Who we are
Unbridled Rising is a curriculum and training organization at the intersection of two parallel revolutions — one inside the human body, one inside the horse stable. We know nervous systems do not heal in isolation. They heal in relationship. And the horse with its 50-million-year-old capacity to read the emotional truth of every being in its environment is among the most precise co-regulatory instruments available to human wellness. Simultaneously, the equine world is undergoing its own paradigm shift: from dominance-based horsemanship to partnership-based practice. A horse trained through trust and clarity rather than compliance and pressure brings an entirely different quality of presence to the human encounter.
Unbridled Rising codifies this intersection into a rigorous, modularized curriculum — the RISE framework — that any trained EAL facilitator can deliver with fidelity, outcomes measurement, and an ethical horsemanship standard that honors the animal as a genuine partner.
Susan Schaffler, MA, is the founder and executive director of Unbridled Rising. She brings a background in anthropology, public health, and strategic communications, with 15+ years leading program development, partnerships, and strategic initiatives for startups, foundations, and nonprofits. Susan is completing PATH International Equine-Assisted Learning certification (Part 2 intensive, Fall 2026) and accrues supervised facilitation hours at The Paddock in Atwater Village.
Susan's approach to Unbridled Rising is grounded in the conviction that the youth mental health crisis is not a shortage of clinical services, it is a failure of prevention infrastructure. Unbridled Rising is her answer to that gap: a scalable, evidence-grounded, curriculum-based intervention that reaches young people before crisis arrives. She designed Unbridled Rising’s curriculum to connect themes of the body keeping score, finding resilience in discomfort, and redefining strength. The program is designed to encourage resilience and help us recognize that our deepest healing often emerges from understanding our strengths and feeling integral to a collective. Susan is also the author of the forthcoming memoir Side Effects May Include and writes about the science and practice of equine-assisted learning at Honest Ground on Substack.
Our Values
Partnership Over Dominance: True confidence — in humans and horses — emerges through collaboration and mutual respect, not control or coercion. Partnership-based, positive reinforcement horsemanship is not a program feature at Unbridled Rising. It is a prerequisite. No UR program operates with horses whose primary training methodology is dominance-based. This standard applies to all program sites, all licensing partners, and all facilitator training.
Strengths-Based Development: Every participant brings unique capabilities that deserve recognition and amplification. The RISE curriculum surfaces strengths through direct experience — specifically, through the horse's honest, unfiltered response — not through self-report or adult assessment.
Prevention, Not Treatment: Unbridled Rising does not provide clinical mental health services. Our programs are enrichment and prevention — designed to build the internal resources that interrupt the trajectory from early adversity to adult mental health crisis, before disorder arrives. Participants are young people, not patients.Authentic Wellbeing: Real resilience comes from understanding and accepting ourselves, not from external validation or performance.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Unbridled Rising serves youth and young adults ages 8–23 through four program tracks: SPARK (8–11), IGNITE (12–15), EMPOWER (16–18), and GROUND (18–23 — transitional-age young adults). Sliding scale pricing and scholarships are available. No participant is turned away for financial reasons.
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At Unbridled Rising, we focus on strengths, not deficits.
Program elements are multi-sensory and choice-driven, with an emphasis on experiential learning. Facilitators are trained in trauma-informed practices, inclusive group facilitation, and de-escalation to meet a range of participant needs.
We believe in empowering youth to co-create community agreements and take an active role in shaping their experience. Social-emotional skill building, positive coping strategies, and self-reflection are woven throughout.
With horses as partners and peers as allies, Unbridled Rising provides a safe space for youth to build self-awareness, practice new ways of being, and experience belonging exactly as they are.
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Three things set Unbridled Rising apart. First: the horsemanship standard. All horses in UR programs are trained through positive reinforcement and partnership-based methods — not because it is a preference, but because the co-regulatory mechanism that makes our work possible depends on the horse's authentic availability. Second: the curriculum architecture. The RISE framework is modularized, evidence-grounded, and measured with validated instruments — making it licensable, replicable, and research-ready. Third: the prevention framing. We are not a therapy program. We are a prevention program — and that distinction shapes everything about how we design, deliver, and measure our work.
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Unbridled Rising currently operates at two sites in Los Angeles: The Paddock in Atwater Village (after-school programs and summer intensives). In 2027, the RISE curriculum will be available for licensing by qualified EAL facilities nationally.
Contact us
Programs are enrolling now. Whether you are a family, a referral partner, a funder, or a facility interested in curriculum licensing — we want to hear from you.