Two Bear Therapeutic Riding Center was one of only 130 organizations worldwide selected recently to participate in the 2026 Horses for Mental Health Campaign, a global movement raising awareness and funding for programs that bring horses and people together for healing, connection and emotional well-being. 

The organizations, including two others in Browning and Butte, were chosen for demonstrating high standards of care for both participants and horses, and a deep commitment to relationship-centered programming. 

The campaign runs through May, Mental Health Awareness Month. All funds raised will directly support the center’s scholarships, herd care and program access. 

Two Bear Therapeutic Riding Center has been operating at 1700 KM Ranch Road for about eight years, offering pediatric physical therapy, adaptive horsemanship, a ranch experience and summer camps. The equine assisted programs support emotional regulation, confidence, communication and connection. 

Executive Director Cammi Sullivan said while most of the participants are children, the center is looking to expand to include services for the elderly population and veterans. 

“Connection is at the heart of improved mental health,” said Sullivan.  “Every day, we see how horses help individuals feel seen, supported, and capable.” 

Sullivan said the nonprofit’s motto, therapeutic for all, means that the sessions at the ranch should feel good for everyone, including the horses, who are thought of as partners, not tools. 

“The way I think of it, I have five human staff, and I have 19 equine staff,” Sullivan said. “One of our big ideas that we really focus on our care is no is an option. If no is not an option, then yes has no meaning.” 

She explained that, while it is possible to bring a trained horse into the arena for a session against its will, it is not what the instructors do at Two Bear. They allow “no” as an option for the equines. 

In that instance, the staff would pivot and take a different, willing horse in to work with the participant. 

“Because if ‘no’ is not an option, ‘yes’ has no meaning,” she reiterated. “I think that you can apply that to so many things in life, and it's so powerful.  

“I think so much about really high-quality horsemanship, and the way that we do horsemanship is so different than what I see in other areas, even in the valley, but certainly in the horse world,” she added. 

Sullivan’s team includes four certified therapeutic riding instructors, or CTRIs, two mares and 17 geldings. 

The center provides therapeutic riding, not “big T” therapy. It provides adaptive horsemanship, a ranch experience and summer camps to people with autism, autistic nonverbal individuals and people who struggle with social cues.  

Licensed physical therapist Leslie Hayden provides pediatric physical therapy at the center, but the certified therapeutic riding instructors are careful not to cross the line into therapy. 

“If somebody's having big feels, we will acknowledge, ‘I see that you're in your feels. So sorry that happened to you. Would you like to brush the horse, or would you like to get a hay bale ready?’” Sullivan said. “We're not dismissing it, but we're not therapists.” 

The summer camps and the adaptive riding program are open to children with a wide range of disabilities and their families.  

The center receives referrals from pediatric health care professionals who understand the value of connectedness and integration into our own bodies. 

“A lot of times, there's just sort of a dissociation between what's happening inside and what we're supposed to be doing outside,” she said. “Being with equines can just help us regulate that.” 

The center then hosts a meet-and-greet, so potential participants can meet with Jackie Ruffley, program director, or Sally Conrad, the lead instructor, to see if therapeutic riding and horsemanship activities are appropriate in each case. 

Horsemanship involves groundwork and other aspects of horse care, not just riding. 

“We can do unmounted work and get heart to horse,” Sullivan said. “We can still have that magic connection, and help you start to trust again, get back in your physical body, get back into the present. 

"While you're just brushing out a horse, your heart rate goes down, they lend you their nervous system, and your heart rate goes down, your breathing regulates,” she said. “It's magic.” 

Herds of horses are known to synchronize their heartbeats, and they extend that ability to humans. Horses sense human feelings and states of mind. According to Conrad and numerous studies, positive connections with horses increase oxytocin, reduce stress, and bring a sense of peace. 

For more information visit twobeartrc.org.

Reporter Julie Engler can be reached at 406-862-3505 or [email protected]. If you value local journalism, pledge your support at whitefishpilot.com/support.

    Whiskey enjoys a scratch on the leg from Sally Conrad at the Two Bear Therapeutic Riding Center. (Julie Engler/Whitefish Pilot)
  

    A few of the 19 horses that call the Two Bear Therapeutic Riding Center home. (Julie Engler/Whitefish Pilot)