2011 Region 7 PATH Intl Instructor of the Year - Jennifer Lamoreux

One Heart's own Jennifer Lamoreux is the Region 7 PATH Intl Instructor of the Year. (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International- formerly NARHA). Region 7 includes Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Kansas which include some big cities and large centers.

Dani nominated Jennifer for many reasons including the creation of the Mini Power program.

In the winter of 2009, One Heart instructors found out that one of the Special Olympics riders had a health status change and was now contra-indicated for riding and driving. The student and her family were devastated because the highlight of the student’s year had been competing in the Equestrian Special Olympics.

It's a Peanut S'more!

Jennifer thought she could find a solution using a miniature horse (Peanut) that had been donated to the program three years prior as a yearling. The mini had shown willingness to work and courage in the face of challenges. Jennifer networked and made connections with miniature horse people, and found out that miniature horse shows have classes for people with disabilities.

Receiving this award meant Jennifer was in the running for the PATH Intl Instructor of the Year.
Jennifer, Dani and Kris went to the PATH Intl Annual Meeting and Conference in Lexington, KY Nov 9-12, 2011. And as I've heard more than one person state "Jennifer was robbed!" Although we may be just a little itty-bitty bit biased.

CONGRATULATIONS JENNIFER!!!!!! THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO!!!!!!!!!!!

Angel Tree- part 2

The horses (and the humans who did the hauling) say THANK YOU!!!!! to all our Christmas Angels from the Ames Theisens Angel Tree! (one of these years we'll actually remember to get a photo... ops!)

Angel Tree @ Theisens in Ames

The horses dropped off a holiday list at Theisens in Ames under the tree. They also like gift cards. (Y'all know how they love to shop. :D) The horses and volunteers appreciate every item. And I'm pretty sure the horses are stocked on treats... no matter what they say!

THANK YOU!!!!!

Ride and Tie photos

More photos have been posted on the Benefit Ride and Tie for One Heart Equestrian Therapy web site www.oneheartrideandtie.org Here are just a few:

 

Fall update

Wow, where has September gone?!?!?! I can't believe it's nearly October. We've had one busy month.

On August 28th we celebrated One Heart's 10th Anniversary out at the barn with an ice cream social and silent auction. THANK YOU to everyone who has helped us get this far. We couldn't do it with out volunteers. We hope everyone enjoyed seeing the facilities in Roland.



The next weekend on September 3rd we had the 2nd Annual Benefit Ride and Tie for One Heart. Friday night a few of our One Heart riders gave a little demonstration.  Saturday we had several teams ready to head out when the rain and lightening hit. So we had to postpone until Sunday, which actually worked out better since it was a beautiful day! We had 12 teams complete the 3 distances. Five teams for the short course of 6 miles, 2 for the 12 mile course and 5 (yep 5!) did the 20 mile course.  For the 20 mile course times ranged from 1:56:27 to 2:34:39. Congratulations to everyone that competed and THANK YOU for your support. We hope to see you all for the 3rd Annual Benefit Ride and Tie on Saturday September 1, 2012.

We have LOTS of photos from several photographers so it's taking a bit longer than we thought to get them up. But keep checking back on our Facebook Page and on the Ride and Tie website.

But wait! we're not done (not by a long shot)! Saturday September 10th was the Iowa Special Olympics Equestrian Event at Jester Park. I don't have results but I hear Rosie, Shane and Bri worth their weight in "Gold, Silver, and Bronze" :)

The next week (are you keeping up? it's the week of September 12 now) we started Session 3 for all of our riders and drivers. We put people up on Tuesday and Thursday nights (5:30-8:30pm)  and Saturday mornings (8am-1pm). The more volunteers the merrier! So please come out and help. We can give you day of training. (It's useful if we know ahead of time so just give Kris a buzz if you can- oneheart@netins.net but if not don't worry just show up and join the fun!) There's still 4 weeks left of Session 3.


I think sometime around the end of October we'll be rested up. Maybe in time for Halloween? As you can see it's been a VERY busy and exciting fall. I'm sure Kris, Dani and Jen will get around to giving more details and photos when they've finished their naps! :-P


Until next time!
Katie- web communications volunteer

ATO Fraternity House Meets Animal House

One Heart put 25 young men from Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity of Iowa State University to work on Wednesday.  Boy, were they alot of help!   Things got built, moved, sorted, cleaned, painted, moved again, swept, washed, arranged, and repaired.  Following all that work we had a chance to have our volunteers try out Petunia.  This was her first round with a rider.  She was great!   Of course, there was some newness to having sidewalkers and a rider on backwards but Jen and I were pleased with what we saw.  Fritz also came into the arena for the first time and played with all the stuff.  He was especially facinated with the mounting block which he kept pawing and chewing.  When a barrel was rolled in front of him, he stepped up to it instead of backing away.  All we have to do now is not SPOIL him!

We found ATO to represent their goals of a brotherhood striving to gain leadership skills and demonstrate Christian values.  It was a fun time with forward progress on the big clean up for the party.  Thanks, ATO!!

It Looks Like Shane was cut out of the other picture

I made it smaller to include Shaney-boy!