Reins of Life (ROL) was incorporated as a non-profit organization in 1978. Reins provided 32 hours of therapeutic riding lessons for 16 riders that year. Lessons were held in the backyards of friends of ROL. From 1978 to 1991, Reins used borrowed arenas, equipment, and tack to provide services to individuals with disabilities in St. Joseph County, Indiana. Dedicated volunteers transported borrowed horses by trailer to the lesson sites each day. In 1991, the organization found a permanent home when Nancy and Lloyd Taylor donated twenty acres of their land on Quince Road, near Lydick.

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An unprecedented opportunity to expand the organization’s services came in June of 2007 in the form of a donation of a 46-acre property in Michigan City. Royal Acres Equestrian Center was donated by a Chicago couple, Todd and Janice Much, and was valued at $2M. Therapeutic riding lessons began in Michigan City on September 10, 2007, with 16 riders in the first session. The ROL Michigan City barn has since tripled in ridership and expanded with an addition of other programs, with participants coming to us from mainly La Porte and Porter County. 

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Reins of Life now serves over 450 people a month between the two centers, offering programming to residents of 11 counties in Indiana and Michigan.