Progressive Strides at Thurleigh Equestrian Centre

We are now offering our Haddon Award on a Wednesday afternoon: 2 hours a week - term time only. A qualification through City & Guilds! Come and have a look around!

Just going to leave this right here ❤️🙌🐴👏🏻 Sounds simple doesn’t it? And yet so many people find it hard to do…

⭐Verified Member Announcement⭐

Progressive Strides at Thurleigh Equestrian Centre is an alternative education programme supporting young people who are unable to access mainstream education or who require additional SEND and SEMH support.

Using therapeutic and alternative educational approaches alongside horses, the team provides bespoke, individualised programmes designed to meet each young person's needs. Sessions are delivered by experienced professionals with specialist SEND and SEMH knowledge, recognising that traditional education is not always the right fit for every learner.

Through horse care activities and one-to-one support, Progressive Strides aims to create an accessible, supportive environment where young people can build confidence, develop new skills and make meaningful progress.

We're delighted to welcome Progressive Strides to the Equinnect community and congratulate them on becoming a Verified Member!

✨🍂 Transitions can be exciting… but they can also feel overwhelming. 🧠💚

For many neurodivergent young people, including those with autism and ADHD, changes to routines, new environments, and unfamiliar people can create anxiety—even when the change is positive. 🌱

That’s why at Progressive Strides, every new student is offered three transition sessions over the summer. 🐴✨

These sessions help them:
🤝 Meet our team
🐴 Get to know our horses and surroundings
🌼 Learn the routine
💛 Build confidence before September

A huge focus is on developing a positive mindset around change and new beginnings. We want every young person to know that it’s okay to feel nervous, and that with the right support, they can walk into September feeling calm, confident, and ready to thrive. 🌈🌟

Because the best transitions don’t just happen… they’re nurtured. 💚🍃

🐴✨

🌿🐴 What a fantastic start to our Herd Hangout Equimotional Summer Programme! 🐴🌿

Our young people had a brilliant first session today, led by Sarah Woods, our Level 3 Trauma-Informed Equimotional Coach. 💚

Today’s activities focused on slowing down, and building connections with both the horses and each other. Through observing the herd and exploring horse behaviour, the group began to understand how horses communicate and how this can help us recognise and regulate our own emotions. 🌱✨

It was wonderful to see friendships beginning to form, and so many smiles throughout the session. We can’t wait to see what the rest of the week brings! ☀️🐎

❤️ This is amazing. How many people would have prejudged this woman’s capabilities? Would you? Special Educational Needs and capacity/competence DO NOT necessarily correlate. ❤️🙌

She refused to let Down syndrome define what she could achieve. At 25, she made history as the world’s first lawyer with Down syndrome.

Ana Victoria Espino de Santiago graduated with a law degree from the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas in Mexico after five years of determination, hard work, and support.

Her journey was filled with barriers. She fought for admission, passed the entrance exams, and completed her studies with help from a shadow professor. In June 2024, she officially became a Licenciada en Derecho, qualifying her to practice law in Mexico.

But Ana Victoria is not stopping there.

She has spoken at legislative forums, advocated for disability rights, received recognition for promoting inclusion, and built a successful career as an artist with exhibitions across Mexico.

Her achievement is more than a personal victory. It is proof that inclusion creates opportunities, support changes lives, and no diagnosis should ever determine the size of someone’s dreams.

Image was made using AI and for illustration purposes only.

What do we do during the summer holidays? Time for a deep clean! 🧹✨

Even with horses only in during the day, it’s amazing how much grime builds up over the winter. Our team has been hard at work scrubbing walls, pressure washing floors, dusting down, and giving everything a fresh coat of paint.

The stable barn is almost finished, and next up is the main yard to get everything sparkling for the start of the new term! 🐴🧽

We are also working on some exciting projects over the summer so keep an eye out for posts on these too.