PROJECT PROPOSAL

 

THERAPEUTIC HORSEBACK RIDING

 

ILAN – Background:

ILAN, the Israel Foundation for Handicapped Children, cares for some 15,000 physically disadvantaged adults and children suffering from diseases that affect the muscles and nerves such as cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and other neuromuscular diseases.

ILAN has 46 branches all over Israel that are in constant contact with the disabled and that represent a channel of information for tracing and assisting this population and its special needs.  When it was founded in 1952, ILAN located child victims of the polio epidemic and organized mass vaccinations for children in Israel. In time, the State has accepted responsibility for providing this service and has freed ILAN to concentrate its efforts and resources on providing assistance and relief for the severely disabled individual and his family, promoting facilities for the physically disadvantaged and their special needs, and developing services for the disabled within the context of the community.  These services include a network of kindergartens, special schools and vocational training centers, sheltered workshops, rehabilitation and occupation units, residential homes for physically disadvantaged adults, as well as social centers and sports facilities.

Contributions constitute the main source of finance for the ILAN projects. 

 

Horseback riding for the physically disadvantaged has proved to be a particularly effective form of therapy.  Under the guidance of specially trained instructors, children and adults with varying degrees of motor disabilities and paralysis gain: 

 

    Invaluable experience in movement and mobility that they are usually denied because of their disabilities: 

    Reduced muscle tension:

    Improved balance response:

    Learning to care for the horses, where possible, encourages the development of physical, psychological and social skills.

An individual program is developed for each child and most children demonstrate a good learning ability.

Existing and Future Horseback Riding Projects

The existing projects are:

1.   The ILAN Child Day Care Center in Netanya that serves an area from Hadera in the north to Ra’anana in the south, covers urban centers, kibbutzim, moshavim and Arab villages.  The Center welcomes children from all walks of life – children born in Israel and new immigrants alike. 

 

2.   The ILAN Riding Club at Safad that serves the diverse population in the north of the country: children from Safad, Tiberias, the northern border settlements, from the Galil and the Arab villages in the region – many of them settlements that are struggling with economic and social hardship.

 

3.   The ILAN Assistance Committees assist individual families to finance therapeutic horseback riding at different centers around the country.  Applications are accepted from individuals with the backing of appropriate professional referrals and recommendations.

 

Future Projects:

      It is envisaged that this scheme be extended to more centers up and down the country to make this form of therapy available to all those who are able to benefit from it.

 

 BUDGET

Annual cost of horseback riding therapy at an ILAN center, for 20 participants:                US$ 10,000

Annual cost of specially adapted transportation to therapy centers for 20 participants:     US$ 15,000

     TOTAL         US$ 25,000

 

*   ILAN covers all the administrative costs and these are not included in the operating costs of the Project.

*   The ILAN Personal Aid Committees distribute $ 10,000 to individual participants.