Location: Fargo, North Dakota, United States
Bison Strides is the equine-assisted activities and therapies program of North Dakota State University, operating through the Department of Animal Sciences at the NDSU Equine Center in Fargo. Founded in May 2017 by Dr. Erika Berg, an associate professor of equine science and the program’s director, Bison Strides has grown from a summer pilot into a year-round program serving participants across a wide range of physical, cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and mental health needs. It is currently the only PATH International Premier Accredited Center in the state of North Dakota — a distinction held by fewer than a third of all PATH centers worldwide — and NDSU is one of only 12 PATH International Higher Education Members in the United States.
About This Program
Bison Strides is built on three integrated pillars: outreach to participants, education for university students, and research into the human-horse relationship. This structure reflects NDSU’s identity as a land-grant institution, and the program is explicitly designed to embody those ideals through service to the broader community alongside rigorous academic engagement.
The outreach side of the program is where participants experience direct therapeutic and educational benefit. Sessions are structured around individual goals, with participants matched to horses based on their needs and the level of volunteer support required. Each participant must have a physician’s release and an evaluation by the program director before beginning.
Dr. Berg’s own path to founding Bison Strides was shaped by two formative experiences — volunteering at a similar program while in graduate school, and later coordinating adapted physical education classes at the Texas A&M Equine Center, where students from the Bryan, Texas school district were bused for equine-assisted gym class. Both experiences left a lasting impression that eventually led her to build something comparable at NDSU.
Sessions run in six-week blocks, with two sessions typically offered each fall and programming continuing throughout the year. Financial assistance of up to 75 percent is available for qualifying participants, and the military and veterans program is provided entirely free of charge through grant funding.
The program runs on a large network of community volunteers who serve as sidewalkers and horse handlers, NDSU student participants who complete teaching hours toward their instructor certifications, and therapists from Beyond Boundaries Therapy Services who provide licensed OT and PT services incorporating equine movement.
Services Offered
- Adapted Therapeutic Horsemanship (weekly riding lessons)
- Physical and Occupational Therapy utilizing equine movement, in partnership with Beyond Boundaries Therapy Services
- Equine-Assisted Learning (for youth ages 6 to 17 with social, emotional, or behavioral challenges)
- Military and Veterans Horsemanship (free of charge)
- PATH International certification workshops and professional development
- Practicum site for NDSU graduate counseling students
- Internship and experiential learning for NDSU equine science undergraduates
Who They Serve
Bison Strides may be a good fit for:
- Children and adults with physical, cognitive, emotional, or behavioral challenges
- Individuals with autism spectrum disorder
- Individuals with cerebral palsy
- Individuals with Down syndrome
- Individuals with ADHD
- Individuals with traumatic brain injury
- Individuals with spinal cord injury or spina bifida
- Individuals with stroke-related disabilities
- Individuals with PTSD, anxiety, or depression
- Veterans and active duty military
- Youth ages 6 to 17 with social-emotional or behavioral challenges
- Participants ages 2 and older (for OT/PT hippotherapy sessions)
Facility and Setting
Bison Strides operates at the NDSU Equine Center in Fargo, North Dakota. The facility is part of the university’s broader agricultural campus and includes indoor riding space suitable for year-round programming. The horse herd has included up to seven therapy horses at a time, selected for their temperament and suitability for working with participants across a wide range of needs. In 2021, the program’s horse Bronco was named PATH International Region 6 Equine of the Year, a regional award covering programs in North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
- Fargo, North Dakota location
- NDSU Equine Center, 5140 19th Avenue North, Fargo, ND 58102
- Mailing address: NDSU Dept. 7520, PO Box 6050, Fargo, ND 58108-6050
- PATH International Premier Accredited Center (only one in North Dakota)
- PATH International Higher Education Member
- Year-round programming in six-week session blocks
What Makes Them Unique
Bison Strides stands apart because of its deep integration into a major research university. Very few therapeutic riding programs in the country operate within a land-grant institution’s academic infrastructure the way Bison Strides does, and that positioning gives the program capabilities that community-based nonprofits simply cannot replicate. NDSU undergraduate students complete actual instructor certification teaching hours through the program, graduate counseling students use it as a practicum site, and multi-disciplinary research into horse-human interactions is an active part of what the program does — not just an aspiration.
The program’s accreditation score of 97 percent on its initial PATH evaluation, achieved within the first year of operation, speaks to the rigor with which Dr. Berg built the program from the start.
Combined with the financial assistance structure, the free veterans program, and partnerships with licensed therapists at Beyond Boundaries, Bison Strides delivers a level of clinical and academic credibility that is genuinely rare in the equine-assisted services field.