Wilderwood Equine Therapy and Rescue

Wilderwood Equine Therapy’s program is a unique equine-assisted curriculum designed by autistics for autistic teens and adults with input from other professionals. The three-semester (9-month) curriculum assists autistic teens and adults to:

develop independent life skills;
achieve career and employment goals; and
better navigate the neurotypical world while remaining true to their autistic selves.

The June 2020 Pilot Program is full.

Now accepting enrollment inquiries for the first cohort.
Please complete the Participant Interest Form and email to wilderwoodequinetherapy@gmail.com.
Prefer a mailed copy? Call or text (505) 459-9813.

PARTICIPANT INTEREST FORM Download

Looking for a volunteer opportunity? Come join us!
Volunteers appreciated in multiple different areas. Contact us for more information or complete and submit our Volunteer Form.

VOLUNTEER FORM Download

Please note: In keeping with the preference of the *actually autistic* community, we use and prefer the term “autistic person” rather than “person with autism” and do not engage in any work performed under the auspices of ABA therapy.

7 Wildwood Lane, Peralta, New Mexico
Email: wilderwoodequinetherapy@gmail.com
Tel: (505) 459-9813
http://www.facebook.com/wilderwoodequinetherapy

Wilderwood Blog

Opening the Pilot

OPENING THE PILOT Wilderwood’s Pilot program opened on June 20. We are so appreciative of the participants who are piloting the curriculum and providing incredibly valuable insight to strengthen it with their contributions and ideas. We were also honored to have visitors to Wilderwood on our opening Pilot day as well: Congresswoman Xochitl Torres Small […]

I Am Autism; I Am Autistic

I AM AUTISM; I AM AUTISTIC This is the first in a series of upcoming video vignettes entitled “Telling Our Stories,” where interviewees speak about their identities and lives as autistic adults.

Documentary

Wilderwood Documentary is a go! We are delighted to announce that Wilderwood has been awarded a grant to assist us in making a film documentary featuring one of our program participants! We are enormously thankful for the generosity of the granting Foundation and look forward to the development of this project. More on this soon. […]

Rescue

Rescue The core of Wilderwood is its equine-assisted curriculum to work therapeutically with autistic teens and adults. By therapeutically, we mean in its original sense of the word: to heal, to restore health — whole body health encompassing elements of the physical, psychological, sociological, philosophical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual — from Greek therapeutikos, which in […]

Run freely, darling

Tragically, at 2:12 p.m. on May 22, 2020 our darling boy Saeed left us. He fought heroically for five days. His indomitable spirit did not let him down, nor did the overwhelming love that we have for this horse let him down, nor the veterinary care he received and the numerous outcalls and treatments and […]

Desmond has graduated!

Desmond, at age 4, has now graduated. He is considered what is colloquially known as being “green broke”; that is, he is ready to start the next phase of his schooling — now under saddle. He chose some unique, Desmond-like ways to celebrate!

A Little Joy

Excited to announce that Joy has arrived and is available! All proceeds from this memoir will be donated to Wilderwood Equine Therapy to help develop and deliver its programs for — and with — autistic adults. Like everyone, we are doing our best to keep the joy at Wilderwood during the corona quarantine and stay-at-home […]

Step by Step

step by step It’s a case of step by step, little by little for Wilderwood. Though we have been somewhat sidelined with the (necessary) restrictions wrought by the Coronavirus — resulting in our Pilot and Volunteers program being shifted to a later date — we’ve nonetheless been hard at work, continuing the projects that need […]

Mud!

Mud! Our major Mud Project is now completed! Below are pictures showing our completed MUD project: Before, During, and After. This was a major undertaking to solve a perennial and major problem at Wilderwood — and we did it! We have also completed our Tack Room project, with before and after pictures below to share […]

Autistic Strong

Autistic Strong Autistic adults are disadvantaged in our community on multiple social, economic, and cultural fronts. There is a general misunderstanding about autism in terms of it being perceived as an “invisible” disability. It’s often said that autistic people look “normal” or are told “you don’t look autistic” (whatever autistic is supposed to look like). […]