Paws for Reflection Ranch
Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.
Points to look into
- It reported loans to or from officers, directors or other insiders.
These come from the organization's own tax return. There may be a good explanation; ask the charity.
What it says it does
To provide a healing, educational, motivational and recreational environment utilizing equine and other animal assisted therapies and experiences to enhance the quality of life for all individuals, and to provide a loving home, whether temporary or permanent, for animals that meet a specific criteria to participate in therapeutic programs. We partner therapists with animals to heal the mind, body, and spirit. We offer the community with animal and equine assisted activities and therapies, including Therapeutic Horseback Riding, Therapeutic Horsemanship, Equine and Animals Assisted Counseling Programs, Special Needs Programs, Educational Programs, and Veteran and First Responder Programs.
- Income
- $861,750
- Spending
- $859,391
- Spent on programs
- 72%
- Reserves
- -2.8 months of spending
- Largest source of income
- fees for its services, 53%
- Employees
- 0
- Volunteers
- 230
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Financial health
Weak: 47 out of 100. Higher than 8% of charities in its peer group (animals, $250k to $1m).
Reserves
0 of 35Spendable reserves are negative: it owes or has committed more than it holds.
Debt
5 of 20It owes 69% of what it owns.
Living within its means
12 of 15Income exceeded spending by 0% of income.
Income trend
15 of 15Income rose 23% on the year before.
Spending floor
15 of 1572% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 0 cents.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Governance
Good: 78 out of 100. Higher than 72% of charities in its peer group (animals, $250k to $1m).
Independent board
25 of 256 of 6 voting board members are independent.
Conflict of interest policy
15 of 15Has a written conflict of interest policy.
Whistleblower policy
0 of 8Reports no written whistleblower policy.
Record keeping policy
7 of 7Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.
Board minutes
5 of 5Keeps minutes of board meetings.
Board sees the tax return
10 of 10Gave the board a copy of this return before filing it.
Independent check of accounts
12 of 15Its accounts were reviewed or compiled by an independent accountant, but not audited.
No reported misuse
0 of 10Reports at least one of: diversion of assets, excess benefits, loans to insiders.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Impact evidence
Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.
Programs described in its return (6)
- $177,703 spent. Counseling programs include Animal-Assisted Counseling (AAC), Equine-Assisted Counseling (EAC), Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing (EMDR), Traditional Counseling, and Animal/Equine Assisted Play Therapy. Therapists partner with 35 Ranch animals to meet weekly for 60 minute individual or group counseling sessions. Clients as young as 3 years of age begin in our Play Therapy program. Through the child's natural language of play, the counselor can reflect back to the child and better understand the emotions and concerns of the child. The counselor is able to work with the parent(s) and child to improve their relationship. Through interaction with the animals, the child learns empathy, regulation of emotions, anger management, and coping skills. The child builds confidence and self-esteem and learns how to better communicate at school and at home. In group Play Therapy, children learn how to play together, communicate with one another, and how to compromise and be flexible. As the child moves away from the world of toys, therapists may incorporate activities with the miniature horses, miniature donkey, goats and other barn animals. Activities are designed to encourage sharing of emotions and to reach therapy goals. In 2024, the Ranch added one LPC-S and 2 Master's level interns to our counseling team. Interns are helping to alleviate the wait list we often experience for Play Therapy. Teens typically participate in Equine Assisted Counseling. As the teen builds a relationship with a horse, they work on activities designed to focus on their therapy goals, improving their confidence and self-esteem as they experience the unconditional love of their horse. With immediate feedback from the horse, the client is able to try new behaviors, change communication styles, and be aware of how body language speaks volumes. Adult clients also typically choose Equine Assisted Counseling. Through building a relationship with their horse, the client learns how to build healthy relationships, try out different communication styles and behaviors, learn coping skills, manage anger and frustration, and more. Activities are designed to assist the client to accomplish their therapy goals as they learn new skills and bond with their horse. In Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy, the client is able to train their brain to act in a more neutral manner when exposed to certain triggers that currently produce a dramatic response. Our counselors are trained to utilize this therapy with children, teens, adults, and Veterans. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy is trauma focused and shows positive results in the treatment of PTSD, moral injury, nightmares, trauma, abuse, pain, eating disorders, etc. Clients report experiencing results quickly. Many of our clients merge Equine Assisted Counseling and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing therapy together. Counseling clients include youth-at-risk, children, adults, families, Veterans and their dependents, people with special needs, and others who seek counseling. In 2024, 29 unique clients were seen for Equine Assisted Counseling. These clients participated in approximately 500 sessions. There were 64 unique clients seen for Animal Assisted Counseling for 510 sessions. There were 19 unique Play Therapy clients resulting in approximately 305 sessions of Play Therapy. Traditional counseling clients numbered 12 with 192 sessions. Family/Couples numbered 47 with 752 sessions. There were also 10 clients treated via Telehealth with 162 sessions online. Expenses include Independent Contractor fees, training, and supply costs. Cost of facility and the expenses surrounding the care and feeding of all therapy animals have not been included in these program expenses.
- $161,388 spent. We offer individual and group Therapeutic Horseback Riding Lessons and individual and group Therapeutic Horsemanship Group Therapies Monday through Friday year around. We provided approximately 20,000 therapeutic riding sessions for 127 unique clients in 2024. Some clients have been riding weekly with us for 8+ years, while others may choose to ride weekly for a few months. We have 3 PATH (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship) Therapeutic Riding Instructors and 2 Therapeutic Riding Instructors working toward PATH certification. Typically once weekly, lessons may be 30 minutes or 60 minutes in length, individual or group. Clients, ages 4 to adult, include those with special needs, ie. Autism, Down syndrome, physical limitations, and mental health challenges. We also offer riding for Veterans. Riders progress weekly, some needing horse leaders and side walkers for safety, progressing to be more independent. During 60 minute lessons, the rider learns how to retrieve the horse from the pasture and tack up, with the help of volunteers and/or the instructor. Some riders participate in games and activities while riding, working on basic riding skills. Instructors tailor their lessons to help with skills being learned at home and at school. Riding sessions may be held in the covered arena, on the Sensory Trail which is specially designed for the rider to interact with most senses, and on the other Nature Trails. Our herd of 16 horses provides the necessary variety of horse sizes and shapes to match to the rider's abilities. The rider may change to other horses as their riding abilities progress. We continue to partner with Hope Kids of NE Texas for weekly riding and events. This organization offers events and activities for families who have a child with a potentially terminal illness. We offer one hour of weekly riding for their group who sign up on a first come, first serve basis. Our Therapeutic Horsemanship Programs for individuals and groups served 40 clients in 2024. Expenses for the therapeutic riding and horsemanship program include Independent Contractor fees and supply expenses. Horse expenses have not been included in the expenses.
- $98,834 spent. Our third largest program expense would be the cost of feeding, training, and healthcare of our therapy animal partners. There are 16 full size horses, 2 miniature horses, 2 miniature donkeys, 2 miniature pot bellied pigs, 3 goats, 4 rabbits, 3 chinchillas, 2 hedgehogs, 1 ferret, 2 dogs, 3 cats and 1 Russian tortoise. All of our programs and services incorporate the utilization of these therapy animals. Our animal partners are such an important part of our services and help us to realize amazing results and outcomes for our clients. They provide the unconditional love, focus or distraction needed at just the right time to complement the work of our professional counseling and therapist team. Clients young and old enjoy relationships with our therapy animals that creates a calming and relaxing environment for healing. Compared to traditional counseling in a traditional office setting, many children and adults are eager to return and hate to leave the peaceful ranch setting. No revenue is included in this section because it is including in the above Counseling and Therapeutic Riding and Horsemanship Service Accomplishments.
- $163,518 spent. Grant scholarships awarded.
- $7,406 spent. Volunteering and Educational Programs - Volunteers are certainly a blessing to the ranch but this comes with expenses of course. The majority of the expense is to the part-time contract position of Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator. in 2024 we had 230 volunteers that were given tours, trained, placed into appropriate jobs and scheduled. This position also represents the ranch at marketing and outreach events to recruit new volunteers and market our services to citizens and organizations. Expenses are limited to direct supplies and Independent Contractor fees. $1,500 of this expense is for Volunteer Appreciation, t-shirts, snacks, beverages.
- $6,184 spent. Community Service Events - In lieu of advertising, we choose to be active within the community, both hosting and participating in public events. We host three free events for the community annually: Santa at the Ranch, Easter at the Ranch, both for Families with Special Needs. We also host our annual Ranch Riders Horse Show where our riding clients can show off their riding skills to family and friends. Santa at the Ranch 2024 had ___ guests. We had ___ guests for Easter at the Ranch and ___ guests for the Ranch Riders Horse Show. We solicit donations of door prizes, game prizes, refreshments, and craft supplies for Santa at the Ranch. We request donations of toy filled Easter eggs, refreshments, and door prizes for Easter at the Ranch. The majority of this expense is to provide riders and staff with Horse Show Event T-shirts. Refreshments and horse show equipment make up the remaining expense. We have been holding these events for more than 15 years, growing each year. Special needs families enjoy our events as they know they are welcome and will not be judged. The Ranch is a safe environment for them to interact with their special needs loved ones, enjoying a family event like those families not having a special needs child do. There is plenty of outdoor space to provide a private area in which to recover from melt-downs, have quiet time, and to help their child enjoy the day. In 2020, due to Covid, we redefined our Easter and Santa at the Ranch Community Events into Drive-Thru events with 15 stations for cars to stop at and children would receive arts and crafts, refreshments, treats, and filled Easter Eggs from volunteers with masks and grabbers to maintain social distancing. One car and family at a time they could get out of their cars and take a photo with Santa or the Easter Bunny. We hosted approximately 50 cars and 150 children at each event. In a normal year, we host holiday events for groups such as the Bikers Against Child Abuse. They do not pay to use the facility and interact with the animals, but do bring along their own supplies. The Ranch is also a site for other support groups such as Families with Sturge Weber Syndrome, providing a central place for these families to meet and visit with one another. Visitors come from all over Texas and even other states to participate in these group activities. Another group for whom we host two annual family days is Hope Kids of NE Texas. The Ranch provides a setting where both parents can enjoy the day, benefiting from a reprieve of daily duties. Guests can compare resources and learn from each other. This is also an opportunity for the families to research the Ranch services and see what therapies interest them and are the most beneficial.
Source: Form 990 for the year ending December 31, 2024, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate
Legitimacy checks
Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.
Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.
Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.
Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 30, 2026.
Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.
On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.
Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 10, 2026.
Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.
Most recent return on file covers the year ending December 2024.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.
Recognized by the IRS since November 2004.
Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.
Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.
Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.
Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 7, 2026.
Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.