#nontraditional therapy

[scrapirony]

(Cary Grant: how 100 acid trips in Tinseltown 'changed my life' | Film | The Guardian)

[scstars-blog]

What Does it Take to Volunteer?

Have you been thinking about volunteering, but you weren’t quite sure you had what it takes?  Have you ever wondered what volunteering with STARS consisted of?  If you answered yes to either of these questions, this post is for you! Equine Therapy Volunteer One misconception many people have about being an equine therapy volunteer it that they have to have horse experience.  However, this is not true.  We have two different types of volunteers in our equine therapy classes.  The leader (leads the horse) is required to have horse experience, been around the facility long enough that they’ve gained the horse knowledge, or gone through training session with an instructor and been passed as a leader.  The sidewalkers (walk beside the horse and rider and aid the rider it whatever may be needed) do NOT need horse experience.  All volunteers must be able to walk and lightly jog in sand.

Canine Handler Volunteer These individuals must have a dog of at least 18 months that has passed its Canine Good Citizens (CGC) Test and been through two six week sessions of dog obedience.  These individuals are responsible for doing this training and testing with their dogs themselves.  Once they have completed these requirements, they must complete two tests administered by STARS.  One of these tests is to make sure they are where they need to be on obedience, and the other is a temperament test.

Both equine volunteers AND canine handlers must be at least 14 years of age and have a desire to help others!

[scstars-blog]

What does it take to prepare our horses for classes? 

When horses first come to STARS, we spend a lot of time desensitizing them.  We want them to get used to anything they may encounter in a therapy session.  We play puzzles on their back, drop things off of them, clap, make noise, play with musical toys on their back, and ride them in a variety of positions.  We also desensitize them to having sidewalkers (someone on each side holding the rider up).  These horses need to be used to people hanging on them, bumping into them, etc.  These horses also need to learn to be respectful to the person leading them.  They need to respect their leader and walk with them as a teammate.  Our horses also need to get used to people mounting them from a ramp.  They need to get used to wheel chairs and walkers coming up next to them and standing above them.  They need to be able to stand still while we take the time to safely put a rider on their back.

Now, once the horse has been desensitized and is fine with everything listed above, they will be entered into the program if the instructors feel they are safe and will be a good match for the program.  They are now able to participate in class.  However, their training and tuning is not over.  The instructors are constantly going through the herd and doing tune ups as needed.  They also take time to teach the horses new things in order to give them a job and keep them busy so they don’t get burnt out or bored with their job.  Instructors are also responsible for keeping the horses in shape by taking them out to ride hills, or working them through different obstacles.  Just like a person couldn’t run a marathon without training for it, a horse isn’t able to be ridden hard without the proper conditioning. 

This picture shows one of our instructors long lining one of the horses at STARS.  in this picture, the horse is getting exercise, learning how to carry herself in a proper position, and learning to respond to a rider’s hands.  This is only one of the many ways we keep our horses tuned up and in shape.