Debbie Studyvin  &  Harriette Habern

Schools often lack the capacity to focus resources on their children with special needs. Harriette Habern recognized this while working as a special education teacher, early in her career, and she wanted to find a way to work with the special needs children in Northwest Arkansas. In 1992, Harriette met with Dr. Kerri Russell, a physical therapist; Martha Harris, a social worker; and Debbie Studyvin, a horseback riding instructor; to see if her dream of helping special needs children through therapeutic horseback riding could become a reality.

The group attended workshops with the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA) and began a pilot program in the spring of 1992 with a group of 15 special needs children from Lowell Elementary School. There were classes two days a week with one instructor at a leased facility. As news of our program spread, more area schools wanted to participate.

Seeing the need for a permanent location, Harriette built a facility on land that could safely and efficiently serve the growing number of students and founded Rocky Creek Horses Help.

In 1995, Rocky Creek Horses Help became the first NARHA Accredited Therapeutic Riding Center in Arkansas, and Debbie Studyvin became an Advanced NARHA Certified Instructor. It remains one of only two Premier Accredited Therapeutic Riding Centers in the state.

In 2004, Rocky Creek Horses Help moved to a new location in Bentonville, Arkansas, allowing for an increase in the number of children served and in new programming.

In 2005, Rocky Creek Horses Help changed its name to Horses for Healing and added the tagline, “Making great strides in children’s lives.” The new name and tagline better explain the organization’s vision and hope to make an impact on the lives of special needs children.

In addition to private clients, Horses for Healing contracts with the Rogers and Bentonville Public Schools and Benton County Sunshine School to provide therapeutic horseback riding for their special education classes. Classes now meet 5 days a week with one Advanced Certified Instructor and 3 part-time instructors. Our program depends on community support through fundraisers, donations, and grants...and on the invaluable support of our dedicated volunteers.