Collegiate News Service<\/a>, working with student journalists to cover public policy issues across Orange County. If you would like to submit your own student media project related to Orange County civics or if you have any response to this work, contact admin@voiceofoc.org.<\/p>\nFounded by Julian Stewart in 2018, she is dedicated to bringing patients and families comfort as they navigate challenges associated with disabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s amazing being a part of first steps and first words,\u201d Stewart said in an interview at the organization\u2019s barn headquarters in San Juan Capistrano.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One patient, a young girl about four years old, attends weekly equine therapy lessons. She had once struggled with selective muteness and learned to feel comfortable speaking through her time spent on horseback.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Surf and Turf program gives patients access to physical, occupational and speech therapy \u2014 which all have their place in hippotherapy.<\/p>\n
While horseback riding is the \u201cturf\u201d part of the organization\u2019s programming, they also offer surf therapy lessons on Orange County\u2019s beaches.<\/p>\n
The Foundations\u00a0<\/p>\n
Coming from the Ancient Greek root word \u201chippo\u201d \u2014 which means horse \u2014 hippotherapy is treatment that strengthens skills in the rider\u2019s brain and body.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As a method that has been seen to improve foundational skills \u2014 like balance, muscle strength and motor skills as well as sensory regulation \u2014 clinics all over the U.S. like Surf and Turf are helping people with all sorts of disabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The reason it has seen a lot of success is due to how patients sit on the horse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the way a horse walks \u2014 it mirrors how our pelvises walk as humans,\u201d said Payton Forche, staff member for Surf and Turf.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the kids are on it, it gives them the rotations as if they were walking,\u201d Forche continued. \u201cIf they\u2019re learning to walk, being on the horse for 30 minutes, it\u2019s going to give them more repetitions than if they were in a normal therapy clinic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Surfing also gives a similar effect, as it challenges patients to work on balancing. As they navigate the uneven waters, they become more confident with their movements.<\/p>\n
Working on physical balance also helps many children overcome cognitive challenges and become more confident in their speech.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a little girl surfing with us, and she said, \u2018I love you mom,\u2019\u201d Stewart said. \u201c\u2029That was her first sentence, and it was after surfing.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SurfTurfScanlan1.jpg\")
Horses Cosmo and Trooper in their pen in San Juan Capistrano on April 27, 2026. CREDIT: RILEY SCANLAN, Voice of OC<\/p>\n
The Founder\u2019s Story<\/p>\n
Hailing from Holland, Michigan \u2014\u00a0Stewart attended Northwestern, where she got her doctorate in physical therapy in 2014. She later collected her HPCS, which makes her a hippotherapy clinical specialist.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her story starts when she was nine years old; Stewart started volunteering her horse to be ridden by children with disabilities in their own special class.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was always fabulous when I would take her over and let these other kids with disabilities ride her,\u201d said Stewart, when referring to her horse.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After becoming a physical therapist, she found interest in continuing hippotherapy but didn\u2019t think it could be a full-time option.<\/p>\n
Following her experience earlier in her career at a different hippotherapy clinic, she noticed there was a large swath of patients that could benefit from surf and equine therapy.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what really got me thinking about the parallels between sitting astride a horse and sitting astride a surfboard,\u201d Stewart said, \u201cand how our nervous system responds, and how our balance, our strength, all those things can be addressed using these non-traditional ways.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of took everything out in hippotherapy and applied it to a surfboard.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/SurfTurfScanlan2.jpg\")
Surf and Turf Property in San Juan Capistrano on April 27, 2026. CREDIT: RILEY SCANLAN, Voice of OC<\/p>\n
The Organization<\/p>\n
Now with a nonprofit built behind her, it\u2019s become popular in the community.<\/p>\n
Paula McCloskey has worked in equine therapy for 14 years and has been a volunteer at Surf and Turf for four. As a volunteer, she said she donates her time and energy to the program because she believes it works.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt gave me a place to give back,\u201d McCloskey said. \u201cI\u2019ve seen people step out of wheelchairs and take their first step because of this therapy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Within her average of 20 hours a week she gives to the nonprofit, McCloskey does anything the organization needs from her. This can include simple chores around the barn like feeding the seven horses and two ponies but also includes two lessons a day.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Forche, an executive assistant for the organization, has worked with Surf and Turf for two years and takes care of many tasks for the nonprofit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
She works with the sibling program, which is dedicated to giving a chance for siblings of the patients to also ride horses or surf. Forche said this program gives the siblings something to bond over and gives parents a break during therapy sessions.<\/p>\n
Forche is also dedicated to helping grow Surf and Turf; this includes helping the organization on its journey to expand to another location.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With plans to expand the organization, there\u2019s a tight rope to still walk.\u00a0<\/p>\n
What draws people to Surf and Turf is the small atmosphere it brings for its patients, McCloskey said, and it gives them a chance to feel seen in the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI love the fact that it\u2019s a small operation,\u201d McCloskey said. \u201cIt\u2019s small, but mighty.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Expansion of the operation does not necessarily mean growth in the amount of people it assists.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With already 113 hours of service hours dedicated per week, finding ways to grow the clientele can only come with more volunteers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The main purpose of the expansion is to see better facilities used.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe move is more about sustainability than growth, because we really pride ourselves on the quality of what we\u2019re offering,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cIt\u2019s never been my goal to just be a mega center cranking out 1,000 people and not knowing who we\u2019re helping.\u201d<\/p>\n
That intimate feel is seen as patients are given individual care.\u00a0<\/p>\n
For the four-year-old girl who is growing in her motor skills, the lessons gave her an opportunity to get out of her comfort zone and trust her body and its movement.\u00a0<\/p>\n
With three aids to her \u2014 Stewart, McCloskey and another helper \u2014 the little girl was given a series of tasks on horseback, all with the fun game of collecting rubber ducks added to it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The lesson put her in some challenging situations as she was required to reach out to grab the ducks and trust her balance on the horse. The horse would make small jumps where she once again had to speak up on how she felt about it or what she didn\u2019t like.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cA child might not be able to walk, but they\u2019re commanding a 1,200 pound animal,\u201d McCloskey said. \u201cAnd seeing that shows this is a valid form of therapy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A child walks for the first time. Another says their first words.\u00a0 As children who have struggled with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":412423,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[163,165,164,165137,8326],"class_list":["post-412422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-anaheim","tag-anaheim","tag-anaheim-headlines","tag-anaheim-news","tag-horse-therapy","tag-horses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=412422"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412422\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/412423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=412422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=412422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=412422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1785023694_371_VOCCNS-140x140.png\")
<\/p>\n