Scott Anderson

Dani Bohm-Guldan

Christine Cavanaugh

Laurel Hagman

Susie Olson

Christine Cavanaugh

Janey Oberg

Elaine Schiebel

While researching for a paper in an animal behavior class as an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota, I came across a short article on the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA). My immediate thought was, “What a great way to work with horses and give something back to folks who don’t get all the breaks in life!” I put that thought in one of the (too?!) many file cabinets in my brain and finished my paper. Graduate school came along and while looking into schools I saw an animal euthenics program at Texas A&M University that peaked my interest. After visiting the school (on break from my prairie dog behavior research at the Petrified National Forest in Arizona) it was locked in. Low and behold, TAMU had a small therapeutic riding program headed up by Dr. J. Warren Evans. My life’s dream was born! While obtaining my Masters Degree in Animal Science at Texas A&M University, I facilitated the TAMU therapeutic riding program and taught an undergraduate course in therapeutic riding.

My Masters Thesis Project was about looking for objective measures for selecting horses for Therapeutic Riding programs (Dr. Evans served on my committee, along with Dr. Ted Friend, Dr. Douglas Householder and Dr. Linda Parrish). As part of my graduate degree I also became a NARHA Registered Instructor (Equest in Dallas, TX had a wonderful collaboration with TAMU). While at Equest, I came up with the name Equul Access, a play on the words Equus (Latin for horse) and Equal. All individuals should have equal access to horses, period.

After wrapping up grad school, my 5-year plan was solidified – move back to MN and open a therapeutic horsemanship program called Equul Access. Ahh, the passion of youth! Six years later, after my hubby and I purchased our dream property and a storm blew the roof off our old barn, Equul Access, Inc. was born! In addition to everything Equul Access, I’m very involved with the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH Intl., formerly known as NARHA). I am a PATH Intl. Lead Site Visitor, Lead Riding Instructor Evaluator, Associate Advanced Instructor Evaluator, Mentor, Mentor Training Faculty and Standards Course Faculty. I have served on the PATH Intl. Riding Certification Sub-committee as a member and as Chair. I have also chaired the PATH Intl. Certification Oversight Committee and served on the Programs & Standards Oversight Committee and the Certification Review and Development Taskforce. I was also a member of the PATH Intl. Strategic Initiatives Review Committee. Lastly, I served four years as the PATH Intl. Region 6 Representative and was Chair of the Region Representative Council (now known as the Membership Outreach Committee).

Details

• IRS Determination Letter
• 2018 990
• 2019 990
• 2020 990
• 2021 990