Healing Heroes Through Horsemanship
Legal name: Healing Heroes Through Horsemanship Incorporated
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 932863275
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2024–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2023
- Location
- Arroyo Grande, CA, US
- Phone
- 805-868-7634
- Rating
- 85
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Vocational Rehabilitation
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $213,499
- Expenses
- $217,120
- Assets
- $137,185
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
8 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Andrew Dibbern DVM JD (Board President)
- Simon Marrier d'Unienville (Executive Director and Head Trainer)
Highest reported compensation
- Simon Marrier d'Unienville (Executive Director and Head Trainer): $33,581 total reported compensation
- Andrew Dibbern DVM JD (Board President): $8,753 total reported compensation
- Chad J Huck (Secretary): $2,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Empowering at-risk Veterans on California's central coast through equine-assisted programs and vocational horsemanship training, while actively supporting the retraining and rehoming of retired racehorses and other horses in need.
What it reported doing in 2025
New Horizons is our horse retraining and rehoming program, which provides retired racehorses and other horses in transition with a second chance through retraining, rehabilitation, and responsible placement. In 2025 the program served 33 horses, providing daily care, veterinary oversight, and individualized training to prepare horses for adoption. During the year 13 horses were successfully adopted, 6 were transferred to partner organizations better suited for specialized rehabilitation, and 11 remained in active training and adoption preparation at year end. The program also includes 3 permanent program horses that provide safe, calm learning partners for Veterans beginning their vocational horsemanship training. Adoption fees generated $40,525 in program service revenue, helping offset program costs.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 86
- Sustainability: 35
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 91.3%; rating input score 91
- Program expense ratio: 89.8%; rating input score 90
- Fundraising efficiency: $35.93 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Missing
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -1.7%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.63; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 20.4%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 42.4% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 34.5% per year; rating input score 100; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 91.3% of revenue deployed · 89.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 7 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $184K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $34K · 8 people listed
- Consistency: 43 of 44 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 2 filing years from 2024 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 31/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 30/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 18/100.