Recent Retirements

Hi Friends;

Following Session 3 we always assess our year. Part of this assessment is horse contribution. It is a very simple formula. If the horse is assigned a rider, they are contributing. Every now and then the instructors stop assigning a horse. Horses are assigned to a particular rider following evaluation by our therapist and instructor staff. We offer services to a very wide variety of riders and keep a wide variety of horses available. Variables include size, shape, gait, age, length, soundness, and level of training. The common factor of the entire herd regardless of the previously named variables is temperament. Although each horse's personality is different, their temperament needs to be stable. Frequently, nothing changes year after year, session after session. For a few of our horses, soundness will change with season (some get a little tenderfooted in the Spring), size changes when they fatten up on summer pasture, and level of training changes when they gain experience in the therapy arena. Through all the seasonal and experiential changes we rely on temperament to remain the same.

Misty's Adjustment

Hi Friends;

I missed joining you for several days while I was in KC. We were preparing for the big Thanksgiving holiday.

While in KC I was lucky enough to go to the American Royal horse show. I watched the USEF saddle seat equitation finals. Spectacular. There was also a full docket of saddlehorse and pony classes. The old show bug bit pretty bad!
Technology has hit the show ring. I rented a receiver with an earbud that I kept while watching the show. There was a live feed into my ear from very knowledgeable people as the class was being shown. For a horse show junkie who has been way out of the industry for a long time, it was like being part of the old action. I could hear all the ins and outs of the show horse, the rider, the owner, and other pertinent facts about the class. For novices, the monitors discussed what the judges were looking for. Apparently, a person could subscribe to a webfeed of the American Royal horse show and log on to watch every class over the Internet. Subscribers could also text and email comments to the people announcing the play-by-play live action to my earbud. It was very interactive and made me feel like I belonged back in the old groom days.......the good old days! Very fun and nostalgic.
I barely got my suitcase into the house when I zipped over to the jungle to visit the herd. They are sooooo happy to see people during the winter. Since we stopped trailering twice a week to the fairgrounds for classes, the horses are quite willing to come see you at the jungle. Of course, we only have a few remaining from the old fairground days. That's another story.....

Hi Friends;
Are you with us today, MK?
When I talked to you about my trip to KC for the Human-Animal Bond meeting I mentioned seeing the mule team, Terry and Tim, representatives of the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine. This is the third generation of mule team mascots for Mizzou Vet Med. To the right is a picture of the original mascot team, Hilda and Louise. I'm up in the box! I was one of the first muleskinners, mule club members, teamsters at Mizzou.
The story of Hilda and Louise begins with the arrival of the new Vet Med Dean of that era (1980's....a former life :) Dean Kahrs. Dean Kahrs had just visited the Vet school in Pennsylvania where he was given a campus tour in a buggy pulled by a standardbred. Dean Kahrs felt that would be an appropriate way to promote Mizzou Vet Med so actively sought the support to make that happen. Missouri is noted for mule production, especially noted for exporting more mules to Europe to support war efforts during WW1 than anywhere else. This reputation for producing good mules still lingers. Dean Kahrs solicited input from local mule experts and located a young team in Fayette, Mo. An 80-something year old man had broken them to drive. The were broke well. I know, because when Dr. Kahrs put out the word for pre-vet and vet students to come be the crew, I showed up. I was an active member of the pre-vet club even though I was not enrolled at Mizzou at the time. Rather, I was the "scholarship committee" supporting my husband while he became eligible to apply to Vet school and later be accepted. Since I knew nobody in our new town, I paid my dues to the pre-vet club to get to know the gang.

Behind the Scenes

Hi Friends;

Last Wed. Jennifer and Dani went on a trail ride. It was one of those rare occasions when the weather was good and they had the day off from work. It was also one of those rare times when the horses go for a ride and relax. There was nothing to correct, nothing to introduce, nothing to work on. It was in the Jungle with the herd, at ease. These are cherished rides that both the people and horses benefit from.

We have been working like crazy on getting water lines run to our home barn and get an automatic waterer set up. Helen was worried about Stormy starting to pester Dandy and Miracle. He is still playing but they are out matched by the big guy. He is bred to run, whereas D & M's little legs can outmaneuver but can't outdistance him. We wanted to have a back-up plan in case they have to move. We'll see.

Why I Missed Week 6

Hi Friends;

I missed you yesterday. I am taking a drizzly Saturday morning to join you. I enjoyed sharing our week 6 tradition with you last time. Now I will explain why I missed out. Thanks, Vol Peggy for sharing wonderful pictures taken in the arena during Session 3. It was like being there.

About mid-summer I got an email from who knows where and who knows why.....just one of those cyber-things. The email described an international meeting being held in conjunction with a research center from the University of Missouri-Columbia. Good ol' Mizzou, my Alma mater (MS '89) Of most interest was the subject of the meeting; the Human-Animal Bond. The meeting was in Kansas City (old stompin' grounds) and was the International Society for Anthrozoology (ISAZ) with the Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction. The title of the meeting was Human-Animal Interaction: Impacting Multiple Species. The cost for the meeting was around $500.00 for all the members, more for non-members. However, they also offered people who worked in animal shelters, rescue groups, volunteer-based animal support groups a reduced rate of $100.00. I emailed to confirm that this included NARHA centers. Yippee was the answer!

Little Tidbits from Today

Hi Friends - and a shout out to MK.

I was pondering the next tale and searched my memories of Session 3 which ended Oct. 24th for some insights. What stands out for me at this time is the fact that I missed week 6, the final ride of the session and the final ride of the year. I had a dad ask me if it was the first time I had missed week 6. That really made me think. I remember moving week 6 to week 5 once, so I wouldn't miss it. The significance of week six is that it is "show day". Each participant at One Heart earns a ribbon on week six. All of the ribbons are donated to One Heart. Most have already been won and donated by the original owner so that we can lovingly recycle the ribbon to our equestrians. Some ribbons come to us from show secretaries or associations who have an inventory remaining from a past show or event. These are crisp and still in the box! Our recycled ribbons get overhauled with a dusting and an ironing from living under the bed or at the back of the closet- thanks, Vol Chealsea who learned to iron.... :)

Peanut to the Rescue

Hi Friends;

You who know me have heard me declare that I avoid descriptions of "miracle" and "dream" and other such words suggesting what we do in our therapy arena is less than calculated, planned, organized, and orchestrated work. I suppose it is my left-brained, analytical nature that promotes this. I will take that a bit further. I avoid talking about "miracles" and "dreams" out of a driven desire to develop and promote equine-assisted activities and therapies (EAAT) as a true and professional approach to treatment as much as they are compassionate and fun. Now, here is where I get to talk out of the other side of my mouth. All the professionalism and continuing education and research and planning and training doesn't prevent those enlightened moments which happen all the time at One Heart. It also doesn't mean that I don't see them! One Heart has always been about following a "greater plan" and learning not to say no to those insights that could be interpreted as divine. While following this blog I hope you learn the many dimensions of One Heart and EAAT.

Through the networking of the NARHA centers of Iowa, an email was forwarded from a person with a miniature horse for donation. This mini was located in Eastern Iowa, probably an hour and a half from One Heart. A picture was attached. I forwarded the email with picture to Jennifer since she was "in to " minis. I advertised this potential donation using all of the worse descriptions possible. Truthfully, I felt this little misfit was not only muggly-ugly, but as a yearling wouldn't contribute to our program for a long time. This mini was of no use to us. There could be potential, but not without an investment of time and money. I phoned the owner to discuss the particulars of her little stallion which is when I found out he was born in Wisconsin. She had located and purchased him as a weanling through the internet. Her goal was to find a pure white mini who could accompany her to renaissance festivals and be her lovable unicorn sidekick. Her plan fell through and she felt the pure white mini with glass-blue eyes needed a new home. She had him boarded on a farm away from her and she couldn't give him the time and attention he deserved.

The Legacy of Alma and Dagmar

Today is the day I tell you about Dagmar. The story can't be told without including Alma. It also can't be told without starting at the beginning.

In 1991, within a month of each other, two sisters gave birth to daughters of the same father on the spring grass of Nebraska. These leggy beauties were born with baby doll faces, fuzzy golden hair and a noble heritage tracing its linage to the times of the Vikings. Soon a white mane and tail with a distinctive black stripe running from their ears, through the mane down the length of the back ending at the dock of their tail would give the fillies their color designation; brown dun.

The Special Olympics Equestrian Event

Hi Friends;
It's nice to be back with you. What a Breeder's Cup! Did you all ride Zenyatta down the stretch with me? I was able to get some fence posts up in the nice weather and Dani and Jen started sorting and winterizing the tack.
We are going to catch up now with the "big day". We work all year towards the State Special Olympics (SO)Equestrian Event. The skill we work on in the arena easily translate to the classes and games offered by SO.
We took six horses, thanks to Vol Eileen for supplying her truck and trailer to add to the One Heart rig. Dani loaded her PT Cruiser - I bet you didn't know that PT stood for portable tack - cruiser :)
The staff started the weekend tired and wired from the PBS crew that was still following us around. Dani and Jen had organized and organized so that we could put 20 riders up in 31 classes.
The horses held up beautifully and our former show horse, TJ seemed to relish in the surroundings. It was the first outing for Bri. It took her a bit to realize that the excitement was going to last all day and she shouldn't go too overboard with giddiness all at once. She settle in well. Rosie, Shane and Rosa are all old hands at SO. The just wait to hear for the applause and shouts encouraging the riders in the races and really get into the spirit of things. If you don't know, Rosa and Bri are "steady-eddy" Norwegian Fjord horses. Our volunteers always comment on the big change that occurs when they transform into their SO gear. Bri, in fact came in with the most medals (8), four of which were golds!

Hi Friends;

No big tales to spin today. I am hoping MK checks in! I spent the day having a super duper cardio check up in IA city. The major comment is that the freezing, rainy weather from the last two months has turned into nice and 60s. I will try to return to you on Monday. Meanwhile, there is going to be alot of horse time this weekend - part of which is the Breeder's Cup. Go Zanyata!!!
Walk On, Kris

That Suprising Call

Good morning Friends; I hope we have one particular reader joining us today.....Ms. MK.

Yesterday, I left off with mention of a strange and suspicious call I received during our "summer break". A lady said she was calling from a production company in Chicago. Her company, Luminair Production, had been hired to research, direct, write, produce, film, edit, etc. a 6 hour documentary on the horse. Of the six, 1-hour episodes, one hour was to be devoted to the horse as a companion. The other parts were the history/breeds of horses, the horse as a worker, the horse as a warrier, the horse as an entertainer, and the horse as competitor. I gave her my 2 cents that I felt the therapy horse should be featured as a work horse, not just a companion, in that they were assigned a job and had to show up for work. Since our clients have individual goals and the horse is selected to best achieve those goals we couldn't easily substitute just any horse for any rider. Likewise, we had to have horses with a solid work ethic and showed up for their assigned time willing to do the job regardless of enviromental or personnel, or personal issues. When riding for pleasure, the rider can always assess the horse's willingness to give a good ride and make the decision to either ride then or wait for another time. A therapy horse usually doesn't have that luxury. So, now you got the 2 cents too!

The producer stuck to her original plan regardless of my opinion - but modified the title of the segment to The horse as healer and companion. That made perfect sense. The company found One Heart through their research department and approached us mainly due to our Special Olympics Team. They wanted to film and interview One Heart Special Olympics Athletes as they prepared for the State Special Olympics Equestrian Event. I thought that would be nice and left it at that.

Not long after, I was called again by Luminair. They wanted to come to One Heart and they wanted to follow the team to the State event. That would be nice.

I had encouraged this fun activity knowing our riders would be perfect to illustrate the relationship they had with "their" horse and demonstrate all they had accomplished. By the third call I decided I should discuss this with the Special Olympics state office. I took the whole thing seriously when the state office informed me that the production company had already called them to discuss logistics of filming at the competition.

I will spare you the alarm that went off when I realized that not only the regular prep for a show would happen but we had to get an entire farm, fields, tack room, walls, cobwebs, weed eating, and paddock cleaning effort underway. So much for our summer "break"!

An all-call went to the volunteers. The staff organized. I worked with the production company to also arrange "mock" classes of the different types of therapeutic riding we offered including interviews with therapists, moms, staff, and riders.

You must be included in the prep. It is a chance for me to show off the One Heart volunteers. Here they came. We cleaned and weeded and scrubbed and clipped and rebuilt and updated all those projects it seemd that we had been saving for just this occassion. We invested weeks and hours and $$ and elbow grease to ready ourselves for a film crew. Due to the delicate nature of the insulation lining the indoor arena a pressure washer wouldn't be appropriate.....thus, here comes Vol Jen with her cousins who could reach the lower levels. They hand dusted the walls using rags. Then Vols Jen and Hannah pulled out the ladders and up they went, brooms in hand. You can tell the difference! What dedication. This dedication went on throughout the couple of weeks we devoted to preparing. Each and every day, including Labor Day holiday, volunteers came.

Then we worked on the horses, clipping, trimming, grooming and finally came to our white minitature horse, Peanut. Peanut got his first bath. We really needed to get

scruffy Peanutput out to dryall ready!

all the sunblock and fly repelent off that had accumulated during the late summer.

After all the work and prep the week finally came for filming. It also coincided with our previously scheduled week for new client evaluations and volunteer training. It was busy and fun and tiring.

The filming went well. It was fun and seemed to accomplish what the production crew had in mind. The horses and riders and volunteers all did their best and it was wonderful. We hope to make the cut for the final documentary but we will see sometime in the fall of 2010. Stay tuned!

Next time, I will invite you to enjoy our day at the State Special Olympics Equestrian Event. And I haven't forgotten that I need to tell you about Dagmar.

Until later.......walk on! Kris.

Where to begin?

Hi friends;
I have decided to "begin" chatting about last summer, around Session 2. I will eventually catch up - chronologically - and go from there. So, I had better start catching up.
The reason I picked Session 2 is because it was record breaking for us in number of clients. We mounted 30 individual each week during the six-week session. Wow. For you keeping the box scores - this amounts to lots of volunteers considering we need 3-4 people assisting each rider! We had a great response from our volunteers. You will hear me mention volunteers alot. We are ALL volunteers at One Heart - I'm the "head" volunteer. We pay our instructors and therapists for arena time. They always do so much more. In fact, it would be crazy to have them calculate the time they spend outside the arena working and contributing to One Heart. I will be mentioning the instructors and therapists frequently so you should meet the cast of characters: Dani, Jen and Linda instructed this year. Summer, Kate and Denise are therapists. Did I mention that One Heart is what they do for "fun"? They all have "day jobs"!

Back to the summer. We actually finished Session 2 on June 30th and we were all looking forward to summer break, including the herd. The horses got shuttled back to their vacation pasture, a lush, hilly (especially for Iowa), wooded field. This pasture has been donated for the use of One Heart for over 9 years by my neighbors. In reality, it is a greenbelt running through the mega-productive cropland along each side of the creek. It is also a lowland that handles the runoff from the fields. This means that the lovely babbling creek frequently puddles out of its banks and several of the lower spots have standing water most of the year. If you are a creative surveyor with high powered equipment you might be able to measure about 30 acres where the horses can wander. This doesn't count the areas were the water takes the fences out and allows them to explore the fields until someone calls to report their errant ways. The 30 acres is covered with a highly diverse cover of native prairie species, some improved grass, and lots of poison parsnip. In the fall the horses find every burr ever born. It is such an adventure for both people and horses that we fondly have named the pasture, "The Jungle". It's still hard to argue about the vintage red barn, the 365 day/year water supply or the fact that they live next door to me when off session. I could go on and on about the wonderful people who have donated it as well. Without this contribution, it would have been hard for One Heart to be started let alone going strong 9 years later.

New faces at One Heart

Welcome to the One Heart Blog. Thanks to Katie for encouraging me to take this on and teaching me how. It only took her xxxx months!

Let me tell you about how I think this blog will work. I will post, when I can, and the voice will be as if I am talking to YOU. I intend for this to be a way that all the volunteers, staff, me, and the community to keep track of what is happening at One Heart. We just finished our last session for 2009 and we are looking at a very long winter until we can all get together again. We keep busy some fun, some not so fun, but the volunteers are usually eager to keep up with all the news. So, I will give it a try.....

Thanks to the networking of volunteers and our website we were recently contacted about some new horses to consider for donation.

Misty, a five year old Haflinger mare arrived Nov. 1. She is about the size of Rocky. So far, she is not following the herd. I think she was somewhat overwhelmed by the gang. It might take her some time, but I think she will find a friend. Dani, Jen, and I went to check her out and we think she will be suitable for therapy in the spring. She is very sweet and gentle. She is a very pretty mare with lots of Haflinger type.

Monday, two Mini's from Mankato, MN arrived! We are smitten with the boys. Dandy and Miracle are full brothers 8 & 6 years old. They are only 31 inches tall, broke to drive all sorts of ways. They are sweeties. To avoid the burrs - they went to live with Helen at Wildrose Farm.

They settled in with Stormy, Helen's three year old thoroughbred. here is a picture of them chasing Stormy. Perhaps Storm thought they were the barn cats, at first ? They soon were snorting and greeting each other in a true horse way. Dandy is on the left, Miracle is on the right. All of their 6 other full siblings have a name beginning with "D". Miracle's dam had difficulty at foaling and the vet pronounced, "If the foal makes it, it will be a miracle." And it was.

I think I have entered the blogging sphere with a bang....and with pictures. How's that Katie!?!

Check back frequently, I will try to keep up. Kris