NEWS from your NARHA State Representative                                June 22, 2007

 

 

2007 TN State Annual Meeting ~ EASTERN GATHERING

 

******Please join me in thanking Mary Mitten and the staff/volunteers at Small Miracles for providing a relaxing environment for our Eastern State Meeting on June 9^th!!!!!   Mary and her staff were very friendly and accommodating and had everything set up and ready to go for us!  Lunch was delicious and the speakers were AWESOME!!!***********

 

 

REMEMBER, our Central Gathering is being hosted at Seven Gables in Dickson, TN on June 30^th.  Topics will include “Driving Limits (Debra Wray) – My Horse My Partner (Lisa Wysocky) – Clients dealing with Complex Trauma & Loss (DeDe Beasley).  There is still time to register so if you haven’t already, reply back to me (tkprograms@aol.com) and I’ll get you the information.

 

 

 

Six different centers were represented at the Eastern Gathering.  Comments from attendees were very positive with lots of enjoyment coming from networking, seeing another center and learning from the various speakers.  For those of you who were unable to attend, we would like to share some of the info and  pictures for your enjoyment:

 

1.  Growing Your Program by Lynn Petr & Kristen Sanders (STAR)

 

Lynn & Kristen shared valuable information and learning experiences from their 20 years of center growth at STAR.  They discussed areas such as:

                                                                   Board of Directors                  Staff Support

            Employment Issues                Physical Space

            Adding New Programs            Public Relations

            Money – Money – Money         Horse Growth

            Business Plans                       Risk Management Plans

            Size vs. Quality

 

                                                                                                                                  

                

  THANKS so much to Lynn &                                             

  Kristen for sharing their leadership knowledge with us!!!!

                                                                                                       

 

 

 

2.  Equine Massage

 

 

 

  Big HOORAY to Opahl (horse) and the equine massage team that services

  Small Miracles as they presented a short segment diagramming a few

  muscles and some stretching techniques.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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3.  Considering Older Adults with Dementia for Therapeutic Horsemanship Activities:  A Gerontological Social Work Student’s Perspective by Michelle Lague

 

WOW, what a refreshing segment ~ Michelle did a fantastic job with her research and the presentation of the material!

 

She offered a lot of statistical information relevant to Tennessee.  For example, approximately 100,000 Tennesseans have dementia of the Alzheimer’s Type and it’s growing at a rate of 20% ~ so in 2010 another 20,000 will be added to that.

 

Michelle touched on specific areas of Dementia..  She explained in detail some techniques of Validation Therapy and how it can be utilized in an equine assisted activity setting.  She offered suggestions for screening potential clients, vols and horses.  Michelle closed with some sample scenarios and allowed us to work through them to determine the best technique for treatment.  She provided an informative page of references and suggested readings related to TN and also Aging in general.

 

We feel so fortunate to have benefited from Michelle’s research ~ we encourage her to submit it next year for presentation at the NARHA Conference!!!

 

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4.  Interactive Vaulting  - Terri Devlin (Horse Power)

 

                   

 

YAY for hands on activities!!!!!!!!  We so appreciate Terri coming down from New Hampshire to share her vaulting program with us ~ it can be a wonderful addition to an equine center!!

 

The segment began with some warm up/teamwork exercises.  Pictured here are some of the attendees moving a hula-hoop around the circle without letting go of their hands.   We also practiced a Chain Line and Jumping exercise.

 

               

 

 

 

NEAT STUFF

 

 

 

Walking to the beat of the horse – teamwork/warm up.

Each participant must follow the front feet of the horse (while not stepping on the person in front of you J  When the instructor calls out “switch” everyone switches to being in step with the horses hind legs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next came the vaulting position practice on the barrel.

 

 

 

 

 

  the mount           ½ scissor          special K

 

 

                       

 

                                                               

  

 

 

 Then on to the real thing with Buster the Appaloosa and a Small Miracles Center participant:

 

  kneeling                      

 

  It was inspiring to see how this participants courage and self-esteem grew during this short vaulting experience.  Later Mary (program director at Small Miracles) asked the participant if she thought her other riding partners would enjoy vaulting.  The participant replied “no, I don’t think so, but I bet they’d enjoy watching me vault!!”  She was SO proud of her accomplishments….and so was dad who was looking on.

 

  bench                       almost the prince                                                        

 

 

 

                                                

    the grand finale standing 

 

  

 

If you would like more information about any of these presentations, please contact the NARHA Members directly at:

 

Lynn Petr                                           execdir@rideatstar.org

Kristen Sanders                               Kristen@rideatstar.org

Michelle Lague                                 zmyl08@gmail.com

Terri Devlin                                       terri848@hotmail.com

Mary Mitten                                       markjmarkd@juno.com