About SonRise

At SonRise we focus on helping children who are in crisis due to social, emotional and physical handicaps. The causes of the struggles in some cases are organic and in others environmental. Regardless of the cause we help these children to feel better about their situation and encourage them to become productive citizens within our community.

At SonRise we believe that strong, loving relationships are a necessary ingredient of a contented heart. We see time and time again, children thrive simply by receiving the unconditional love of a concerned mentor and a special horse. We believe in the necessity of belonging to a nurturing community.

Programs for children

SonRise is a non-profit 501(C)(3) community program run completely by volunteers. This enables us to provide our services to children at no cost to their care-givers. Our facility is centrally located in Castro Valley. We serve children throughout Alameda and Contra Costa County.

SonRise offers three distinct programs:

•  In the Saddle—a one-on-one horseback riding program that teams up one child, one mentor, and one horse 100% of the time. This ensures no hurting child gets lost in a crowd, and keeps our program extremely safe.
•  Team Rehab—a working ranch program where children work in teams doing ranch chores and caring for horses in need of rehabilitation.
•  Traveling Tails—a miniature horse hospice program which brings minis to children’s hospice care homes to visit children who are near the end of life.
•  HorsePlay Day— In addition to our three main programs, we also offer HorsePlay Days quarterly, where children from our program and waiting list are invited to the ranch for a day of group fun. In these four hours children participate in horse related games, crafts and activities ranging from roping to bareback riding to red/light green/light on horseback.

Each SonRise child is offered the opportunity to gain self confidence and a sense of pride through caring for “their” horse, learning and improving the multiple coordination and focusing skills required in good riding, and shouldering the shared responsibility of helping with age appropriate ranch chores.

The SonRise team personally tailors each child’s horse experience to fit his or her needs. Each horse-child pairing has the one-on-one attention of a mentor/volunteer at all times.

SonRise serves a wide variety of children between the ages of 8 to 18. Our program helps children to develop leadership skills, horsemanship skills and an understanding of the importance of community contribution. Above all they learn that love, faith, and hope are available under any circumstances.

Programs for horses

SonRise Equestrian Foundation is a unique horsemanship program where children in crisis and neglected or abused horses meet to heal.

After taking possession of an unwanted or abused horse, the SonRise staff immediately begins a careful rehabilitation process, which addresses the physical, emotional, and psychological needs of our equine companions. During the rehabilitation period which can last from as little as one month to as long as a year or more, each horse is tested to see if their temperament will allow them to become an “equine angel” that joins the SonRise team as a partner for the in-need and at-risk children enrolled in the horsemanship program.

The SonRise philosophy

SonRise is a community, teaching by demonstration the importance of values such as love, faith and hope. It is a warm and wonderful place where behaviors and people are not confused and everyone is accepted.

We believe that the joy and the love of horses shouldn't just be for children who can afford them. All children should have the privilege of the healing love that comes from horses. That’s one of the reasons we work so hard to keep our program free of charge.