections wings, our daughters have made significant gains and continue to move in a healthy direction. The holistic therapeutic approaches around mind, body and soul through equine-assisted therapy are magical.
By far one of the most inspiring experiences we’ve had during our journey as parents with children who have experienced trauma.
We highly recommend Stable Connections! The outcomes are far greater than traditional talk therapies and outweigh any medicinal treatment. It’s an honor to be a part of this profound organization & team of amazing professionals.
Sincerely,
Tamara & Troy
Testimonial:
Our occupational therapy sessions including Hippotherapy have helped our child with balance and motor planning. Since we began our sessions with Sarah and the team at Stable Connections – we have seen success in physical literacy skills like being more comfortable in the water - mastering front and back floats, as well as front crawl and backstroke, and riding a bike without any aids. The confidence gained from working with Sarah, her team, and the horses is immeasurable. We see a willingness to try things that were simply not even a consideration prior to hippotherapy and that confidence spills over into every aspect of life. We can’t thank Sarah enough for her professionalism and the genuine care and interest she takes in each of her clients. She and the therapy horses give so much to everyone and the love comes back tenfold! Thank you for the work you do to improve quality of life – I don’t know where we would be without you and the service you provide.
-Anonymous parent
Testimonial:
To whom it may concern,
I’m writing to let you know how important and what an impact Stable Connections has had on mine and my family’s life. Sarah and Karen are amazing people and are great at what they do. I believe whole heartedly that my oldest child wouldn’t be alive today and my family would have fallen apart if it wasn’t for Sarah and Karen. My oldest child started seeing them just over a year and a half ago. Up to this point we had tried many resources for them that just wasn’t working. They could not connect or trust other people. Somehow both Sarah and Karen managed to get my child to trust and open up to them. We tried one on one counselling through MATC, they were in the CATS program one on one and group sessions, they also ended up in P1 north which is the children’s Psych ward. They were seriously considering ending their life and they were already self-harming and had made attempts to end their life. We finally heard about Stable Connections and how they use horses in their therapy. I thought why not it can’t hurt. It has been one of the best decisions I have made for my child and this family. There has been death, divorce and abuse that they have helped us work through. So not only have they seen my oldest, they have also seen some of the rest of the family, including myself one on one and in a family setting. My family actually gets along and functions now. They have helped us work through the worst time in our lives and have unique ways by using the horses to help better to connect to ourselves and others. I've never seen anything like it before and didn’t know it even existed but I’m glad we found them and have been able to have this experience. We have gone from arguing all the time and living in constant fear that my oldest would succeed in killing themselves and Sarah and Karen have helped them work through and will continue to work through their issues. We no longer live in fear of having to attend a funeral.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and find out what Stable connections has done for my family and I. They do very important work and I would recommend them to anyone.
Deanna
Testimonial:
The one and only good thing that came out of this pandemic? A confirmation that occupational therapy incorporating Hippotherapy was really helping my son. In spring of 2020, when everything got shut down, including therapies, regression started. Vincent was agitated and frustrated. He had stresses and pain that
we could not help him with. He had been doing occupational therapy incorporating Hippotherapy for at least 2 years and was excited to do so. What has hippotherapy helped my son with? You name it and it helped!
Frustration, vocalization, constipation, alertness, stress, focus, and I could go on! Hippotherapy
has helped us do activities as a family because his stress and agitation towards his sisters was
replaced by a curiosity and wonder of what they were doing. Even though my son is nonverbal,
he does not hide his feelings and he made it very clear when he likes or dislikes something. He
made it very clear that he loves his sessions and that he NEEDS them. I honestly don’t know
what we would do without it.
Alain, Prévine et Vincent
Reading Riders short video:
“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible; then they seem improbable; when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”
— Christopher Reeve
Our continued goal for Stable Connections is to help more people in our community and worldwide!
Thank you for helping us achieve our goals!
To learn more about who we are, who we serve and what we do, please visit our website:
Stable Connections Website
Read our FULL STORY:
Help children and adults with special needs access therapy services!
We help rehabilitate people with disabilities, trauma or victims of abuse.
83% of our clientele are under the age of 18,
20% of our clientele are women and young girls who are victims of abuse, and
54% of our clientele have suffered trauma.
We also help with the rehabilitation of horses.
We rehabilitate their health and train them to join our team, helping to provide therapy services.
Due to the significant demand for services, Stable Connections is embarking on a $160,000 Healing through Horses capital campaign to build a therapy arena and treatment space by the end of 2022. The reality in Manitoba is that we cannot operate without a heated space to provide year round services (occupational, physical and speech therapy, trauma resolution and educational offerings) as weather can reach significantly cold temperatures such as -40's. With these improvements, we will fulfill the significant demand for equine-assisted therapies, changing lives one session at a time. Stable Connections faces significant scheduling and space restraints in our attempt to accommodate more clients at high-demand times such as weekends and after-school/work hours.
We are excited to design a professional facility that will allow Stable Connections to expand its programming and better serve our participants. The design of the new space will permit multiple programs to operate at the same time in a way that is not currently possible. Planning this new facility is inspiring and exciting, and we look forward to providing life-changing programs to people of all ages with special needs in Manitoba (and Canada) for many years to come.
Your financial support of Stable Connections enables the continuation and expansion of the program.
The new Stable Connections Therapy Center in Manitoba, when upgraded to become a state of the art therapy center, will provide fully handicap accessible buildings and grounds, a heated barn, a warm indoor riding ring, a mechanized mounting assist device, heated viewing area, heated classroom and therapy room space, plenty of parking, office space, a caretaker’s facility, an outdoor arena and a round pen for outdoor riding, sensory trails around the facility, and a large barn and pastures suitable for our team of horses, with the necessary farm equipment to support these horses.
See what some of our participants have to say:
Testimonial:
For a few years, we have traveled all over Canada and the United States in search of therapies for our daughter. After not seeing results with conventional physiotherapy and occupational therapy, we traveled with our special needs child in hope of finding treatment with positive outcomes. Sometimes we were successful and sometimes we saw a regression in our daughter’s development. Upon my research, I came across Hippotherapy and was intrigued with the idea of using the movement of a horse for the facilitation of the neuromotor system that supports the functional inputs of the patient. We were very fortunate to find out that Stable Connections is located in our home province of Manitoba.
During our first session, the team at Stable Connections proved their knowledge and experience with children. The team takes time to connect with our daughter, she is engaged in all the activities, and the animals provide comfort. The treatment my daughter receives at Stable Connections helps her to organize her sensory system and unlock abilities that we thought we would never see. After each session we notice that our daughter is calmer, stronger and better coordinated.
After a few sessions, we were able to see our daughter’s core muscles strong enough to be able to ride along with the horse’s movement. Our daughter’s neurologist told us that our daughter would walk independently around the age of five. Our daughter started walking independently a month before her fourth birthday. Without a doubt, she was able to meet this major milestone thanks to the few months of sessions at Stable Connections. We witness her strength, balance and confidence grow as she attends sessions at Stable Connections.
I wish and pray that Stable Connections establishes into a year-round facility that can accommodate more people in need because it has proven to work far better than all the other therapeutic practices we have visited. Sarah at Stable Connections is committed to her patients, the families and her profession. We are forever grateful for Sarah’s commitment to our daughter’s goals in becoming independent, as well as educating us as caregivers in assisting our daughter in everyday activities. Sarah is an inspirational therapist and we are so blessed to have her on our daughter’s health team.
Sincerely,
Carla Nejmark
Testimonial:
A remarkable team and outstanding advocates! Both Sarah-Michelle and Karen are incredible. There are no true words that can describe the care, knowledge and passion they have.
After only a few short weeks under Stable Connections wings, our daughters have made significant gains and continue to move in a healthy direction. The holistic therapeutic approaches around mind, body and soul through equine-assisted therapy are magical.
By far one of the most inspiring experiences we’ve had during our journey as parents with children who have experienced trauma.
We highly recommend Stable Connections! The outcomes are far greater than traditional talk therapies and outweigh any medicinal treatment. It’s an honor to be a part of this profound organization & team of amazing professionals.
Sincerely,
Tamara & Troy
Testimonial:
Our occupational therapy sessions including Hippotherapy have helped our child with balance and motor planning. Since we began our sessions with Sarah and the team at Stable Connections – we have seen success in physical literacy skills like being more comfortable in the water - mastering front and back floats, as well as front crawl and backstroke, and riding a bike without any aids. The confidence gained from working with Sarah, her team, and the horses is immeasurable. We see a willingness to try things that were simply not even a consideration prior to hippotherapy and that confidence spills over into every aspect of life. We can’t thank Sarah enough for her professionalism and the genuine care and interest she takes in each of her clients. She and the therapy horses give so much to everyone and the love comes back tenfold! Thank you for the work you do to improve quality of life – I don’t know where we would be without you and the service you provide.
-Anonymous parent
Testimonial:
To whom it may concern,
I’m writing to let you know how important and what an impact Stable Connections has had on mine and my family’s life. Sarah and Karen are amazing people and are great at what they do. I believe whole heartedly that my oldest child wouldn’t be alive today and my family would have fallen apart if it wasn’t for Sarah and Karen. My oldest child started seeing them just over a year and a half ago. Up to this point we had tried many resources for them that just wasn’t working. They could not connect or trust other people. Somehow both Sarah and Karen managed to get my child to trust and open up to them. We tried one on one counselling through MATC, they were in the CATS program one on one and group sessions, they also ended up in P1 north which is the children’s Psych ward. They were seriously considering ending their life and they were already self-harming and had made attempts to end their life. We finally heard about Stable Connections and how they use horses in their therapy. I thought why not it can’t hurt. It has been one of the best decisions I have made for my child and this family. There has been death, divorce and abuse that they have helped us work through. So not only have they seen my oldest, they have also seen some of the rest of the family, including myself one on one and in a family setting. My family actually gets along and functions now. They have helped us work through the worst time in our lives and have unique ways by using the horses to help better to connect to ourselves and others. I've never seen anything like it before and didn’t know it even existed but I’m glad we found them and have been able to have this experience. We have gone from arguing all the time and living in constant fear that my oldest would succeed in killing themselves and Sarah and Karen have helped them work through and will continue to work through their issues. We no longer live in fear of having to attend a funeral.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and find out what Stable connections has done for my family and I. They do very important work and I would recommend them to anyone.
Deanna
Testimonial:
The one and only good thing that came out of this pandemic? A confirmation that occupational therapy incorporating Hippotherapy was really helping my son. In spring of 2020, when everything got shut down, including therapies, regression started. Vincent was agitated and frustrated. He had stresses and pain that
we could not help him with. He had been doing occupational therapy incorporating Hippotherapy for at least 2 years and was excited to do so. What has hippotherapy helped my son with? You name it and it helped!
Frustration, vocalization, constipation, alertness, stress, focus, and I could go on! Hippotherapy
has helped us do activities as a family because his stress and agitation towards his sisters was
replaced by a curiosity and wonder of what they were doing. Even though my son is nonverbal,
he does not hide his feelings and he made it very clear when he likes or dislikes something. He
made it very clear that he loves his sessions and that he NEEDS them. I honestly don’t know
what we would do without it.
Alain, Prévine et Vincent
Reading Riders short video:
“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible; then they seem improbable; when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”
— Christopher Reeve
Our continued goal for Stable Connections is to help more people in our community and worldwide!
Thank you for helping us achieve our goals!
To learn more about who we are, who we serve and what we do, please visit our website:
Stable Connections Website
Read our FULL STORY:
Help children and adults with special needs access therapy services!
Stable Connections is a private practice, bilingual Manitoba company that provides occupational therapy, speech therapy and physiotherapy services in partnership with horses in an inclusive, family-friendly, motivating, nurturing and natural environment. Our therapists help with barriers that affect a person’s emotional, social, and physical needs. To do this, they use a variety of everyday activities, exercises and treatment approaches such as Hippotherapy (equine movement), DIRFloortime, farm animal interactions and nature-based approaches. They also help with mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, psychological trauma assessment and recovery. Our nature-based facility, caring personnel and quality services help our clients to reach their highest potential as quickly as possible.
From its inception in 2017 to the present, Stable Connections has offered valuable equine-assisted therapy that has enhanced the quality of life and health for individuals by improving physical, emotional, cognitive and social development.
In the first four years we were running operations from more than five sites to facilitate client hours. In 2019, we consolidated all satellite operations at a boarding facility. Suddenly we found ourselves with a waiting list for sessions. Due to sharing the facility, we were unable to expand our existing hours of operation.
In August 2021, with the help of the Trapp family, Stable Connections purchased a 40-acre equine facility in Lorette, Manitoba, as its new, permanent home. At our own facility, we have the capacity to accommodate more evening and weekend hours, expand our herd and accommodate the participants on our waiting list, as well as reach out to more! We also hope to increase partnerships with other organizations in the community.
In 2021-2022, we will welcome on average 32 clients per week, and we have a waiting list.
83% of our clientele are under the age of 18,
20% of our clientele are women and young girls who are victims of abuse, and
20% of our clientele are women and young girls who are victims of abuse, and
54% of our clientele have suffered trauma.
We help rehabilitate people with disabilities, trauma or victims of abuse. We also help with the rehabilitation of horses. Many of the horses used in our therapies have been rescued from rescue situations or poor health/living conditions. We rehabilitate their health and train them to join our team, helping to provide therapy services.
Due to the significant demand for services, Stable Connections is embarking on a $160,000 Healing through Horses capital campaign to build a new state-of-the-art therapy arena and treatment space by the end of 2022. The reality in Manitoba is that we cannot operate without a heated space to provide year round services (therapy, trauma resolution and educational offerings) as weather can reach significantly cold temperatures such as -40's. With these improvements, we will fulfill the significant demand for equine-assisted therapies, changing lives one session at a time. Stable Connections faces significant scheduling and space restraints in our attempt to accommodate more clients at high-demand times such as weekends and after-school/work hours. In fact, we can only offer Hippotherapy services 2 days a week due to a shortage of arena space. The current facilities were not originally designed or constructed to meet the needs of current operations and therefore limit the organizations' ability to scale their business. Existing structures have neared the end of their life expectancy, and new structures, or major repairs, must take place.
A new arena dedicated to therapy programming will create the space desperately needed to meet the demand for services and will be critical to reaching Stable Connections’ goal of doubling program capacity. The arena will create opportunities for clients to develop new skills that could have life-changing verbal, behavioral or physical impacts.
We are excited to design a professional facility that will allow Stable Connections to expand its programming and better serve our participants. The design of the new space will permit multiple programs to operate at the same time in a way that is not currently possible. Planning this new facility is inspiring and exciting, and we look forward to providing life-changing programs to people of all ages with special needs in Manitoba (and Canada) for many years to come.
It has always been our goal to develop and control our future from a place we’ll be calling our own.
Let’s continue to work toward that goal by raising even more funds and awareness for Stable Connections!
Phase 1:
Stable Connections has achieved its first goal of having a permanent location. It is a 40-acre former horse farm in the Town of Lorette on the outskirts of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Phase 2:
This step will provide a heated and insulated 60 x 105-foot indoor arena for program activities.
Phase 3:
The final phase will bring the program to full-time/full-year operation. Plans include the community center, which will have offices, a kitchen, accessible bathrooms and viewing windows into the arena. Phase 3 will enable educational opportunities as well as international opportunities to learn the craft.
Your financial support of Stable Connections enables the continuation and expansion of the program.
The new Stable Connections Therapy Center in Manitoba, when upgraded to become a state of the art therapy center, will provide fully handicap accessible buildings and grounds, a heated barn, a warm indoor riding ring, a mechanized mounting assist device, heated viewing area, heated classroom and therapy room space, plenty of parking, office space, a caretaker’s facility, an outdoor arena and a round pen for outdoor riding, sensory trails around the facility, and a large barn and pastures suitable for our team of horses, with the necessary farm equipment to support these horses.
Improvements to the main barn riding arena and stall area include physical improvements as well as a new building addition with appropriate accessible bathrooms, welcome room and improved ventilation throughout the entire building. These improvements will provide a more comfortable experience for clients and horses as well as allow Stable Connections to serve a larger number of clients with more severe health and mobility needs.
Operating at our permanent facility has allowed us to expand our days and hours of operation, and we have the potential to move from 24 hours over four partial days to seven days a week!
Over the next five years, Stable Connections plans to increase participation by more than 150 clients per year over our current statistics.
The additional hours, days, and horses will significantly benefit the population we serve.
“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible; then they seem improbable; when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”
— Christopher Reeve
Our continued goal for Stable Connections is to help more people in our community and worldwide!
Thank you for helping us achieve our goals!
To learn more about who we are, who we serve and what we do, please visit our website:
Stable Connections Website
“So many of our dreams at first seem impossible; then they seem improbable; when we summon the will, they soon become inevitable.”
— Christopher Reeve
Our continued goal for Stable Connections is to help more people in our community and worldwide!
Thank you for helping us achieve our goals!
To learn more about who we are, who we serve and what we do, please visit our website:
Stable Connections Website
Organizer
Sarah Senecal
Organizer