A North Texas horse therapy center that promotes therapeutic riding to its clients will hold a fundraiser in mid-October.
The Victory Therapy Center, or Victory Therapeutics (VTC), is a non-profit equestrian therapy center that provides therapeutic riding and physical therapy by utilizing the healing power of horses to relieve physical, mental, and emotional distress in clients. Victory Therapeutics is located in Roanoke, about 33 miles Northwest of Dallas.
The Center’s biggest annual event is its “Road to Victory” fundraiser set for October 15. The fundraiser typically raises between $75,000 and $85,000 each year and dedicates a portion of the proceeds to scholarship programs that support in-need clients. The event will be held at the Victory Therapy Center and will include a banquet, live music, an in-house auction, and a raffle.
Horses have an extraordinary sense of healing power, said Becky Rasbeary, managing director of development at Victory Therapeutics. “We’ve seen people take their first step because of physical therapy,” and “we’ve watched people deal and heal from trauma” because of the horses.
Demand for the company’s equine-assisted service has increased sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, according to a VTC representative. The Center says it currently has more than 50 people waitlisted for the company’s therapeutic riding services.
“When you sit on a horse, and you ride, your pelvis moves just like you’re walking,” said Iris Melton, a physical therapy assistant at the Center. Melton works alongside a four-year-old client who struggles with balance and strength issues, for which horse therapy has made a massive difference in her life.
A majority of the Center’s more recent phone calls come from teenagers and young adults who have dealt with isolation, depression, and anxiety, according to Rasbeary.
North Texas is home to several therapy horse programs, such as Equest. CEO Lili Kellogg explained to The Dallas Express that horse therapy requires finding the right type of horse which can be a difficult and expensive task for non-profits.
“The horses are very special because they have to be sound, they have to be pretty unflappable. I mean, you can’t take the horse out of the horse, but they have to be really quiet, and they have to be very well trained, and they have to come with a price tag,” Kellogg noted.
