Stall rest ~

Blog –

At five weeks into what could be six months of stall rest, I must say I’m proud as ever of my young Sterling Archer. He does have an incredibly regal name Valiente Silver CrossWind, Sterling is his barn name and Archer came because he’s quite a character often downright comical!  He is incredibly interested in people, curious, connected, loving and friendly.

This is Sterling shortly after I gave him one of Uncle Jimmie's Hanging Balls (no kidding that’s what it’s called). It is a ball full of seeds; coated with honey.

This was Sterling yesterday having an Energy Healing Session with Ginger Krantz.  His energy has been quite high lately, ever since I spent all of last week at Mid Atlantic Equine Medical Center with Hearty.  This photo was taken after we spent about ½ hour with him upright, then we left him be and went to work on Hearty.  She choked on a hay cube last Saturday.

It was soaked, but obviously not enough.  Sterling laid down and let us continue to work on his healing foot and his active mind. My friend and budding Equine Massage therapist Lisa Sitko made this card for me for it was on my birthday that Hearty’s choke finally was cleared and her life saved by the brave Veterinarians at Mid Atlantic Equine Medical Center. She is eating hay soup until her esophagus heals, so she is keeping Sterling company in the barn and getting hand walked several times per day.

But this day is one dedicated to hoof care.  We are waiting for Esco Buff to come from Rochester NY to reset Sterling’s magic shoe. 

It is designed to hold his foot absolutely still.  After it is on, the whole wall gets an epoxy materiel that attaches that rim to the hoof wall.  It’s not moving.

Here’s why

This is a radiograph of his right hind foot.  Horsin’ around no doubt that vertical crack was found in his coffin bone which is the big bone inside the hoof.  You cannot see this on the outside.

So this is what we do now. And we look for ways to enrich his time in this lovely airy box stall.  And just when I get feeling down about spending so much time in a stall, my friend says “it’s so great that you have stalls!”

Ahhh to not have to know the gap. 

On Leadership~

Three foundations of a great life written by Michael C. Jensen is Jesse Isidor Straus Professor Emeritus at the Harvard Business School and Chairman of the Social Science Research Network, Inc. (SSRN). This article is adapted from his commencement address at McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University, in May, 2011. It is based on eight years of research into leadership with colleagues Werner Erhard, Steve Zaffron and Kari Granger. Links to the talk and other work on which this article is based are at:http://ssrn.com/abstract=1850544
The full article and easy to follow instructions are in the online magazine (link below)

http://www.together.us.com/2011/11/three-foundations-of-a-great-life/

This is the ultimate gift and everyone can have it! enjoy! 

It's all about the relationship!

Follow the below link to our newest blogpost! Thanks!
http://parentingfromthebarn.wordpress.com/2011/11/17/its-all-about-the-relationship/

In today's newspaper

Article in today's paper!

These horses are truly special

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Posted: Thursday, September 15, 2011 5:00 am | Updated: 6:57 am, Thu Sep 15, 2011.

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His name is Josiah. He is 10 years old and has autism. When he visits In the Company of Horses’ therapeutic riding program at the Majoda Stables in Moorestown, his favorite equine is Patches.

One day Josiah looked in the face of the paint horse and was convinced he detected a light flicker in its eyes. It caused the boy to wonder. And think. And explore.

In the months that followed, Josiah repeatedly returned to the stables and talked about experiments he conducted at home as he tried to find out about that flickering light. He drew diagrams and pictures of what he believed the light source was. He asked his mom to get him books about horses. His learning fuse had been lit.

“Josiah eventually learned that the light in Patches’ eyes was actually him,” said MaryAnn Brewer, president of In the Company of Horses, founded in 2006 and based in Pemberton Township. “What being around Patches did was make him curious to find out why.”

Brewer, 49, a 1980 graduate of Lenape High School, said the kids come, get on horseback and ride, offering them body stimulation along with emotional and cognitive connection.

“I’ve had autistic kids who went through the program who talked for the first time because of it,” Brewer said. “You can’t measure what that means.”

Brewer said horses and humans have a long relationship in the world of learning and growing. In stepping into the world of horses, people are affected physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

The therapeutic riding program combines the living power of equines with the accepted standards and practices of psychotherapy, physical therapy, group therapy, character education, life skills, leadership training, and team building to produce uncommon results.

In one-hour sessions, equine specialists work in concert with mental health professionals to help those with challenges clear life’s hurdles.

“We need people to see that horses can be used for more than just riding,” Brewer said.

Brewer didn’t have horses as a child, but a friend in Monmouth County did. The love affair began. It continued into adulthood, when she graduated from Parelli University in Colorado, the top horsemanship program in the world, and when she bought a farm, which 12 of her horses call home.

“Horses don’t care about race, or socioeconomics, or whether you’re the president of Johnson & Johnson, or if you’ve been incarcerated,” Brewer said. “What they do is give honest feedback.”

There’s an old “MASH” episode in which Col. Sherman Potter says, “I’d still rather spend a day with a horse than with most people.” I sense that Brewer and the old colonel would have gotten along just fine, same as the horses at Majoda and their riders with challenges.

“The big thing is these people are getting out in the world and doing things others do,” Brewer said. “For example, if there are weak kids with cerebral palsy, riding may be one of the few things they can do. Riding helps them build courage and learn how to take risks. When you can learn to make a 1,200-pound animal do what you want it to do and go where you want it to go, imagine what that does for your self-confidence?”

Brewer recently heard from a man whose 25-year-old son has Down syndrome and who attended her therapeutic riding program. He said that last summer his son participated in the Gloucester County Dream Park equestrian disciplines for those with special needs, but had not ridden since and began failing to thrive.

“The father said doctors didn’t know why this was happening,” Brewer said. “They ran tests and everything. They concluded that the son was just depressed.

“But through psychotherapy they learned he wasn’t thriving because he wasn’t seeing and riding his horse every week. He was experiencing symptoms from lack of being with the horse he had a relationship with for two years. It just shows you the benefits of what a horse can do.”

For more information, visit www.inthecompanyofhorses.com.

Phil Gianficaro’s column appears weekly.

© 2011 phillyBurbs.com . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Old school meets new thought~

I came across this woman based in the Netherlands who has done her homework and has devised a new and clear way to share an ancient knowing.
Check her out!

  Cool video;  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8is3CbGodE&feature=share
website/blog/more videos. http://academicartofriding.com/

Here is a photo of Maestro "the problem horse that started it all!"  

Ancient wild horses help unlock past

Ancient wild horses help unlock past

This is a pretty interesting site with lots of research being done into the past about genetic diversity in our horses. There are articles about Lusitano's and other wild Iberian horse herds. Interestingly enough there is even

some research shared about wild SEAHORSES!

EAGALA Advanced Training~ The art of improvisation creates great partnerships!

In the Company of Horses Inc. just returned home from the bran new training created by Lynn Thomas, the co-founder of the international certifying body of the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA) .
We journeyed to Long Island to Pal O Mine Equestrian Center where we spent three days in the company of fourteen people who came to learn how to create even quicker results facilitating learning by way of the horses!

Any mental health professional who works both in the office and in the arena, knows clients find the solutions to life's problems much quicker in the company of a horse. The horses actually become the human client's  issues on a live storyboard and play out the solutions with them!

On this story board, this little one armed  wooden bunny became their metaphor for  their
"Higher Power"  The horse was labeled as the metaphor "us exploring." 

It's fascinating work and while working through our 'issues' can be challenging it can be lots of fun. What we spent three days practicing was how to be a better facilitator/team member/ listener/ sounding board through the actor's world of improv!

You've seen it on Saturday Night Live when an actor throws out a one liner and another just picks it up and runs with it, then they toss it back and forth until it flows into a whole story. Well, that's an art.  And when there are 14 people doing that on the first day, it's hard!  But by the third day when we were doing it in our own familiar facilitation teams, it was easy and fun and the best part is, it's all about the horses.  So the client gets to explore their own answers to their own questions through the activity of the horses in real time, in real life and the focus is not on them, making the client in the arena feel safer and more willing to map their AHA! moments onto their own lives.

Sometimes over our three day training the team from In the Company of Horses Inc. were the facilitators and sometimes we were the clients.  As clients,we took the opportunity to work out some of the things that seem to be patterns of stagnation in the effort to expand into our neighbors back yard so to speak.

 For twenty years our neighbors have been the Military bases of Ft. Dix and McGuire Air force base. Now merging into a super base including Lakehurst Naval Air Station with the new name JBMDL.  For the past 10 years, our nation has been at war and many of our neighbors have been deployed and returned home with new concerns within their families.

 In the arena back at Pal O Mine there were a herd of donkeys moving around looking very uniform and they reminded us of a regiment of military people.  One thing led to another and before we knew it, we found solutions to our stagnation problem and there were the whole herd of dark grey donkeys in our space!  Now we get to use those new found solutions to help our neighbors!

You have to qualify to do the advanced training, all the info is on the EAGALA site.  I highly recommend it!