I like animals. Most kinds. It's interesting to me how animals are used in therapy. Two specific things come to mind. When my daughter was in the hospital last year for 3 weeks a big Golden Retriever came around to visit the kids. Her eyes absolutely lit up. Her whole countenance changed. I mean, I've been around pets my whole life and feel they add a dimension to my life, but this was so overt. Amazing.
I'm also thinking about cat's son who has autism and cat's mentioned he does horseback riding for therapy. I'm wondering - what do you think happens in your son when he's with the horses? Are there people on both sides supporting him? Does he need his head supported? Is he usually in a wheelchair otherwise while moving from place to place?
Any other experiences with animals I'd love to hear.
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
My son is physically "normal" (he is taller than Mom, and is about even with me) other than he doesn't have the same muscular development as boys his age (most likely because he is not your typical teenage boy who is constantly on the go in sports and physical activity), so he doesn't need head support or wheelchair. He is 100% self ambulatory, but like anyone else (or any kid), he will relish being pushed around in a wheel chair or stroller if given the chance.
Anyway, his therapy provider has "walkers" that spot each rider. Sometimes, depending on the child, they may have two or three walkers assigned to the horse. Ultimately, it is the rider's responsibility to hold the reigns and guide the horse to the best of the riders ability. A guide walker will assist in guide the horse when necessary.
The connection between mentally handicapped individuals and animals -- be they dogs, cats, horses, dolphins, whatever -- seems to be almost a spiritual connection. It is as if they both can sense the unfeigned love that exudes from the other.
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
Any other experiences with animals I'd love to hear.
Living on the farm all my experiences seem to involve cussin' at, shootin, and eatin' animals. Let me tell you that there is nothing more theraputic than blowing a nasty ground squirrel apart with a high powered varmint rifle at 150 yards.
It's interesting to me that cat can neither spell reins correctly AND had no clue what jodhpurs were and yet has unveiled one of the secrets that the cutting edge psychologists/animal-assisted therapists are trying to explain to the rest of the population-- the unfeigned love bit. Just awesome. I completely agree. Animals love us. No matter what. The moment we change, they accept it, no questions asked. Even when they give us feedback as to our emotional state, there is no condemnation in it. Especially horses. Awesome.
And if you try to eat my horse, I'll eat you first! grrr....
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
{Sings a rousing chorus of Rudolf the Red-nosed Reigndeer between mouthfuls of delicious, sumptious, authentic Sauerbraten with a side order of Jodhpur kachar mircha curry...}
Here Coco, have a horse shaped block of nice, creamy, smooth Tomaccollatte brand tomacolate!
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
I love my cats. Sometimes my depression is bad enough that I just sit there and cry and try to think of other things besides killing myself. My cats always tune into this and come up and comfort me. I love it.
We were gone all last week at a family reunion and now my favorite cat will hardly let me out of his sight. =) If I lay down, he comes over and puts his paw on me as if to say, "now you just stay right there."
Several years ago I volunteered one morning at a therapeutic riding program. It was fun, each rider had a sheet w/his/her physical, occupational and speech therapy goals. For example, one person had to identify the area where to lead the horse or be able to speak the commands to the horse. My understanding is the physical benefit is that when the person is on the horse, the horse movement simulates the movement of a human being.
You can probably sign up to volunteer in your area- they likely will want a long term commitment and have some training. The thing I did was just a one time thing for single people, lot of fun. They had a set of stairs that "led up to the horse" so that those who couldn't climb up could get up on it.
The hard part to me as a side walker is that as I am shorter (5'2") I found it hard to hold as well as if it had been a mini pony. But it all worked out. Also it is hard when they do trotting and the horse goes faster.
Anyway, I found some links for your interest:
http://www.americanequestrian.com/hippotherapy.htm general hippotherapy association.
http://www.webmd.com/video/hippotherapy-special-needs I don't have video on my computer so didn't watch this but may be worth checking out.'
I'm not a dog person by any means. Our nursing home has pets (birds, several dogs, a cat, a bunny). Anyway, one time several years ago I brought a lady back to her room. She'd had a stroke and had a flat affect. She saw the dog and bent down to pat him and stood longer than she had w/us in therapy. It also amazed me how the dog got her interest when little else had. Another dog lives on our dementia unit. One of the nurses told me that dog sometimes goes in the room of those who are dying- a special sense of that , in a sense. I remember one time we had a man that had wounds on his feet and wore special boot shoes as part of those wounds, and the dog was near his feet, trying to lick them.
Then there is a dog here who once stole a patients ice cream cone- and when notified of this, one of the administators ( a bona fide dog lover), asked the patient if their arms had been low enough for the dog to reach the ice cream cone.
What I think is really cool is the monkey's who serve as assistants to the disabled. I also think the dolphin therapy sounds amazing.
Okay, okay. I'm talking about if you have a re-la-tion-ship with them. Get it? Not some wild animal you stumble across in the wilderness. You've got to give the watchdogs a break, though. They're just doing their job, like a well-trained sheepdog.
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
Is that an antelope or a small deer? It's staring straight at the camera, immediately left of the two trunks in the center of the frame. Two dark eyes, triangular dark nose, large ears, small antlers.
For a minute I thought you meant the carpenter ant on the trunk of that tree in the background on the far right. But then I remembered you said "animal."
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The ability to qualify for, receive, and act on personal revelation is the single most important skill that can be acquired in this life. - Julie Beck
Pacific Coast Black Tail. He's a young buck with a nice set of antlers. I thought the picture came out really nicely. Kind of like a Where's Waldo of the wild!
I had quite an attachment to our family dog growing up. She was a yellow lab/ cocker spaniel mix, the runt of her litter, small and sweet. When she was a tiny puppy, she would climb up into my sweater sleeve to get warm.
When I was a teenager, she was my shadow. She went wherever I did when I was home. She slept in my room. When I went through the usual teenage angst issues, and when I went through a deep depression, she always sensed it. She would come in my room, jump up on my bed, and stay with me.
She had such a tender heart. She even stayed with our cat, the one she normally hated, while the cat gave birth. She whimpered and whined and licked the cat's head, and seemed to be comforting and coaching her through labor and birth.
My mom always complained about that dog. But when she died a few years ago, my mom cried for days.
She's buried under the peach tree in Mom's garden. I still miss her.
I'm not as attached to the dog we have now, but my girls sure are. He even went through a depression and ran away 3 times this summer, after the baby was born. He's happier now that the girls are paying more attention to him again.
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"There is order in the way the Lord reveals His will to mankind. . .we cannot receive revelation for someone else's stewardship." L. Tom Perry
"The promptings of the Holy Ghost will always be sufficient for our needs if we keep to the covenant path. Our path is uphill most days, but the help we receive for the climb is literally divine." --Elaine S. Dalton
My older daughter has been gone quite a bit this summer and not giving too much attention to her horse and her horse is depressed, I think. She and my "main" horse that I'm training to ride right now have been total buddies. They go back and forth with who's the boss, they groom each other, etc. But since Honey has not been getting so much attention, she is now totally on the bottom of the pecking order. The other two are bossing her around and she just takes it. When she was getting more attention (we'd leave my "main" horse in the field alone when we went riding, etc.), she was dominant over my "main" horse. I wonder what will happen when my daughter gets back and Honey is getting a lot of attention again... the dynamics in this group of three mares is just interesting to me... almost like their self-esteem is rooted in how much attention they get from their people. Huh.
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Life is tough but it's tougher if you're stupid. -John Wayne
{Sings a rousing chorus of Rudolf the Red-nosed Reigndeer between mouthfuls of delicious, sumptious, authentic Sauerbraten with a side order of Jodhpur kachar mircha curry...} 
