hippotherapy Archives - Page 6 of 6 - NCEFT National Center for Equine Facilitated Therapy

TUF Stormy Weather

August 18, 2011 by Development Director

It’s impossible not to anthropomorphize when it comes to horses. We can’t help but assign the emotions of joy and contentment when we watch some of our therapy horses in their sessions. Where they sometimes fidget and mouth their handlers when they attempt to touch their faces, they move not a hair as patients unsteadily reach out small hands to pet muzzles or cheeks.

: Stormy’s always happy to socialize with visitors

Stormy is as precocious a young horse as you’ll find, wise beyond his years and seemingly born to do therapy work. With most Hippo and TR horses well into their teens, at only 6 years old Stormy is far from ordinary. He belongs to our Barn Manager, Bonnie, who has generously been leasing him to NCEFT for the past year.

In 2005 Bonnie was living in Visalia, CA, running Sunny Days, a private carriage service. While searching for a pair of white horses to use for formal events, Bonnie fell in love with Fjords and began looking for a matched set of grey duns. After seeing a photo of Stormy online, at the time only a month old, she fell in love. A couple months later Stormy stepped off the trailer from Michigan, a gift from Bonnie’s father. Over the next year Stormy was more dog than horse, going for long walks with Bonnie and her kids around their neighborhood and in downtown Exeter. By age two he was being ground driven, by three he was between the shafts of a light cart, and by four he was attending schooling shows.

: Stormy and one of his Hippotherapy patients

A year later, Bonnie loaded up her three horses (by then adding a second Fjord to her small herd) and moved up to Los Gatos. Believing their strong driving background made them ideally suited to therapy work, she began looking for a facility interested in using the horses. Three months went by before Bonnie found NCEFT, and it wasn’t long before they were participating in sessions.

Stormy is now following in his Uncle Sebastian’s footsteps, well on his way to becoming an invaluable member of the NCEFT team. A regular participant in hippotherapy, vaulting, therapeutic driving, and soon therapeutic riding, Stormy is the definition of versatile. Though care is being taken to make sure our star player doesn’t get burned out, his positive attitude and laissez faire outlook lead us to believe he’ll be a happy member of the program for many years to come.

Willy and Wonka

July 25, 2011 by Development Director

They’re the quintessential socialites. Whether it’s white tie or country chic, the two of them have been photographed at every social event since their arrival in Woodside four years ago. You won’t find them knocking back a cocktail though; at only 5 years old they’re both too young to partake in anything more than a bucket of water.

33898_166520253363166_129655497049642_636402_568123_n — 2010 Jeans and Jewels Gala

Willy and Wonka are arguably some of the most prominent and well-recognized members of NCEFT. Though some of their notoriety is certainly due to a serious set of vocal chords—often put to good use during feeding time—their fans love them for more than their good looks. Officially known as Miniature Mediterranean Donkeys, the boys are the perfect size for our smaller patients to love on. Though their list of marketable skills is short (walks on lead, eats cookies), they earn their keep as ambassadors, entertaining visitors with antics and elaborate costumes alike.

doc_holiday_right_lrg — Oscar as a foal at Evening Star

Registered as Evening Star Chris and Evening Star Oscar’s Doc Holiday, both Donkeys were born in 2006 at Evening Star Ranch in Raymond, CA. It’s hard enough for most people to tell Willy and Wonka apart, much less try and match them to registration papers written back when the donkeys were yearlings, so for now we don’t know who’s Chris and who’s Oscar. In any case, the two of them arrived at NCEFT in late 2007 and instantly settled into their roles as icons.

260583_237437506271440_129655497049642_1247399_1510024_n — Willy and Wonka at the 2011 Poker Walk

It’s been 4 years and the boys’ fan base is still growing. During lunchtime you’ll find them roughhousing in the arena with our Miniature horse, Roxy, or taking a walk with one of the many volunteers who helps care for the “Three Amigos.” They’re always happy to visit with admirers, so be sure to say hello the next time you’re at the barn.

Riding to Walk

July 14, 2011 by Development Director

Her small hands wrapped themselves around the wrists of the side-walkers on either side of her, insistently squeezing and kneading. “You want your seatbelt back?” one of them asked. Both women raised their hands from where they’d been lightly holding the child’s ankles and draped their forearms over the tops of her thighs. “Click, seatbelt on.” The rider sighed, contentedly resting her palms on their arms. They made two more laps around the arena in this fashion, their comfortable conversation pausing only briefly when the therapist requested a change of direction on the next diagonal.

She has Down Syndrome, the most prevalent chromosomal disorder affecting more than 400,000 people in the United States alone. Caused by additional genetic material—part, or all, of a third chromosome 21—the syndrome results in cognitive delays and stereotypic physical features. However, those affected by Down can go on to lead rewarding lives when given the correct educational, emotional, and therapeutic support.

Results from an 11-week study conducted at the University of Quebec in November of 2010 indicate that equine-assisted therapy improves the gross motor function and postural control of children with Down Syndrome. Motor function refers to the body’s ability to work as system, thereby enabling us to act and move. These functions are divided into two types, fine motor skills that involve small muscles, and gross motor skills involving larger muscles. Hippotherapy (Hippo) and Therapeutic riding (TR) increases strength in these larger muscle groups, allowing for improvements in walking and running. Though the ability to move is a necessary part of being able to care for oneself, it also has profound implications on one’s social opportunities. Early childhood development of social skills is dependent on participation in peer interaction. Hippo and TR not only improve a child’s ability to participate in games, but give them a source of conversation and commonality.

“Ready?” the therapist asks. The young girl immediately signs her reply, touching the front of the felt pad and placing her hand on her chest, “Go please!” For her, NCEFT simply means a small brown pony named Valentine. It’s not 30 minutes of improving motor function, or working on signing two-word sentences. It’s soft fur, blue skies, and friends who are always ready to hold your hand.

http://www.down-syndrome.org/

Si O Tuck

July 1, 2011 by Development Director

Watching him go you’d never guess at his day job; his neck arched, smooth strides taking him effortlessly around the arena. He looks as if he belongs in a show ring amongst polished hooves and banded manes. Instead, his rider dismounts and strips his tack, replacing it with a colorful felt pad and surcingle. He’s lined over to the mounting block where he waits, hip cocked, until his patient is a ready to mount.

Cody's Sire, Si Olena, AQHA World Champion in Open Sr. Cutting Horse

His name is Si O Tuck, or Cody as he’s known here at NCEFT. Out of a mare named Smoke Time Tuck, a reined cowhorse with earnings near $300,000, Cody was born on April 18^th, 1995 at Bar Eleven Ranch in Red Bluff, CA. Skip Brown, owner of Bar Eleven, has trained and shown some of the greatest horses in NRCHA history. Skip bred Tucker’s Vaquero, the youngest horse to ever win the AQHA Super Horse title, and has judged the AQHA Snaffle Bit Futurity an astounding 7 times. Though Cody never made it to the World Show, His sire, Si Olena, won enough awards for the both of them: 1998 AQHA World Champion in Open Sr. Cutting, 1998 AQHA High Point Cutting Horse, and second place winner of the 1990 NCHA Super Stakes Open Division.

That’s not to say that Cody didn’t earn his keep, by the age of four he’d already earned over $2,000 as a cutting horse. His competition career was put on the backburner when he was sold in 1999 to Dearborn Ranch in Wolf Creek, Montana. Owned by the Seibel Family, the ranch sits on over 90,000 acres, and is part of an Angus operation that produces about 1.5 million pounds of beef each year. It was there Cody experienced life as a true ranch horse, walking fences, moving cattle, and toting kids around the arena.

By some stretch of luck, 2007 found Cody on trailer to California. The Seibels had donated him, along with Jazzy and Boon, to our program. Cody quickly adapted to life as a therapy horse, learning ground driving with ease and thriving on attention from his riders. Unfortunately, only two years later Cody came down with an undiagnosed lameness. Together with the vet, the barn staff at NCEFT tried everything to rehabilitate him. From complete stall rest, to muscle strengthening, and even equine massage, but with no lasting effects. Cody spent most of 2010 in a state of unofficial retirement, until in October of that same year the staff made one last push.

Today you’ll find Cody cantering around the outdoor arena during his morning workout, dependably carrying his hippotherapy patients, and doing a session or two of therapeutic riding. He’s slowly putting on muscle and gaining strength, and we expect nothing but continued improvement as the days go by. Though his hoofs are unpolished and his tack unadorned, Cody is still every bit a superstar.

TUF Stormy Weather

TUF Stormy Weather

Willy and Wonka

Riding to Walk

Si O Tuck

NCEFT: HORSES. HOPE. HEALING.

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