What is STRIDE?
STRIDE was established as an Alaska Nonprofit Corporation with IRS 501(c)(3) status in the winter of 1994 and offered its first eight –week therapeutic riding program the following summer.
About our founder
This organization is unique in that it is the brainchild of president, founder and head riding instructor, Kathleen (Kathy) Gliva.
Kathy has a life-long passion for horses and more than twenty-five years of experience as a riding instructor. She is a licensed recreational therapist and was the first riding instructor in the state of Alaska to obtain the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH) instructor certification.
Though Kathy’s dream for STRIDE has always been to build the program into a self-sustaining therapeutic riding center available to members of our community with special needs year round, the program has not yet matured beyond a seasonal program that serves 32 riders each summer. The delayed growth of STRIDE is due to a number of factors – not the least of which is the harsh Alaskan climate. Nonetheless, Kathy’s dream is still very much alive and has captured the minds and hearts of a number of creative individuals who are as dedicated to STRIDE today as its founder has been for the past decade and a half.
STRIDE’s mission is to help exceptional Alaskans achieve new heights and discover new abilities through supervised therapeutic equestrian activities. STRIDE is committed to promoting therapeutic riding as an efficacious treatment modality for those who suffer from physical, mental or emotional disorders by developing community awareness of equine assisted/ facilitated therapy.
The population STRIDE serves ranges from those who are physically challenged to those with emotional or behavioral disorders. Though not everyone with disabilities can safely participate in therapeutic riding activities, STRIDE serves a broad segment of the disable community in Southcentral Alaska. Some of the conditions for which therapeutic riding has been proved an effective treatment are cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, traumatic brain injury, sensory impairment (i.e. loss of hearing or sight), Down Syndrome, Autism, learning disabilities, psychological impairments, emotional disorders and interpersonal challenges.