Meet Allie Sarnataro | Executive Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Allie Sarnataro and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Allie, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
We provide and teach equine assisted therapeutic horseback riding to children and adults with special needs. Our goal is to make a positive difference physically, emotionally, educationally and socially in the
lives of our riders and their families. To do this, we assist them in achieving their goals while allowing them
to thrive and grow as individuals as well as with their riding.

Each rider gets an individualized lesson weekly that is tailored to their needs and goals. For some this is working on verbal communication (we’ve had clients whose first words were spoken while on the back of a horse), while others build the core strength they need to be able to walk without a wheelchair or walker, and finally some are really expanding their riding skills and going to local competitions.

We serve students age 4 to 102 with physical, emotional, social, and behavioral disabilities. Some examples of the disabilities we work with are ADD/ADHD, traumatic brain injury, stroke, multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy, cognitive defects, autism spectrum, amputations, cerebral palsy, behavioral problems, learning disabilities, hearing, vision and speech impairments, the list goes on.

We also have a full inclusion program for
students to volunteer, join our show team and some have even become instructors in training. We have
adults with disabilities come and work on the ranch for job training and volunteering who are not riders with
us. We are connected with the special education programs in local schools having their special needs
students come volunteer with us who are in high school. We also work with the local military and veteran
communities providing a place for them to give back and volunteer with us as well.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Ride Above Disability Therapeutic Riding Center is a PATH (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship) member center that teaches recreational riding to children and adults of all ages with special needs. The idea behind Ride Above was to create a place where the entire family unit could come and feel welcome, relax and enjoy their time at the ranch. While special needs riders are our focus, we also teach siblings and parents who are interested, which gives our families an activity they can share together. Ride Above is a place for family and community, not just for our students but our volunteers and instructors as well. Everyone at Ride Above is committed to changing lives for the better, no matter who you are. We look at every person that is involved and see ability. With a dedicated staff, Ride Above Disability strives to make a difference in the lives of our riders as well as the community of San Diego.

We started in 2014 with 16 students, 2 horses, 1 full time employee, 2 parttime employees and 2 co-founders volunteering full time. Fast forward to 2023, we now have over 75 students, 3 full time employees, 7 parttime employees and 15 horses. We operate 5 days a week for student lessons and have over 200 volunteers.

We are now lucky to have such an amazing staff and board helping us along the way. The team is dedicated to the students and the horses, assisting however they can. It was not always easy but we slowly made our way into the community and built up our name and reputation.

I think what sets us apart is we have the flexibility to do what we want, try new things and ideas and implement new programs and suggestions from our staff. We have a show team, inclusive volunteer positions. We also have students in our riding program now training to be instructors. Katie, Wayne and myself have all worked at other therapeutic riding centers and new some things we wanted to do differently and instill in our mission and values.

I am most proud of all our riders and staff. I love watching the students ride and achieve their goals with horses. I am proud of the staff for the wonderful instructors they have become and trained to be to assist all our students!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I love San Diego, so I have my own handbook for visitors!

Day 1. Explore the iconic old town park. Get on the hop on hop off trolley. This will allow you to explore many areas of the city and see where you may want to go back or spend a little extra time.

Day 2. Explore seaport village and the Embarcadero. Explore multiple shops and gorgeous views. After hop on the ferry boat over to Coronado. Grab lunch or happy hour (cheaper prices) at Peohes and enjoy the view of the skyline. Afterwards walk and explore all the cute shops on the water.

Day 3. The San Diego zoo. Enough said. You should be able to spend the entire day here. If not the breath taking balboa park is right next door. Free parking at the zoo and balboa park.

Day 4. Mission beach center and boardwalk. Fun touristy spot for games, snacks, arcades and a walking path.

Day 5. Sea world for those who might want to add in an extra theme park. Parking is 20+ so if your hotel is close. Uber.

Day 6. If you didn’t get a chance to see balboa park yet definitely circle back. There are a ton of museums, attractions, a flower garden and the Japanese friendship garden to name a few. Afterwards hit up the happening downtown Hillcrest area for dinner.

Day 7. If you’re here during baseball season you should definitely catch a padres game at their beautiful stadium petco park. Check out the historic Gaslamp district before or after the game for tons of restaurants, shops and bars. If there’s no game the Gaslamp is entertaining enough.

Day 8. If you’re looking for shopping we got plenty. Check out Fashion valley mall or UTC mall and shop to you drop. There is also the Las Americas outlets down by the border.

Day 9. Spend the day in ocean beach hanging with the locals and check out their eclectic mix of shops and restaurants and the beautiful sunset cliffs.

Day 10. La Jolla cove should also check out seal beach down at the water front as well as the downtown area. Tons of shopping and restaurants. Highly recommend Dukes and George’s at the cove for lunch or happy hour. Cheaper prices

Day 11. Little Italy for dinner on India Street and date street area. Lots of restaurants but known for Italian food. You can couple this with a stroll around the midway museum and new waterfront area they recently built up.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I’d like to dedicate this shoutout to the Donegan Burns Foundation. We cannot describe how grateful we are to this amazing group of people. This small but mighty team of individuals is committed to the success of therapeutic riding centers across the country. Not only have they taught us how to fundraise in a more effective way, they also assisted us in planning large events, growing in our business in general and pushed us as individuals to learn and grow in our roles. Thanks to them we’ve had our best year ever across the entire board and have reached goals and milestones we didn’t know we were capable of. Such as increased student enrollment, more volunteers, larger events, more events, better increase in fundraising and donations and efficient planning.
Not only do they support us at an advisory level but we are also so blessed to receive their support in the form of grants as well. We were lucky to receive a years end grant that will benefit our horses and for the use of ranch maintenance.
Thank you Bettye, Marianela and the entire Donegan Burns team!

Website: radtrc.org

Instagram: @rad_therapeutic_riding

Facebook: facebook.com/radtrc

Youtube: @rideabovedisability

Image Credits
Jennifer Wingrove Curry