Location: L’Ange-Gardien, Québec, Canada
Centre Équestre Foulées d’Espoir is a therapeutic riding centre located in L’Ange-Gardien, in the Outaouais region of Québec, near Gatineau.
The centre was co-founded in 2018 by two lifelong friends, Arianne Dulac and Catherine Clément, who had shared the dream of opening their own equestrian centre since childhood. Arianne, a trained nurse, and Catherine, whose parents are veterinarians who helped finance the initial property acquisition and renovation, opened the centre in June 2018 with a small herd and a focus on private therapeutic riding lessons.
The centre is a member of both the Fédération québécoise d’équitation thérapeutique (FQET) and CanTRA.
About This Program
Foulées d’Espoir — which translates loosely as Steps of Hope — operates from the conviction that the horse offers something uniquely valuable to individuals whose other leisure and therapeutic options are limited. As founder Arianne Dulac has described it, therapeutic riding provides a leisure activity for people who often have none, alongside genuine physical, affective, and social benefits.
The therapeutic riding program is designed around individually tailored lesson plans built from a thorough initial assessment and, where possible, coordination with the participant’s existing care team — including social workers, special educators, and school-based intervention plans. This integrative approach ensures that equine-assisted activities complement and reinforce what participants are working on in other therapeutic and educational contexts.
The physical benefits the centre emphasizes include improved muscle strength and flexibility, balance, muscle tone, and joint mobility — particularly meaningful for participants who use wheelchairs and rarely engage the postural and core muscle groups that riding activates. The affective and social benefits are equally central: the horse is described as a friend and a non-judgmental presence, and the experience of managing a large animal builds confidence, initiative, and self-esteem in ways that other therapeutic settings cannot easily replicate.
Each horse is carefully matched to individual riders based on temperament and working style. The centre is aware that not every horse suits every rider, and the matching process is treated as essential to both safety and therapeutic effectiveness. Participants require a written physician authorization and complete a pre-participation assessment with the instructor before their first session.
Services Offered
- Therapeutic riding (private lessons, individually tailored)
- Assessment and goal-setting in coordination with participant care teams
- Equine-assisted activities for physical, cognitive, and social-emotional goals
- FQET and CanTRA certified programming
Who They Serve
Centre Équestre Foulées d’Espoir may be a good fit for:
- Children and adults with physical disabilities, including wheelchair users
- Individuals with cognitive challenges
- Individuals with emotional or behavioral challenges
- Individuals with communication difficulties
- Individuals with limited access to recreational or leisure activities
- Residents of the Outaouais region and greater Gatineau area
Facility and Setting
Centre Équestre Foulées d’Espoir is located at 1120 Chemin Filion in L’Ange-Gardien, a small municipality in the MRC de Papineau in the Outaouais region, northeast of Gatineau. The property was renovated by the founders with the help of Catherine’s parents and includes an indoor arena (manège) constructed specifically to support the therapeutic programme.
- L’Ange-Gardien, Québec location (MRC de Papineau, Outaouais region)
- 1120 Chemin Filion, L’Ange-Gardien, QC J8L 0N8
- Indoor arena (manège)
- FQET member centre
- CanTRA member centre
What Makes Them Unique
Foulées d’Espoir carries a genuine founding story rooted in friendship, personal conviction, and the courage of two young women who built their vision from scratch. Arianne Dulac’s nursing background — combined with her stated intention to pursue psychotherapy training and potentially offer equine-assisted psychotherapy — reflects a founder who approaches therapeutic riding as both a vocational calling and an evolving clinical practice.
The centre’s Outaouais location also addresses a geographic gap. The greater Gatineau area, while close to Ottawa, has limited therapeutic riding options, and Foulées d’Espoir provides FQET and CanTRA-certified services to a community in the Outaouais that would otherwise need to travel significantly to access this type of programming.