White Bridle was incorporated as a 501(c)3 in 2007 and began rescuing and training horses while creating our "first-of-its-kind" therapeutic education program for special needs children (primarily children with autism).  In 2009, we launched our program at The Las Colinas Equestrian Center in Irving, Texas in an affluent community.In 2010, White Bridle partnered with Grand Prairie Parks and Recreation as a way to bring in poverty stricken children who need our services.  We started providing our program in Mike Lewis Park at their Equestrian Center.Teachers from Grand Prairie ISD, Irving ISD, and Arlington ISD heard about the program and began volunteering.  High school students from surrounding areas and college students from UNT (University of North Texas) learned about the program and embraced what we do, and they also began volunteering.  So there's a great energy created by all of the young people who are involved with the program.Everyone who's a part of White Bridle's organization participates, because they know that we're doing "it" for all the right reasons - that we're courageous enough to go into poverty stricken areas to provide a life changing program when there's no funding to support the organization.The waiting list for state funding for the children that we serve is 9 years; but the children need therapy when they're 3 years old - not 12.  And we provide a program that benefits these children in so many ways.It's constantly an uphill battle to find the funding to do the program; but we do it, because it's the "right thing to do."  These children will fall through the cracks and never have the opportunities that they deserve unless organizations like ours are brave enough to step forward and provide these life changing services.White Bridle is the only organization in Grand Prairie serving special needs children throughout the Dallas - Fort Worth metroplex - but we chose Grand Prairie, because this is a location where the need is so great.Our program is the first of its kind in the nation, so we're breaking new ground.  We've found a way to bring equine assisted therapy programs into urban areas; and we've done it by using miniature horses.  And the program is a huge success because of the horses; the children wouldn't do the therapy unless they knew that they were going to be able to get into the cart and ride or learn to drive the horses.We believe that providing beneficial therapies that help children learn to function better in physical, mental and emotional ways is very important; and we also know the value of doing it in nature - with nature - with horses.Children have started talking; become toilet trained; learned to stand upright and run; increased cognitive function; gained higher self awareness and self esteem; become better at listening and taking direction; improved peer interaction skills; and started forming opinions after participating in White Bridle's program.Please do everything in your power to help this program become a huge success.