Location: Leesburg, Virginia, United States
Bridle Paths is a nonprofit equine-assisted services organization in Leesburg, Virginia, serving individuals and families across Northern Virginia and the surrounding region.
Founded in 2012 by Kathleen Fallon, the program offers a continuum of services described as unique in the Northern Virginia area — combining adaptive riding, equine-assisted psychotherapy, and equine-assisted learning under one program with a deeply credentialed team.
Bridle Paths holds memberships in PATH International, EAGALA, and the Therapeutic Riding Association of Virginia, and its founder and executive director is among the more multiply certified equine-assisted services practitioners in the region.
About This Program
Bridle Paths was built on the conviction that horses offer something beyond physical therapy — that the relationship between a person and a horse is itself therapeutic in ways that reach the mind and nervous system as profoundly as the body. The program’s values center on respect for the individual (human and equine), focus on abilities rather than diagnoses, and commitment to emotionally attuned, ethically grounded service delivery.
The adaptive riding program provides individualized mounted instruction to children and adults with physical, cognitive, behavioral, and emotional needs. Lessons incorporate grooming, horse care, and horsemanship alongside riding, and group lessons are offered where social and communication goals make that format appropriate.
PATH-certified instructors and trained volunteers staff every session. The therapy herd is carefully selected for temperament, training, and movement quality, with horses on free lease and donation from community members who choose to share their animals with the program.
The equine-assisted psychotherapy program works with a licensed clinical social worker and EAGALA-certified equine specialist, with the horse’s spontaneous responses to human behavior becoming a real-time therapeutic tool.
Sessions can be individual or group-based and are particularly suited to clients working through trauma, anxiety, depression, self-harm, suicidal ideation, and the cumulative impacts of adverse experiences. Bridle Paths approaches trauma from a post-traumatic growth orientation, centering recovery, resilience, and underlying strengths rather than focusing exclusively on past events.
The equine-assisted learning program includes Horses with Heart, a program designed for children and teens with depression, anxiety, and self-harm and their families. These two-hour sessions use horses to build mindfulness, communication, and authentic connection between family members.
Bridle Paths also delivers EAL programming to residents of local residential behavioral health facilities for teens and young adults, including Newport Institute.
Military services are a significant commitment for Bridle Paths, which has provided free therapeutic riding, horsemanship, and EAP services to veterans, service members, and military families referred by nonprofit organizations, the Virginia Department of Veterans Services, and military medical facilities for more than a decade.
The program operates from a post-traumatic growth framework with this population and has contributed to the growing body of evidence for equine-assisted psychotherapy with veterans.
In a recent year, Bridle Paths served more than 200 unique participants across over 750 adaptive riding sessions, 158 EAL sessions, and more than 100 EAP sessions including VA-funded groups.
Services Offered
- Adaptive and therapeutic riding
- Equine-assisted psychotherapy (individuals, groups, families)
- Equine-assisted learning (Horses with Heart and other programs)
- Military and veteran services (free of charge)
- Residential behavioral health facility programming
- Summer and day camps
- Grooming and horsemanship instruction
- Groundwork and unmounted activities
- Recreational riding
- Professional development and HERD Institute EFL practicums
Who They Serve
Bridle Paths may be a good fit for:
- Children and adults with physical, cognitive, behavioral, or emotional needs
- Individuals with autism spectrum disorder
- Individuals with ADHD
- Individuals with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, or spina bifida
- Individuals with epilepsy or seizure disorders
- Individuals with head trauma or brain injury
- Individuals with genetic conditions or disorders
- Individuals with intellectual or developmental disabilities
- Individuals with learning disabilities
- Individuals with speech impairment
- Individuals with anxiety, depression, or PTSD
- Individuals with self-harm or suicidal ideation
- Individuals with substance abuse histories
- Individuals who have experienced violence, abuse, or trauma
- Veterans and service members
- Military families (free of charge)
- At-risk youth and young adults
- Families of individuals with special needs
- Residents of residential behavioral health care facilities
Facility and Setting
Bridle Paths is located at Stone Horse Farm at 43247 Spinks Ferry Road in Leesburg, Virginia, in Loudoun County in Northern Virginia. The farm is easily accessible from Route 15, Route 7, and the Dulles Toll Road, with ample on-site parking and a climate-controlled viewing area for family members observing lessons.
Visits are by appointment only.
The program operates year-round and is supported by nearly 6,000 volunteer hours annually. The herd currently includes 11 therapy horses on free lease and donation from community members.
- Leesburg, Virginia location (Loudoun County, Northern Virginia)
- Stone Horse Farm, 43247 Spinks Ferry Road, Leesburg, VA 20176
- Accessible from Route 15, Route 7, and the Dulles Toll Road
- By appointment only
- PATH International member center
- EAGALA certified
- Therapeutic Riding Association of Virginia member
- EQUUS Foundation Guardian
- 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization
What Makes Them Unique
Bridle Paths occupies a distinctive position in Northern Virginia’s equine-assisted services landscape through the depth and range of its founder’s credentials. Kathleen Fallon holds Advanced Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor status through PATH, PATH Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning certification, EAGALA Equine Specialist certification, Masterson Method Equine Specialist certification, and Level 1 certification in the HERD Institute’s model of equine-facilitated learning — and teaches that model to other practitioners as a HERD faculty member. That accumulation of credentials reflects an organization genuinely committed to delivering services at the highest standard across multiple modalities.
The program’s explicit attention to military families — not just veterans — as a population deserving of support is also notable. Bridle Paths recognizes that when one person serves, the whole family serves, and its free provision of services to those families reflects a values-driven commitment that goes beyond most programs’ veteran programming.
For families in Northern Virginia seeking a small, highly credentialed program that combines clinical rigor with genuine relational warmth, Bridle Paths is one of the most thoughtfully built equine-assisted services programs in the region.