Ready Set Ride Therapeutic Recreation Facility
Ready Set Ride, 13056 Essington Road, Plainfield, IL 60585
About
Ready Set Ride Therapeutic Recreation Facility offers therapeutic equine assisted activities that include horseback riding services, games on horseback, and therapeutic riding sessions. Participants take part in barn care and animal care, including barn chores, and spend time with friendly horses, mini-horses, mini-donkeys, and goats. The program also involves working with horses and, for some, working with special needs riders through roles such as session sidewalker training, horse leader training, and barn chore training.
• Ages: 3–18 years old
• Schedule: Barn chore training most Saturdays 9–10am
Since 2001, Ready Set Ride Therapeutic Recreation Facility has been assisting children with special needs by providing horseback riding services. The program bases its work on developmental techniques that use horses as a means of mobility for children, and therapy is conducted in the form of games on horseback that incorporate physical, speech, occupational, developmental, and recreational therapy. Certified therapeutic riding instructors guide the students and closely monitor individual needs to encourage consistent improvement.
Ready Set Ride’s mission is to provide therapeutic equine recreational activities to special needs or terminally ill individuals regardless of race or religion, and it is committed to supporting equity and inclusion across race, gender, age, religion, identity, and disability. Over 100 volunteers help support therapeutic riding sessions for over 50 riders each week, and volunteers must be at least 14 years of age, with no prior equine experience required; volunteering can be done individually or in groups. The leadership team includes Program Director Lisa Afshari, equine enthusiast and land co-purchaser Sharleen Smith, and Volunteer Director Robin Zavod Plant.
The program offers community outreach for seniors and special needs adults, as well as animal and equine education for groups such as the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts of America, The Boys and Girls Club, First Responders, and others. Students come from all over the Chicagoland area, and the barn receives support from local businesses, surrounding villages, friends, and family; a community member, Anthony from Caponeyboy Productions, produced a piece about the barn.
One volunteer, Juliette Lutz, shared that she has been volunteering at Ready Set Ride since the summer of 2018, that she looks forward to every summer to see the kids ride and to help care for the horses every weekend, and that the people at Ready Set Ride have helped her open up and gain more confidence. Another volunteer, Hannah Jones, stated that she started volunteering during Covid, drives 40 minutes from Morris three times a week to help, found a love for horses and working with kids with disabilities at the barn, and that her experience there influenced her decision to pursue a bachelor’s degree in disability studies and human development and work toward a master’s in nursing with a focus on pediatrics.
Last updated May 23, 2026.
• Ages: 3–18 years old
• Schedule: Barn chore training most Saturdays 9–10am
Since 2001, Ready Set Ride Therapeutic Recreation Facility has been assisting children with special needs by providing horseback riding services. The program bases its work on developmental techniques that use horses as a means of mobility for children, and therapy is conducted in the form of games on horseback that incorporate physical, speech, occupational, developmental, and recreational therapy. Certified therapeutic riding instructors guide the students and closely monitor individual needs to encourage consistent improvement.
Ready Set Ride’s mission is to provide therapeutic equine recreational activities to special needs or terminally ill individuals regardless of race or religion, and it is committed to supporting equity and inclusion across race, gender, age, religion, identity, and disability. Over 100 volunteers help support therapeutic riding sessions for over 50 riders each week, and volunteers must be at least 14 years of age, with no prior equine experience required; volunteering can be done individually or in groups. The leadership team includes Program Director Lisa Afshari, equine enthusiast and land co-purchaser Sharleen Smith, and Volunteer Director Robin Zavod Plant.
The program offers community outreach for seniors and special needs adults, as well as animal and equine education for groups such as the Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts of America, The Boys and Girls Club, First Responders, and others. Students come from all over the Chicagoland area, and the barn receives support from local businesses, surrounding villages, friends, and family; a community member, Anthony from Caponeyboy Productions, produced a piece about the barn.
One volunteer, Juliette Lutz, shared that she has been volunteering at Ready Set Ride since the summer of 2018, that she looks forward to every summer to see the kids ride and to help care for the horses every weekend, and that the people at Ready Set Ride have helped her open up and gain more confidence. Another volunteer, Hannah Jones, stated that she started volunteering during Covid, drives 40 minutes from Morris three times a week to help, found a love for horses and working with kids with disabilities at the barn, and that her experience there influenced her decision to pursue a bachelor’s degree in disability studies and human development and work toward a master’s in nursing with a focus on pediatrics.
Last updated May 23, 2026.
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