Hello All - I am learning again how to get on the Blog Page....so far, so good :)    It is a very special occasion for me to post!
I am delighted to announce that Shane has been selected by the American Morgan Horse Association as the Therapy Horse of the Year!
I wanted to post the letter submitted for the nomination.  Shane wrote it (with some help from his friends :)  You will have to give him an extra pat when you see him in the spring! 

Dear Therapy Horse Selection Committee:

 My team at One Heart is transcribing this on my behalf.  My original family, the Dolans, Cairnbrae Farm LLC, my birthplace and home to mom and dad are nominating me.

I have decided to take matters into my own hands….er, hooves.  My name is Shane.  My sister, Rosie was the AMHA Therapy horse of the year in 2013.  Thanks for that, I guess…Thanks A LOT for that.  She wears her prize halter every time out of the pasture.  She actually flaunts it, I think.  Help a brother out, here.
I came to One Heart Equestrian Therapy as a six year old.  One Heart is a PATH, Intl. member center.  This is the only job I have ever had.  I have participated in therapeutic riding for 13 years. My favorite activities are jumping and Special Olympics.  Yes, jumping in therapeutic riding!  
One Heart was in its second year when I arrived a couple of weeks before the first session of the year.  They had NO idea I could be a therapy horse, let alone, the double-top-notch therapy animal that I am.  We were a “mobile unit” back in the day, trailering to the local fairgrounds three times per week for lessons.  As an aside, I am available to offer trailer loading lessons if needed, as well.  My first trip to the fairgrounds seemed pretty basic. It was for volunteer training, no riders were around.  The big surprise was when the life-flight helicopter cruised in over the top of the arena and landed in the grass at the end-gate.  That was when we learned that this little prime piece of real estate was the transfer point for the local hospital for life-flights.  This is the moment when the instructors tell everyone they learned I would be a fine therapy horse. 

Don’t get me wrong, there are wacky things daily that I get to manage.  Of course, my strength is the relationship I develop with my leader.  I usually don’t get to know them too well, but I think I have an ancestral inclination to buddy up with people.  That turns out to be a good thing in therapy.  Given our three sessions per year, three days per week, three classes – or more per day…..I am going to give a rough estimate that I have had 10 different leaders per week each session,  3 sessions per year, 13 years…hang on, this is tough without fingers….say, 390 different people leading me.  Well, honestly, I teach many of them how to lead rather than them leading me.  But I am noted for sticking with my leader regardless of what my riders happen to be doing.  My riders are rather unbalanced at times, but for the most part it turns out that they are noted to be totally unpredictable. 

They tell me that my specialty is with riders diagnosed with ADHD and on the Autism spectrum.  I can stand the wiggles, the screeches of delight and other acts of spontaneity that include legs kicking, arms waving, heads banging, giant hugs, slipping and sliding, and random movements from ears to tail.  That’s not an exaggeration, folks. I don’t think there is a hair on me that remains untouched by a rider.  This is usually while we are riding. Then there was the time that the camp for children with blindness came.  Statue time.  Little fingers over and over and across and back.   Delicate and exploring fingers.  It was cool.  This really all points again to the partnership I have with my leader – what they say goes.  I just stick with them and things turn out ok. Some of my riders don’t have leaders.  I think they still consider me green-broke but with my independent riders, we ride and ride and ride.  It doesn’t matter if I wear a bit (what’s that?) or English or Western or just a pad and surcingle.  When I have a rider, we ride!

Please understand, just like sister Rosie, I also get to carry the little bitty kids and the larger adults.  Size helps here.  I am tall and stout.  I would rather view it as masculine in a stylish manner.  I have a bold look and a high head that can intimidate a rookie leader but they usually come around.  I also want to note that I don’t simply ignore what is going on around me… I participate!   I watch the balls fly through the air, my head goes up if my rider’s arms go up, and I am the first to figure out what the new arena game is.  Don’t confuse my willingness with being a deadhead or worse, “bomb-proof”.  You have to be pretty “with it” to manage a therapy arena. 

You know, of course, that sister, Rosie, is noted to be an instructor favorite but the chatter in the barn aisle lets me know that I am the VOLUNTEER favorite!  

Each of my riders is endearing to me in their own way but out of the estimated 10-15 riders per week I have carried each session for 13 years (again, counting with hooves is rough…..lets go with 468 rides) the ones that come back year after year just to ride me are quite special.

One lady has MS now, but used to barrel race as a kid.  She talks about grandchildren now so no telling how long ago that was.  Anyway, she’s been coming at least 10 years and I am undoubtedly her very, most favorite.  She has never ridden Rosie, by the way.  Ha.  She loves, loves, loves me!   She can’t go up the mounting block anymore but insists on using the steps on the mounting platform.  There is no way she will let them wheel her up the ramp side.   She has help getting up from her wheelchair, up the steps and pivots around to sit on me.  Then we swing her leg across my mane so she is astride.  I have noticed some changes in her seat, posture, and strength over the years, I think they expect that. From what I’ve heard her neurologist wouldn’t allow her to come ride until he saw what I could do for her.  Now, he signs off every year and asks when we will get started again in the spring.  He says I am the only thing that really helps keep her going.  Me – I - the Shane. 

I will send pictures of my variety of riders.  What I really want to talk about is Special Olympics.  I have participated every year our team has competed – 11 years!   This is when my show horse DNA gets to express itself.  Barrels, baton relay, doesn’t matter, even horsemanship, I go in all classes.  I get the riders who can trot.  Let me rephrase that, those who can trot with me!  Yes, I can trot!   If they didn’t give me such a good leader I would have all the gold medals.  I love the competition, I guess.  Cheering is all it takes.  Actually, even at home, if the instructors say, “Riders, prepare to trot", I am already in gear, just waiting for my leader.

Let’s not  mention this to Rosie – I’ve had enough of her and her award.  I’ll just wait to show up with my halter and my excellent, special riders and we will go trotting merrily along.  Thanks for considering me for this prestigious award.    Shane.

Rosie rocking the Ames Tribune

Have you ever seen a Fjord bunny?

Did you see it? Rosie was in the Ames Tribune on Sunday. Here is the link: http://amestrib.com/news/horses-used-therapy


I'll give you 3 guesses what the theme was for classes on Saturday. :0)

Join us for classes on Tuesday and Thursday nights and Saturday.

Horses used in therapy

A young rider works with Rosie, the 2013 American Morgan Horse Association Therapy Horse of the Year, during a therapy session at One Heart Equestrian Therapy in Roland. Children taking the therapy session were asked to collect Easter Eggs around the horse barn to practice reaching for objects. Therapy sessions can be used to help riders with disabilities improve strength, posture and more. Photo by Julie Ferrell/Ames Tribune
Buy Photo

By Julie Ferrell, Staff Writer
jferrell@amestrib.com

In a barn near the edge of Roland, a group of volunteers and trainers are providing a different style of therapy session.
One Heart Equestrian Therapy recently started its latest series of classes to both youth and adults with disabilities in the area. The 13-year-old organization uses horses to help improve a client’s balance, posture, strength and coordination.
“We offer services to physical, mental, emotional and cognitive disorders, and most of our clients are diagnosed with several,” said Kris Lager, co-founder and executive director of the organization. “This is not pony rides. This is real, true-life therapy. But it’s so amazingly enjoyable.”
Each class is led by a physical therapist or a riding instructor, under the standards of the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH Intl). One Heart offers several types of therapy, which can work on both gross and fine motor coordination. Starting at age two, clients have the chance to work with both large and miniature horses either by riding, or through activities like grooming or driving the horse from a carriage.
Clients are signed up for a session one time per week for a six-week class. During a session, each client is helped by three volunteers that help lead and stand on either side of the horse. Lager said for this year’s class, the group is using eight full-size horses, five miniature horses and 200 volunteers.
One volunteer, Jennifer Lamoreux, has been with the group since the end of its first year. While she had previous experience working with horses, Lamoreux did not like the typical attitude she found around horse ranches and camps in the area.
“In other places, it was very competitive, and it wasn’t what I was looking for,” she said. “Everybody here was just into horses, whether they could talk or not. It just took off from there and it’s been my social life and a big part of my life.”
The Roland-based group is also earning both regional and national attention. Lamoreux was named the Region 7 Instructor of the Year in 2011, while one of the group’s large Morgan horses, Rosie, won the 2013 American Morgan Horse Association Therapy Horse of the Year.
Lager said that as one of five therapy centers in the state, One Heart serves clients from nine counties, and the group serves over 35 clients in a 10-hour period. While Lager said her team doesn’t like to “talk in terms of miracles,” she has seen the therapy help clients in ways they never predicted.
“We put a younger client on a pony, and I received a call from the boy’s physical therapist after three weeks,” Lager said, “and shwe reported he was doing things they had not expected him to do without another couple years of work in the clinic.”
Peggy Miller, associate professor in animal science at Iowa State, said similar success stories have helped make the therapy style one of the highest developmental improvement therapies in the country. Miller said one reason horses work so well as therapy animals is because of how similar their movement is to that of a human.
“The horse mimics the way we move. As we move, the hips will move in conjunction with the horse,” she said. “It will work on some of those motion skills, and even improve posture and coordination in youth or adults.”
But the therapy has also been proven to help with social skills. Clients get to work on issues like trust and overcoming fear by working with a large, intimidating horse, as well as responsibility by brushing the horse or helping to lead the horse out to the class area. Miller said the combination of physical and mental activity the therapy can develop has helped the style skyrocket in popularity in the last few decades.
“That develops a relationship and respect for the animals, and builds a relationship with the people that are helping (the client),” she said. “You can really see it in the child or adult’s face as they get on an animal.”

- See more at: http://amestrib.com/news/horses-used-therapy#sthash.7JawMPvl.dpuf

Horses used in therapy

A young rider works with Rosie, the 2013 American Morgan Horse Association Therapy Horse of the Year, during a therapy session at One Heart Equestrian Therapy in Roland. Children taking the therapy session were asked to collect Easter Eggs around the horse barn to practice reaching for objects. Therapy sessions can be used to help riders with disabilities improve strength, posture and more. Photo by Julie Ferrell/Ames Tribune
Buy Photo

By Julie Ferrell, Staff Writer
jferrell@amestrib.com

In a barn near the edge of Roland, a group of volunteers and trainers are providing a different style of therapy session.
One Heart Equestrian Therapy recently started its latest series of classes to both youth and adults with disabilities in the area. The 13-year-old organization uses horses to help improve a client’s balance, posture, strength and coordination.
“We offer services to physical, mental, emotional and cognitive disorders, and most of our clients are diagnosed with several,” said Kris Lager, co-founder and executive director of the organization. “This is not pony rides. This is real, true-life therapy. But it’s so amazingly enjoyable.”
Each class is led by a physical therapist or a riding instructor, under the standards of the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH Intl). One Heart offers several types of therapy, which can work on both gross and fine motor coordination. Starting at age two, clients have the chance to work with both large and miniature horses either by riding, or through activities like grooming or driving the horse from a carriage.
Clients are signed up for a session one time per week for a six-week class. During a session, each client is helped by three volunteers that help lead and stand on either side of the horse. Lager said for this year’s class, the group is using eight full-size horses, five miniature horses and 200 volunteers.
One volunteer, Jennifer Lamoreux, has been with the group since the end of its first year. While she had previous experience working with horses, Lamoreux did not like the typical attitude she found around horse ranches and camps in the area.
“In other places, it was very competitive, and it wasn’t what I was looking for,” she said. “Everybody here was just into horses, whether they could talk or not. It just took off from there and it’s been my social life and a big part of my life.”
The Roland-based group is also earning both regional and national attention. Lamoreux was named the Region 7 Instructor of the Year in 2011, while one of the group’s large Morgan horses, Rosie, won the 2013 American Morgan Horse Association Therapy Horse of the Year.
Lager said that as one of five therapy centers in the state, One Heart serves clients from nine counties, and the group serves over 35 clients in a 10-hour period. While Lager said her team doesn’t like to “talk in terms of miracles,” she has seen the therapy help clients in ways they never predicted.
“We put a younger client on a pony, and I received a call from the boy’s physical therapist after three weeks,” Lager said, “and shwe reported he was doing things they had not expected him to do without another couple years of work in the clinic.”
Peggy Miller, associate professor in animal science at Iowa State, said similar success stories have helped make the therapy style one of the highest developmental improvement therapies in the country. Miller said one reason horses work so well as therapy animals is because of how similar their movement is to that of a human.
“The horse mimics the way we move. As we move, the hips will move in conjunction with the horse,” she said. “It will work on some of those motion skills, and even improve posture and coordination in youth or adults.”
But the therapy has also been proven to help with social skills. Clients get to work on issues like trust and overcoming fear by working with a large, intimidating horse, as well as responsibility by brushing the horse or helping to lead the horse out to the class area. Miller said the combination of physical and mental activity the therapy can develop has helped the style skyrocket in popularity in the last few decades.
“That develops a relationship and respect for the animals, and builds a relationship with the people that are helping (the client),” she said. “You can really see it in the child or adult’s face as they get on an animal.”

- See more at: http://amestrib.com/news/horses-used-therapy#sthash.7JawMPvl.dpuf

Rosie- 2013 American Morgan Horse Association Therapy Horse of the Year

Cairnbrae Irish Rose

Congratulations to Rosie the 2013 American Morgan Horse Association Therapy Horse for the Year. 

Rosie was One Heart's first horse. When Kris started asking people about horses, the Dolan family of Tulsa, OK donated Cairnbrae Irish Rose.

Rosie has carried riders in nearly every session of One Heart's history. She has also competed in the Iowa Special Olympics for 10 consecutive years.

After delays, cancellations and some fancy keyboard work by various airline employees, Kris made it to the 2014 American Morgan Horse Association Conference in Raleigh, NC. Luckily our webmaster Katie L. moved to the Raleigh-Durham area a few years ago so Kris had a local guide and taxi available after her airline adventure. Rosie's breeder, Kevin Dolan, was able to share the spotlight at the awards ceremony.  

Kevin Dolan, Ling Fu Wiley-AMHA director-at-large, Kris Lager

The AMHA put on a great show. Every award winner at the banquet had a short video with a narrative read live. They posted it on YouTube so we can share it with you. Rosie's video
Kris was so excited she didn't even realize they'd set it to music! Rosie is going to look super stylish in her new leather halter and saddle pad.  

Rosie's new bling.