Not Just A Pony Ride

Wanting to start a new program? Wanting to figure out how to maintain sustainable programming? This episode is for you!  HETRA’s Program Manager, Shelby Schult, sits down with us to discuss the art of program sustainability. Expect to hear information on: 

• Cost of programming
• Community need
• Horse Workload & Horse Selection
• Diversifying your horse herd
• Business Techniques for Success

Resources mentioned in this episode:

This episode is a very special one.  HETRA University was on the road to PATH Intl. International Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina October 26-28, 2023 and we met so many wonderful people.  During the conference we set up an impromptu live recording of the podcast and ended up with this gem of an episode.  You will hear some amazing perspectives on what does “It’s not just a pony ride” mean to you.  We had professionals from all walks of the EAS life chime in and boy was it inspiring.  This is a great episode to share with someone in your life that wants to know more about what we do and feel the passion that comes a long with it.  Thank you to all who participated in this group!

Special shout out to the following centers mentioned by their staff: 

Start your own transition program at your center! Transition Programs are for students with disabilities that need extra time after HS graduation to help develop valuable life skills that will prepare them for independence.  We hear from two experts in the field from Gretna Public Schools, Kendra Schneider, Assistant Director of Special Education and Dawna Daily with the Gretna Young Adult Program.  They share what makes a great program and what to include for success.  Then we hear from Diane Bemis the occupational therapist that manages HETRA’s transition program, “Life Skills”.  How can horses help with this process?  Listen now! 

What do you do if mounted lessons can’t happen? Whether we can’t ride due to weather or horse changes, how can we keep our participants engaged and progressing? Join Cassidy and Edye to hear TONS of examples on creative ways to continue learning even without riding.  Even some tips on how to get participants, families and instructors on board with alternative programming.  Lots of links and resources provided! 

 Listen in to hear Joe Hunter, Executive Director of a local non-profit, give valuable advice on building a high quality board that understands your mission and is able to communicate it effectively for donor cultivation.  He also speaks on organizing unique fundraising events and getting your community involved to support your mission. Also hear tips on: Strategic planning, sponsors vs. donors, and communication with donors.

Haley Sevalstad, the founder of Rising Free Retreats, is here to talk with us about her specialty, women’s retreats.  Haley shares her personal journey of getting out of the corporate race and back to a more authentic version of herself.  Her experiences have led her to the work she is doing now, helping women find peace in Bozeman, MT.  

HETRA University was presenting live on the road in Stillwater, Oklahoma at the PATH Region 8/ LSTEN Conference.  Listen in to hear Kaiti and Shelby discuss their presentations and other big themes in education that they saw while at conference.  Kaiti Otte shared Sensory and Behavior: Regulation in EAS and Shelby Schult presented Equine Strategic Planning.  

For 20 years, Stable Strides Farm has been helping hundreds of adults and children. SSF was created to give riders with special needs a place to become competitive and effective horse people. Although competing is not a requirement, many of our riders enjoy going to horse shows with the hope of winning tangible awards.  Listen to hear Mandy Cleveland, Founder and Program Director at SSF share how they pair their work providing adaptive riding with competition and the benefits it brings!  

Listen to hear Anne Hindery, CEO of the Nonprofit Association of the Midlands speak about resources for nonprofits.  She shares a WEALTH of information about what nonprofits should be working toward to stay current, thriving and sustainable.  Her organization, NAM is dedicated to just that, providing education, information, advocacy and collaboration where needed.  Truly their job is to make sure organizations like us have all the tools we need for success. 

Listen in to hear occupational therapist and CTRI, Kaiti Otte discuss the causes and symptoms of the 4 types of CP.  She also explains what adaptations we can make and what things we need to be looking out for to keep our participants with CP safe and comfortable while enjoying their equine partners. 

Terri Hutchison, M.A., CCC-SLP is here to tell us all about Speech Therapy utilizing hippotherapy as a treatment strategy!  She has a private practice in California and partners with the Shea Center for Therapeutic Riding to offer her services.  She explains the benefits, challenges and potential skill areas that she can target while mounted! 

Did you know that one of the first experiences of EAS was as a rehabilitation technique for Polio patients?  Dr. Octavia Brown shares the rich history of EAS including her early start in our grassroots industry as one of the founding members of NARHA, now known as PATH Intl.  Dr. Brown shares what she believes were pivotal moments in our industry’s history as well as challenges and places for future growth.  

Join Dr. Michele Pickel, creator of the impactful program, Horse Powered Reading®. She give us insight to the program including how it works, why it’s so successful and how you can get involved!

Horse Powered Reading® integrates social-emotional learning with academics; thus allowing students see and experience reading with their entire mind, body and emotions by creating metaphors for the skills involved in reading. Students interact with horses from the ground, while using toys and props to identify obstacles and learn five critical reading skills - phonemic awareness, decoding, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension.

Learn more at www.horsepoweredreading.com

PART TWO:  If you haven’t tuned into the first part of this episode, go back and find episode 45 first.  If you’re back for part two you know just how good this episode is going to be. In this episode Dr. Olsen digs deeper into how to motivate our clients and how to manage and more importantly PREVENT meltdowns from happening.

We know that those on the Autism Spectrum experience communication differently.  Dr. Darren Olsen, a clinical psychologist, is here to break down ways to improve that communication.  Listen in to hear tips on: giving directions, using visuals, simplifying speech, how to handle meltdowns, how to use motivators and much more!

Go check out the Not Just a Pony Ride Facebook group for supplemental visuals to help with this episode!

PART ONE:  We know that those on the Autism Spectrum experience communication differently.  Dr. Darren Olson, a clinical psychologist, is here to break down ways to improve that communication.  Listen in to hear tips on: giving directions, using visuals, simplifying speech, how to handle meltdowns, how to use motivators and much more!

Go check out the Not Just a Pony Ride Facebook group for supplemental visuals to help with this episode!

A good budget really is a roadmap for success.  Edye and Erin have been working together for the last 20+ years to perfect the process of budgeting for the HETRA organization.  Listen in to hear about all of the factors that go into budgeting including cost per session and much much more.

Get more information about HETRA mentoring here:  www.HETRAUniversity.org

We have all had a participant that we think would benefit tremendously from equine-assisted services, but isn’t quite sure about interactions with a 1,200 lb live animal.  Together, Kaiti Otte an occupational therapist and Kelly Baulisch, a mental health practitioner, will discuss what potential triggers might be, how to work through them and how the process of working through change can be very beneficial and impactful for our participants.

What the heck is Gestalt? Melisa Pearce, creator of the Equine Gestalt Coaching Method and founder of Touched By a Horse is here to explain it!  This form of mental health practice is completely different than anything we’ve talked about on the show before.  Melisa’s method truly uses horses as a coach to help clients become aware of their experiences and release emotional and physical energy of past wounds.  It is not a form of “talk-therapy”, and it is not a series of “activities”. Equine Gestalt Coaching is truly an experiential process of partnering with horses to build self-awareness and release emotional and physical energy that keeps you from living a full and authentic life.

Learn more about Melisa Pearce and her method at www.touchedbyahorse.com

Did you know there is a foundation dedicated strictly to research within the Equine Assisted Services community?  Well now you do! Meet the HHRF and learn what they can do for you including grant funding, networking, free education and so much more. Pebbles tells us about what research is trending, what is being funded, the process of applying and reviewing HHRF grant applications as well as networking, education and their annual conference information.

www.horsesandhumans.org

Q&A:  What are some good activities for an EAL Parkinson’s Disease group? with Kelly Baulisch

On this short episode, we answer a question from our audience! We recently had a question that read:  “Looking for ideas for unmounted activities for a Parkinson's group (8-10 participants), several will be in wheelchairs.  We have an accessible grooming ramp but looking for activities in addition to grooming.  Activities can address:  Life skills; socialization, safety and having choices.  Vocational skills by following direction and completing tasks.  Fine and gross motor skills with grooming and barn work.  Looking for safe ideas that include horse-human interaction/connection for individuals that have limited mobility.  They would like programming to last about one hour Program will be facilited by PATH ESMHL.”  Thank you for your question Terri!

Listen now to hear Kaiti and Kelly Baulisch, a licensed mental health practitioner share their thoughts! Chime in with your own advice at the ‘Not Just a Pony Ride’ Facebook page now!

Episode 33:  Helping Children with Complex Trauma Needs with Rebecca Britt of Stable Moments

This episode features Rebecca Britt, creator of Stable Moments, a unique Equine-Assisted Mentorship program for children in foster care and those with complex developmental trauma.  Developmental Trauma is trauma that happens in the first core years of development of a child’s life that can yield a variety of difficulties as those kids grow and develop including social-emotional, cognitive and behavioral struggles. Rebecca explains why children with these needs respond so greatly to working with horses and how her program helps meet those needs.  Listen now to hear all the details of her program development and how it can work for you!

Therapy positioning can include any position we place our clients in to achieve desired outcomes-- backward, prone, supine, quadruped and more!  Why do therapists use these positions though? How can we use them to work toward our goals, and do it safely? Lisa is here to tell us!

Lisa Harris has both a MS in Physical Therapy and Veterinary Science, specializing in equine biomechanics. She is a hippotherapy clinical specialist and has served on the AHA board as vice president, research and education chairperson and newsletter editor.  She is a PATH, Intl. Advanced riding instructor and currently owns and operates her own private practice.

Episode 23: PART TWO: Equine Assisted Learning:  What’s the line between EAL and Therapy?

Did you catch PART ONE of this series?  This is part two of an amazing series on Equine Assisted Learning from two experts in our field, Debbie Anderson and Blair McKissock of Strides to Success.  In this episode we hear a quick and effective way to tell if you are crossing the line from EAL into therapy with some great examples. They also help answer questions like how to get started in EAL and what responsibilities you have as a facilitator. Find out how Debbie and Blair are helping to build informed practitioners with a creative tool box of things to help them in the arena.

Debbie Anderson ESMHL CTRI, Executive Director & Co-Founder of Strides to Success. Debbie has served in the animal assisted therapy industry for over 30 years. Debbie loves to serve as the welcome mat for people that are new to EAL.  She  loves to listen to their vision and lend them any experience that maybe helpful and guide them to resources that will help them make their dream a reality.

Blair McKissock PhD ESMHL, CTRI, CTRS and director or HorseWork Education at Strides to Success.  Blair has been in the field of human-animal interaction and experiential education for over 20 years. She earned her BS in Recreation Therapy and her MS in Education and has a PhD in EcoPsychology.  She is also the chair of the equine facilitated learning (EAL) community for PATH and works nationally to establish standards in EAL.

Episode 23: PART ONE: Equine Assisted Learning:  a Depth of Knowledge & Purposeful Intention

Equine Assisted Learning is a wonderful way to build skills and meet goals for our participants, but there is a lot to it!  Debbie Anderson and Blair McKissock from Strides to Success have been “gathering EAL gold” for the last 25 years and they are hear to share it with us!  Join us to hear from EAL experts in our field! They help facilitate many questions for us like ‘What is your intention for  partnering with horses?’  Have you explored the depth of knowledge it requires? Have you set up your participants for success with EAL?

Debbie Anderson ESMHL CTRI, Executive Director & Co-Founder of Strides to Success. Debbie has served in the animal assisted therapy industry for over 30 years. Debbie loves to serve as the welcome mat for people that are new to EAL.  She  loves to listen to their vision and lend them any experience that maybe helpful and guide them to resources that will help them make their dream a reality.  Blair McKissock PhD ESMHL, CTRI, CTRS and director or HorseWork Education at Strides to Success.  Blair has been in the field of human-animal interaction and experiential education for over 20 years. She earned her BS in Recreation Therapy and her MS in Education and has a PhD in EcoPsychology.  She is also the chair of the equine facilitated learning (EAL) community for PATH and works nationally to establish standards in EAL.

Let’s kick off the new year and season two of the podcast on the right foot!  CEO of HETRA, Edye Godden, talks with us about planning for 2022.  She encourages us to not get bogged down by scary words like ‘strategic planning’ and think of it more as a roadmap for success!  She tells us how HETRA continues to meet goals every year including tips for staff assessments, setting personal and professional goals as well as how delegating tasks and using measurable goals prevents burn out and creates accountability for a successful staff team.

Don't forget to join the exclusive 'Not Just a Pony Ride' Facebook group! 

A hybrid episode! First we hear from Shelby Schult, HETRA’s Equine Operation Manager on how we keep our senior horses “Happy, Healthy, Sane & Sound”, including HETRA’s effective routine and why you shouldn’t be afraid of maintenance!  Then, we hear from Kevin Roche, owner of GlucoGlide.  He shares the science behind his products and why they work so well for our horses at HETRA.