May 14, 2024 • 20 mins
In this episode of "Animals & Aquatics in Occupational Therapy," our host explores the intricate process of assessing horses for therapy work. From evaluating conformation and movement to gauging temperament and soundness, every aspect is carefully considered to ensure the suitability of the horse for occupational therapy practice. Through insightful anecdotes and practical advice, listeners gain valuable insights into the challenges and considerations involved in selecting the right equine partners for therapy sessions. From identifying deal-breakers like asymmetry and reactive behaviors to highlighting the importance of thorough assessment, this episode provides a comprehensive guide for occupational therapy providers interested in integrating horses into their practice. Additionally, listeners are invited to participate in a five-day challenge to hone their horse assessment skills. Tune in to learn more about the fascinating world of equine-assisted therapy and how to navigate it effectively in occupational therapy practice.
JOIN THE CHALLENGE
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Microphone (3- Logitech USB (00:01):
Hi, good morning.
Good afternoon.
Or good evening.
Whenever you are listening in.
I hope the weather is turning asnice as it is here in New
Jersey.
And with all the spring weatherhappening, it's really made me
start to think about the horsesthat we work with when we're
incorporating them into ouroccupational therapy practice.
(00:22):
So today we're going to talk alittle bit about the star of the
show, our horses.
(00:42):
Welcome to another episode ofanimals and aquatics, where we
are looking at how occupationaltherapy providers can
incorporate nature-basedtherapy, animals, or the aquatic
environment into theiroccupational therapy practice.
I'm your host.
And today we're going to takesome time and to talk about
horses.
Specifically, how do you knowthat your horse is appropriate
(01:03):
for therapy?
Now there might be a fewscenarios in which you might be
assessing a horse.
And these can come up indifferent ways.
So you might be assessing yourown horse.
You may own a few horses andthink.
I'd really liked to incorporatethe horses into occupational
therapy.
Just not sure if my horses arethe right horses for this, and I
(01:27):
need to know a little bit moreabout assessing them to see if I
could incorporate them in, ormaybe I need to partner with
someone else.
You could be assessing horses ata therapeutic or adaptive riding
center.
And if you're contracting with afacility or maybe you're being
hired by a facility and you'regoing to come in and provide
occupational therapy services.
(01:49):
You may have several horses tochoose from.
And you may need to take a lookat all of these horses and
assess them and decide whichones would be appropriate to be
incorporated into therapy.
You may be looking at horses inan able-bodied riding program.
So in this case, we know thatthe horses are used to lessons.
(02:09):
But there's still a lot ofquestions that I have in mind
about whether the horse would beappropriate or not.
So I might be looking atassessing horses in an
able-bodied writing program.
And one more scenario that I'vecertainly found myself in many
times is assessing horses thatare for donation, for sale or
(02:30):
for lease.
And the stakes are certainlymuch higher.
When we're looking at horsesthat are for sale or for lease,
when we're going to be investingmoney.
Into the horse to get started,and we need to know what the
potential of this horse is toserve our needs as occupational
therapy providers.
(02:51):
So what exactly.
Am I looking for now, I'm goingto wear two hats with this.
And part of this hat is going tobe from the American
hippotherapy, association as Iam faculty.
And then the other hat that I'mgoing to be wearing is my
occupational therapy providerhat.
(03:11):
And the many, many years ofexperience that I've had and
worked with so many differenthorses.
So starting from the ground upas I'm looking at confirmation.
I'm gonna take a look at thathorse.
Right where they're standing andI'm going to look at
confirmation.
And I attended a reallywonderful presentation.
(03:31):
That talked about confirmation,not just from that horse sense.
So if you have a good horsebackground, then the
confirmation thing really makessense to you.
If you don't have as strong of ahorse background.
Then sometimes confirmation canbe really hard to put together
in your head.
But when you think about it asposture, Sometimes for the
(03:52):
therapist in our, well, we werea therapist hat, right.
That can make a lot more sense.
So I want to look at thishorse's posture.
How are they standing?
Are they standing in the field?
How are they standing on thecross size?
What do they look like whenthey're standing in the arena?
Just from a basic, how are theyput together?
Perspective.
Now one of our shortcomings hereon the podcast is that I'm not
(04:15):
showing you pictures.
I have horses and I'm notpointing out what that
confirmation looks like and thethings that I'd be looking for
that I can just assess right offthe bat.
When I'm seeing this horsestanding there.
But I can definitely tell youthat I'm looking for how the
horse carries itself.
There's the horse seem to becomfortable and its own body.
(04:36):
Are there patterns of tension?
And the more you've been aroundhorses or the longer you've been
around horses.
The more, this is a very sort ofsixth sense.
Right?
I can look and I can, I can justfeel into it.
But if you're new to horses,then we really are going with
the lines and angles and musclestherapy, hat side of things.
(04:59):
And either one can work reallywell.
Now, the next thing I want to dois I want to see that horse
move.
I want to see that horse move.
I need to see the horse from thefront, from the back, from the
side.
And a lot of times, if I'm outon a farm call, I can do this
really subtly just by walkingbehind them on their way out to
(05:20):
the arena.
And my therapist, eyes are goingcrazy all over this horse.
I'm looking to see if they'retracking up.
I'm looking to see if they haveequal hip drop.
I'm looking to see what thebarrel swing is.
I'm looking to see if they havevertical displacement.
Now if all of those things areforeign to you, don't worry.
There are ways we can certainlysupport you in figuring out more
(05:41):
about.
Assessing those things, whenyou're looking at the horses
movement.
And those things are going totell me so much about this
horses ability to meet myclient's needs.
And then I want to know aboutthe horse's temperament.
And we're assessing thattemperament piece.
Again, right from when we seethe horse in the stall or in the
(06:02):
pasture.
And I want to see is the horsepinning their ears towards the
horse handlers.
They're getting them out of thestall or as we walk by or do
they approach, do they come tous with ears forward and like,
oh, hi, who are you?
What are you doing?
So I want to know right away.
If this horse is friendly andinterested, or if there may be
(06:23):
already a little burnout andsour.
I want to see the horsessoundness.
So again, this is a horse termfor our horse people, right?
That means that the horse ismoving correctly and that they
have no apparent lameness orinjury.
And I want to see this horsemove, walk, trot, canter in both
(06:45):
directions.
So that if it's a pony, like alittle pony, right.
And I might be too big to get onit, or maybe they have they
don't have someone that can geton it.
I at least want to see it on alunge line.
And I want to see it walk trotcanter in both directions.
Ideally, I want to see someoneride the horse in both
directions.
Walk, trot, canter.
To see.
What that looks like.
(07:07):
The next thing that I'm lookingat would be ground manners.
And how does this worst reactduring grooming and tacking up?
So often if I'm assessing ahorse, I don't want to.
I, when I arrive to see thehorse, I don't want it to be
tacked up.
I don't want the person to beriding it.
That's usually a little bit of ared flag.
(07:28):
If I arrive at the farm and thehorses already tacked up and
being written, I want to see thehorse either ideally like right
from the stall.
So I don't have to wait for themto go catch it from the pasture.
But even if I do see them catchit from the pasture again,
that's going to give me a lot ofinformation.
I think there can be nothingmore frustrating than the horse
that doesn't want to be caught.
(07:50):
That takes staff or volunteers,20, 30 minutes an hour, two
hours to be caught.
It, that, it's just, it's a bigburden.
On your.
Human assets to deal with ahorse like that.
So even in those cases, we can.
Look at those.
(08:13):
Ground manner issues.
When we're seeing a horse comein, If it's slink spring, like
now fly, spray, like how do theyreact to fly spray?
And then the next thing that I'dbe looking at is trainability.
And I might not be able to seethis in my initial assessment,
but I'm definitely going to betesting for those things.
Each of these areas coulddefinitely be a training course
(08:35):
all by itself.
In fact, if you've already takenthe American hippotherapy,
association or aha part onecourse, you've done some of this
work in analyzing horse'smovement and confirmation.
But you know that when it's areal life horse right in front
of you, it might feel a littledifferent.
And depending on your level ofhorse experience and your
(08:57):
comfort at looking at horses inthis very medical frame work.
It definitely is a different wayto train your eye, even if
you're a lifelong equestrian.
Often, we don't look at ourhorses with this.
I for medical quality equinemovement.
And so when we're training oureye for this, it's really being
(09:18):
able to take our equestrianskills and incorporate our
therapist's brain and reallymeld those two together.
When we're looking at.
Horses and seeing, when we'reassessing them to see whether
they would be appropriate fortherapy.
And I'm looking at both thehippotherapy, side.
(09:38):
So really focusing on the equinemovement that I'm going to be
using in my treatment sessions.
But also because I serve a lotof clients with mental health
challenges, I'm also looking fora lot of that.
Relate-ability to the horse.
I am looking for a horse that isinteractive.
That's going to give feedback.
That has a personality that willwork with the mental health
(10:01):
population that I'm workingwith.
And that's why those groundmanners also can be really.
Even more important to me.
Because of the population that Iwork with.
So you might be wondering whatthe typical process looks like.
It usually starts off with aphone call and that would often
be from an owner.
Who maybe wants to donate ahorse or maybe I'm reaching out
(10:24):
to a barn or a facility andasking and inquiring about
leasing or renting theirfacility.
And so I'm going to be askingabout the horses that they have,
the height, the ages what thosehorses are currently doing.
Then there's a barn assessment.
And so we're going out to thatfacility.
(10:44):
Again, if I'm renting a space,I'm going to be assessing those
horses before I've even thoughtabout booking clients and I'm
going to go out and assess thehorses that they have available
and make a yes, no list.
Right?
So who's on my S list.
Who's on my no list.
If this is a horse that someoneis calling to donate to me.
(11:05):
Same thing.
I'm going out to the barn and Ihave a barn assessment, and I
have a whole checklist that I'mgoing through of everything that
I want to see when I'm there atthat barn assessment.
If the horse passes the barnassessment piece.
Then there's a trial period.
And again, that can be on afacility rental side of things,
(11:25):
or that can be on a donation ora sale horse.
Yes.
Even on sale horses.
I like to ask for a trialperiod.
Because it's really importantthat we have that opportunity to
see them.
In our environment.
So if I'm coming to a facilityand I'm renting the facility and
that's going to be the facility,the horses, the horse handler,
(11:48):
it might include some equipment,or I may be bringing my own
equipment.
I need to know that those horsesare going to be able to accept
and work with that.
So during the trial period,we're doing a lot of training.
We're doing a lot of screeningwith the props that we may use.
We're doing groundworkactivities.
And again, I have a checklistthat I'm going through for each
(12:09):
of those.
So that way anyone who's workingwith me is tracking.
Everything that that horse isdoing.
They know where the horse hasstrengths.
They know where the horse maybeneeds a little bit more work.
So my trainers, my horsehandlers, my barn managers, they
all know where the horses in theprocess.
This is also something that Ican use to communicate with
owners.
To let them know how theirhorses doing.
(12:32):
After the horse is workingthrough that trial period.
We've tested them with props.
We've tested them withtransfers.
We've tested them with differentstyles of leading.
Different types of tack andequipment.
Then we're ready to do a mocksession and with a mock session,
that is someone who is a good,skilled, balanced writer, who is
(12:54):
also an excellent actor oractress.
And some kids can be really goodat this as well.
They need to have kind of anunderstanding of some of the
challenges that our clientsmight present to a horse.
So that could be loudvocalizations.
It could be tight tone.
It could be unexpectedmovements.
And I really enjoy that part.
(13:16):
I like to do mock sessions, sowe have a horse handler.
We have two sidewalkers.
We have the mock client and wejust go through a mock session.
And I don't tell my horsehandlers or my therapist, if
I'm.
Doing this with one of mycoworkers, I don't tell them
exactly what I'm going to do.
(13:38):
I just lay it out and we see howeveryone handles it.
If that's going really well.
Then we try a real session witha carefully selected client.
That I know is going to workwith me, that doesn't have those
unexpected behaviors that isreally a good candidate for this
horse, the movement it's goingto provide.
(14:00):
And I can see what that dynamicis going to be like with a
client.
And then we work towards fullintegration for the horse
working.
Now, if this horse has alreadybeen in a lesson program,
generally this process wouldtake about two months.
For a horse that was out ofcondition.
So this would be the person thatcalled and said, Hey, I have
(14:20):
this horse that I would like todonate.
They haven't done anything inthe last few years, but they're
out in my field.
I think they'd really like tohave a job.
This process is going to takethree to six months.
So when we're looking at thattrial period, we're definitely
extending the time because thishorse needs to come back into
condition.
We need to know that they arefeeling good before we make our
(14:43):
final assessment.
'cause sometimes when they'renot feeling so good yet, and
they don't have all their muscletone built back up.
They may be really mellow andthey might be really easy to
work with, but when they get alittle more fit and they get a
little sassy I want to know thatbefore I've made that final sign
off on that paper.
So what about failures?
(15:04):
I have a few hard nose in mybook.
That I've seen time and timeagain.
So the first hard, no, for me isasymmetry.
A horse that is asymmetrical isnot moving evenly from left to
right.
And.
We've tried a lot of things towork with asymmetrical horses.
And I'm not saying we triedeverything.
(15:25):
I'm sure there are things thatwe haven't tried financially.
That's a consideration.
What do you have access to?
So things like ultrasound, laserchiropractic care magnetic.
Supplements, joint injectionsrate.
There's a really, really biglist of body care.
Types of things that you couldtry to use to deal with
asymmetry.
I haven't found a lot of successin treating asymmetry.
(15:48):
So if you have an amazing personthat you think might be great in
treating asymmetries a let meknow, and B.
Certainly that may give you someviable options.
But for me, I haven't found alot of luck in getting horses
that are asymmetrical, even withtraining and body work to become
symmetrical.
So for therapy, that's usually ano-go right there.
They might be great at.
(16:09):
Horseback riding lessons.
They might be great atgroundwork and equine assisted
education, but for therapy,that's a no-go.
The next hard no, in my book.
Is what I like to call the sitand spin.
If you're a horse person, youprobably know what this is.
So every horse has a move.
When they're spooked, whenthey're scared, that's their
(16:30):
move.
Like, that's what they do.
Some is the like, Spooky place.
Right.
And they don't move anywhere.
Some it's like the bolt threestrides, like I'm going to run
three shots and then I'm goingto like stop and look for other
horses, it is.
The sit and spin.
Right?
And so it's like the, oh my God.
I'm out of here and they justlike, they stop.
(16:50):
They, they kinda go down ontheir haunches and they spin and
they're gone.
You can't keep a client on.
You just can't.
None of us are fast in us.
None of us are strong enough ifthat's the horses like
signature, scared move, theycan't do anything about it.
Right.
They can't override it.
And so I just, I asked what'syour horses move when they're
scared.
(17:11):
And if they say, oh, theyusually turn and run.
That's a hard, no, for me.
So that's that's one.
And my last one, you may laughat this, but as anything too
smart.
The reason why I say this isbecause time and time and time
(17:31):
and time again, the horses thatare really smart.
Kept really bored with our work.
And when they get really boredwith our work, they find ways to
amuse themselves.
And usually those things are nottoo amusing to me.
So whenever the barn managersays, oh, you should try cookie
cookie.
So smart.
I'm like, That's probably notgoing to work so well now, if
(17:55):
Cookie's only working with mefor a few hours during the week
and cookie is in a.
Show program and is doingwriting lessons and trail riding
and is on the show team thatmight not be such a big deal.
But if I'm at an adaptive ridingfacility where there's going to
be a lot of volunteers handlingthe horses, anything to smart as
out, because they just, they getreally bored.
(18:15):
They find things to do.
They're clever and creative andit just doesn't work very well.
The horses that are not thebrightest bulbs in the box tend
to do actually very, very wellbecause they don't mind doing
the same thing over and over andover again.
And a lot of times thatrepetition is what my clients
need.
They need that from a motorlearning perspective, they need
(18:36):
that from a sensory integrationperspective, they need that from
a trauma informed perspective.
And those horses that are okaywith that too really well.
And they're not looking forthings to do with the volunteers
and they're not looking for new,exciting things to do.
So as we wrap up today'sepisode, I want to reflect on
(18:56):
the importance of assessing thehorse before you assume that
they're appropriate for workingin therapy.
There's certainly a lot thatgoes into this.
So, if you want to take a deeperdive, I'm doing a five day
challenge on this topic.
If you're listening in realtime, you can join the
challenge.
Up until May 20th is when wekick off and you'll be able to
join any time throughout thatweek.
So the 20th through the 25th iswhen we're doing it.
(19:19):
And we're going to be going overone of these topics each day in
depth, we'll be having.
Videos.
So you can look at it.
We can do it together.
I think it's going to be a lotof fun.
So if you have a horse thatyou're interested in assessing.
And you think they might begreat in therapy?
I certainly encourage you tojoin us on this challenge.
And work together with us todevelop your assessment skills.
(19:43):
So thank you for joining us onanimals and aquatics in
occupational therapy.
I hope this was helpful for you,even if you couldn't see what
I'm talking about.
I hope this gives you a littlebit of information.
In what goes into assessing ahorse that we might be
incorporating into ouroccupational therapy practice.
All the way from temperament tomovement, to some of the things
(20:03):
that are just absolute, no goes.
If this was helpful to you,there's now a way to message us.
So you can look directly on thisepisode.
And send us a message and let usknow.
If this was helpful and whatspecifically, you'd like to know
more on.
Until next time.
Have a great week.
Hi, good morning.
Good afternoon.
Or good evening.
Whenever you are listening in.
I hope the weather is turning asnice as it is here in New
Jersey.
And with all the spring weatherhappening, it's really made me
start to think about the horsesthat we work with when we're
incorporating them into ouroccupational therapy practice.
(00:22):
So today we're going to talk alittle bit about the star of the
show, our horses.
(00:42):
Welcome to another episode ofanimals and aquatics, where we
are looking at how occupationaltherapy providers can
incorporate nature-basedtherapy, animals, or the aquatic
environment into theiroccupational therapy practice.
I'm your host.
And today we're going to takesome time and to talk about
horses.
Specifically, how do you knowthat your horse is appropriate
(01:03):
for therapy?
Now there might be a fewscenarios in which you might be
assessing a horse.
And these can come up indifferent ways.
So you might be assessing yourown horse.
You may own a few horses andthink.
I'd really liked to incorporatethe horses into occupational
therapy.
Just not sure if my horses arethe right horses for this, and I
(01:27):
need to know a little bit moreabout assessing them to see if I
could incorporate them in, ormaybe I need to partner with
someone else.
You could be assessing horses ata therapeutic or adaptive riding
center.
And if you're contracting with afacility or maybe you're being
hired by a facility and you'regoing to come in and provide
occupational therapy services.
(01:49):
You may have several horses tochoose from.
And you may need to take a lookat all of these horses and
assess them and decide whichones would be appropriate to be
incorporated into therapy.
You may be looking at horses inan able-bodied riding program.
So in this case, we know thatthe horses are used to lessons.
(02:09):
But there's still a lot ofquestions that I have in mind
about whether the horse would beappropriate or not.
So I might be looking atassessing horses in an
able-bodied writing program.
And one more scenario that I'vecertainly found myself in many
times is assessing horses thatare for donation, for sale or
(02:30):
for lease.
And the stakes are certainlymuch higher.
When we're looking at horsesthat are for sale or for lease,
when we're going to be investingmoney.
Into the horse to get started,and we need to know what the
potential of this horse is toserve our needs as occupational
therapy providers.
(02:51):
So what exactly.
Am I looking for now, I'm goingto wear two hats with this.
And part of this hat is going tobe from the American
hippotherapy, association as Iam faculty.
And then the other hat that I'mgoing to be wearing is my
occupational therapy providerhat.
(03:11):
And the many, many years ofexperience that I've had and
worked with so many differenthorses.
So starting from the ground upas I'm looking at confirmation.
I'm gonna take a look at thathorse.
Right where they're standing andI'm going to look at
confirmation.
And I attended a reallywonderful presentation.
(03:31):
That talked about confirmation,not just from that horse sense.
So if you have a good horsebackground, then the
confirmation thing really makessense to you.
If you don't have as strong of ahorse background.
Then sometimes confirmation canbe really hard to put together
in your head.
But when you think about it asposture, Sometimes for the
(03:52):
therapist in our, well, we werea therapist hat, right.
That can make a lot more sense.
So I want to look at thishorse's posture.
How are they standing?
Are they standing in the field?
How are they standing on thecross size?
What do they look like whenthey're standing in the arena?
Just from a basic, how are theyput together?
Perspective.
Now one of our shortcomings hereon the podcast is that I'm not
(04:15):
showing you pictures.
I have horses and I'm notpointing out what that
confirmation looks like and thethings that I'd be looking for
that I can just assess right offthe bat.
When I'm seeing this horsestanding there.
But I can definitely tell youthat I'm looking for how the
horse carries itself.
There's the horse seem to becomfortable and its own body.
(04:36):
Are there patterns of tension?
And the more you've been aroundhorses or the longer you've been
around horses.
The more, this is a very sort ofsixth sense.
Right?
I can look and I can, I can justfeel into it.
But if you're new to horses,then we really are going with
the lines and angles and musclestherapy, hat side of things.
(04:59):
And either one can work reallywell.
Now, the next thing I want to dois I want to see that horse
move.
I want to see that horse move.
I need to see the horse from thefront, from the back, from the
side.
And a lot of times, if I'm outon a farm call, I can do this
really subtly just by walkingbehind them on their way out to
(05:20):
the arena.
And my therapist, eyes are goingcrazy all over this horse.
I'm looking to see if they'retracking up.
I'm looking to see if they haveequal hip drop.
I'm looking to see what thebarrel swing is.
I'm looking to see if they havevertical displacement.
Now if all of those things areforeign to you, don't worry.
There are ways we can certainlysupport you in figuring out more
(05:41):
about.
Assessing those things, whenyou're looking at the horses
movement.
And those things are going totell me so much about this
horses ability to meet myclient's needs.
And then I want to know aboutthe horse's temperament.
And we're assessing thattemperament piece.
Again, right from when we seethe horse in the stall or in the
(06:02):
pasture.
And I want to see is the horsepinning their ears towards the
horse handlers.
They're getting them out of thestall or as we walk by or do
they approach, do they come tous with ears forward and like,
oh, hi, who are you?
What are you doing?
So I want to know right away.
If this horse is friendly andinterested, or if there may be
(06:23):
already a little burnout andsour.
I want to see the horsessoundness.
So again, this is a horse termfor our horse people, right?
That means that the horse ismoving correctly and that they
have no apparent lameness orinjury.
And I want to see this horsemove, walk, trot, canter in both
(06:45):
directions.
So that if it's a pony, like alittle pony, right.
And I might be too big to get onit, or maybe they have they
don't have someone that can geton it.
I at least want to see it on alunge line.
And I want to see it walk trotcanter in both directions.
Ideally, I want to see someoneride the horse in both
directions.
Walk, trot, canter.
To see.
What that looks like.
(07:07):
The next thing that I'm lookingat would be ground manners.
And how does this worst reactduring grooming and tacking up?
So often if I'm assessing ahorse, I don't want to.
I, when I arrive to see thehorse, I don't want it to be
tacked up.
I don't want the person to beriding it.
That's usually a little bit of ared flag.
(07:28):
If I arrive at the farm and thehorses already tacked up and
being written, I want to see thehorse either ideally like right
from the stall.
So I don't have to wait for themto go catch it from the pasture.
But even if I do see them catchit from the pasture again,
that's going to give me a lot ofinformation.
I think there can be nothingmore frustrating than the horse
that doesn't want to be caught.
(07:50):
That takes staff or volunteers,20, 30 minutes an hour, two
hours to be caught.
It, that, it's just, it's a bigburden.
On your.
Human assets to deal with ahorse like that.
So even in those cases, we can.
Look at those.
(08:13):
Ground manner issues.
When we're seeing a horse comein, If it's slink spring, like
now fly, spray, like how do theyreact to fly spray?
And then the next thing that I'dbe looking at is trainability.
And I might not be able to seethis in my initial assessment,
but I'm definitely going to betesting for those things.
Each of these areas coulddefinitely be a training course
(08:35):
all by itself.
In fact, if you've already takenthe American hippotherapy,
association or aha part onecourse, you've done some of this
work in analyzing horse'smovement and confirmation.
But you know that when it's areal life horse right in front
of you, it might feel a littledifferent.
And depending on your level ofhorse experience and your
(08:57):
comfort at looking at horses inthis very medical frame work.
It definitely is a different wayto train your eye, even if
you're a lifelong equestrian.
Often, we don't look at ourhorses with this.
I for medical quality equinemovement.
And so when we're training oureye for this, it's really being
(09:18):
able to take our equestrianskills and incorporate our
therapist's brain and reallymeld those two together.
When we're looking at.
Horses and seeing, when we'reassessing them to see whether
they would be appropriate fortherapy.
And I'm looking at both thehippotherapy, side.
(09:38):
So really focusing on the equinemovement that I'm going to be
using in my treatment sessions.
But also because I serve a lotof clients with mental health
challenges, I'm also looking fora lot of that.
Relate-ability to the horse.
I am looking for a horse that isinteractive.
That's going to give feedback.
That has a personality that willwork with the mental health
(10:01):
population that I'm workingwith.
And that's why those groundmanners also can be really.
Even more important to me.
Because of the population that Iwork with.
So you might be wondering whatthe typical process looks like.
It usually starts off with aphone call and that would often
be from an owner.
Who maybe wants to donate ahorse or maybe I'm reaching out
(10:24):
to a barn or a facility andasking and inquiring about
leasing or renting theirfacility.
And so I'm going to be askingabout the horses that they have,
the height, the ages what thosehorses are currently doing.
Then there's a barn assessment.
And so we're going out to thatfacility.
(10:44):
Again, if I'm renting a space,I'm going to be assessing those
horses before I've even thoughtabout booking clients and I'm
going to go out and assess thehorses that they have available
and make a yes, no list.
Right?
So who's on my S list.
Who's on my no list.
If this is a horse that someoneis calling to donate to me.
(11:05):
Same thing.
I'm going out to the barn and Ihave a barn assessment, and I
have a whole checklist that I'mgoing through of everything that
I want to see when I'm there atthat barn assessment.
If the horse passes the barnassessment piece.
Then there's a trial period.
And again, that can be on afacility rental side of things,
(11:25):
or that can be on a donation ora sale horse.
Yes.
Even on sale horses.
I like to ask for a trialperiod.
Because it's really importantthat we have that opportunity to
see them.
In our environment.
So if I'm coming to a facilityand I'm renting the facility and
that's going to be the facility,the horses, the horse handler,
(11:48):
it might include some equipment,or I may be bringing my own
equipment.
I need to know that those horsesare going to be able to accept
and work with that.
So during the trial period,we're doing a lot of training.
We're doing a lot of screeningwith the props that we may use.
We're doing groundworkactivities.
And again, I have a checklistthat I'm going through for each
(12:09):
of those.
So that way anyone who's workingwith me is tracking.
Everything that that horse isdoing.
They know where the horse hasstrengths.
They know where the horse maybeneeds a little bit more work.
So my trainers, my horsehandlers, my barn managers, they
all know where the horses in theprocess.
This is also something that Ican use to communicate with
owners.
To let them know how theirhorses doing.
(12:32):
After the horse is workingthrough that trial period.
We've tested them with props.
We've tested them withtransfers.
We've tested them with differentstyles of leading.
Different types of tack andequipment.
Then we're ready to do a mocksession and with a mock session,
that is someone who is a good,skilled, balanced writer, who is
(12:54):
also an excellent actor oractress.
And some kids can be really goodat this as well.
They need to have kind of anunderstanding of some of the
challenges that our clientsmight present to a horse.
So that could be loudvocalizations.
It could be tight tone.
It could be unexpectedmovements.
And I really enjoy that part.
(13:16):
I like to do mock sessions, sowe have a horse handler.
We have two sidewalkers.
We have the mock client and wejust go through a mock session.
And I don't tell my horsehandlers or my therapist, if
I'm.
Doing this with one of mycoworkers, I don't tell them
exactly what I'm going to do.
(13:38):
I just lay it out and we see howeveryone handles it.
If that's going really well.
Then we try a real session witha carefully selected client.
That I know is going to workwith me, that doesn't have those
unexpected behaviors that isreally a good candidate for this
horse, the movement it's goingto provide.
(14:00):
And I can see what that dynamicis going to be like with a
client.
And then we work towards fullintegration for the horse
working.
Now, if this horse has alreadybeen in a lesson program,
generally this process wouldtake about two months.
For a horse that was out ofcondition.
So this would be the person thatcalled and said, Hey, I have
(14:20):
this horse that I would like todonate.
They haven't done anything inthe last few years, but they're
out in my field.
I think they'd really like tohave a job.
This process is going to takethree to six months.
So when we're looking at thattrial period, we're definitely
extending the time because thishorse needs to come back into
condition.
We need to know that they arefeeling good before we make our
(14:43):
final assessment.
'cause sometimes when they'renot feeling so good yet, and
they don't have all their muscletone built back up.
They may be really mellow andthey might be really easy to
work with, but when they get alittle more fit and they get a
little sassy I want to know thatbefore I've made that final sign
off on that paper.
So what about failures?
(15:04):
I have a few hard nose in mybook.
That I've seen time and timeagain.
So the first hard, no, for me isasymmetry.
A horse that is asymmetrical isnot moving evenly from left to
right.
And.
We've tried a lot of things towork with asymmetrical horses.
And I'm not saying we triedeverything.
(15:25):
I'm sure there are things thatwe haven't tried financially.
That's a consideration.
What do you have access to?
So things like ultrasound, laserchiropractic care magnetic.
Supplements, joint injectionsrate.
There's a really, really biglist of body care.
Types of things that you couldtry to use to deal with
asymmetry.
I haven't found a lot of successin treating asymmetry.
(15:48):
So if you have an amazing personthat you think might be great in
treating asymmetries a let meknow, and B.
Certainly that may give you someviable options.
But for me, I haven't found alot of luck in getting horses
that are asymmetrical, even withtraining and body work to become
symmetrical.
So for therapy, that's usually ano-go right there.
They might be great at.
(16:09):
Horseback riding lessons.
They might be great atgroundwork and equine assisted
education, but for therapy,that's a no-go.
The next hard no, in my book.
Is what I like to call the sitand spin.
If you're a horse person, youprobably know what this is.
So every horse has a move.
When they're spooked, whenthey're scared, that's their
(16:30):
move.
Like, that's what they do.
Some is the like, Spooky place.
Right.
And they don't move anywhere.
Some it's like the bolt threestrides, like I'm going to run
three shots and then I'm goingto like stop and look for other
horses, it is.
The sit and spin.
Right?
And so it's like the, oh my God.
I'm out of here and they justlike, they stop.
(16:50):
They, they kinda go down ontheir haunches and they spin and
they're gone.
You can't keep a client on.
You just can't.
None of us are fast in us.
None of us are strong enough ifthat's the horses like
signature, scared move, theycan't do anything about it.
Right.
They can't override it.
And so I just, I asked what'syour horses move when they're
scared.
(17:11):
And if they say, oh, theyusually turn and run.
That's a hard, no, for me.
So that's that's one.
And my last one, you may laughat this, but as anything too
smart.
The reason why I say this isbecause time and time and time
(17:31):
and time again, the horses thatare really smart.
Kept really bored with our work.
And when they get really boredwith our work, they find ways to
amuse themselves.
And usually those things are nottoo amusing to me.
So whenever the barn managersays, oh, you should try cookie
cookie.
So smart.
I'm like, That's probably notgoing to work so well now, if
(17:55):
Cookie's only working with mefor a few hours during the week
and cookie is in a.
Show program and is doingwriting lessons and trail riding
and is on the show team thatmight not be such a big deal.
But if I'm at an adaptive ridingfacility where there's going to
be a lot of volunteers handlingthe horses, anything to smart as
out, because they just, they getreally bored.
(18:15):
They find things to do.
They're clever and creative andit just doesn't work very well.
The horses that are not thebrightest bulbs in the box tend
to do actually very, very wellbecause they don't mind doing
the same thing over and over andover again.
And a lot of times thatrepetition is what my clients
need.
They need that from a motorlearning perspective, they need
(18:36):
that from a sensory integrationperspective, they need that from
a trauma informed perspective.
And those horses that are okaywith that too really well.
And they're not looking forthings to do with the volunteers
and they're not looking for new,exciting things to do.
So as we wrap up today'sepisode, I want to reflect on
(18:56):
the importance of assessing thehorse before you assume that
they're appropriate for workingin therapy.
There's certainly a lot thatgoes into this.
So, if you want to take a deeperdive, I'm doing a five day
challenge on this topic.
If you're listening in realtime, you can join the
challenge.
Up until May 20th is when wekick off and you'll be able to
join any time throughout thatweek.
So the 20th through the 25th iswhen we're doing it.
(19:19):
And we're going to be going overone of these topics each day in
depth, we'll be having.
Videos.
So you can look at it.
We can do it together.
I think it's going to be a lotof fun.
So if you have a horse thatyou're interested in assessing.
And you think they might begreat in therapy?
I certainly encourage you tojoin us on this challenge.
And work together with us todevelop your assessment skills.
(19:43):
So thank you for joining us onanimals and aquatics in
occupational therapy.
I hope this was helpful for you,even if you couldn't see what
I'm talking about.
I hope this gives you a littlebit of information.
In what goes into assessing ahorse that we might be
incorporating into ouroccupational therapy practice.
All the way from temperament tomovement, to some of the things
(20:03):
that are just absolute, no goes.
If this was helpful to you,there's now a way to message us.
So you can look directly on thisepisode.
And send us a message and let usknow.
If this was helpful and whatspecifically, you'd like to know
more on.
Until next time.
Have a great week.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Bleep! with Ana Navarro
Fear thrives in silence and confusion. Ana Navarro rejects both. Her voice is an antidote to today’s chaos. Her new podcast, Bleep! with Ana Navarro, takes on today’s most pressing issues with the voices most connected to it: decision-makers, political leaders, cultural shapers, and people on the frontlines of the story. The conversations acknowledge the emotions we all feel—despair, sadness, fear— but emerge with knowledge, perspective, and hope. The belief is simple: fearless dialogue can transform fear into courage, and courage into change. When fear dominates the headlines, this show digs deeper. Because information, debate, and conversation don’t just ease fear, they give us power to shape the future.
Hey Jonas!
Hey Jonas! The official Jonas Brothers podcast. Hosted by Kevin, Joe, and Nick Jonas. It’s the Jonas Brothers you know... musicians, actors, and well, yes, brothers. Now, they’re sharing another side of themselves in the playful, intimate, and irreverent way only they can. Spend time with the Jonas Brothers here and stay a little bit longer for deep conversations like never before.