Vision

To enrich, strengthen, restore, and empower women leaders of today and tomorrow


Mission

To provide equine assisted development opportunities that nurture women and foster girls' ability to succeed both as individuals and contributing members of our community.


Core Values

Access and Inclusion - promoting diversity and opportunity in equine-assisted leadership development activities

Compassion and Caring - providing a culture of safety, understanding, and ethical treatment of humans and horses engaged in equine-assisted activities

Our Mission




















Why Focus on Helping Foster Girls?

The South Carolina Department of Social Services reports that approximately 2,773 children entered the foster care system during 2013. Many children entering foster care were neglected (47%), physically or sexually abused (27%), or exposed to drugs (15%). The remaining 11% entered foster care due to abandonment, voluntary placement, dependency, or juvenile offense.


For children who have been abused and neglected, the trauma of even one placement into a foster home or group home can have a negative impact on their overall development and jeopardize their ability to become healthy and well-adjusted adults. Going in and out of foster care, or moving repeatedly from home to home, can be devastating for a child.

Benefits of Equine Assisted Learning

  • Action, not talk - Learning through doing. Principals of healthy life skills are practically applied and practiced

  • Fosters resilience - Women/Girls learn to adapt, improvise, and overcome perceived stressors.

  • Solution focused - Women/Girls are given the opportunity to find their own solutions to proposed exercises through hands-on experience; they learn to rely on themselves and their team members

  • Improved adaptability - Women/girls must respond to the unpredictability and inability to 'control' the horses and discover ways to make the relationship work.
















Our Main Focus

It is the policy of the the Ladies that LEAD to be inclusive, to provide a safe environment in which women and girls of any race or persuasion

feel free to express their views, discuss their concerns, and find answers to the questions their lives pose to them.


Ladies that LEAD is a unique provider of equine assisted development and mentoring for foster/at-risk girls. We take pride in offering the best leadership enhancement opportunities and local mentoring. We are dedicated to serving the needs of our mentees each day. 


Ladies that LEAD was formally established in 2013. as a non-profit organization located in Swansea, South Carolina. We work with local partners to use horses to provide hands-on learning for foster girls ages 8-17 years to build confidence, teach problem solving skills, and improve communication. We work with local churches, community organizations, Department of Social Services, and members of the

local equine community. 



How Can Ladies that LEAD Help?

​Horses have the ability to help women and girls in many ways. Studies have shown that interacting with horses helps women and girls build self-confidence, learn critical thinking skills, develop communication skills, become accomplished at setting goals, explore new environments, and utilize new opportunities to develop high self-esteem.