Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Monday, June 23, 2014
adventures in Colorado (equine assisted psychotherapy)
Recently, I have participated in two workshops involving EAP (equine assisted psychotherapy). EAP focuses on having the rider/client concentrate on some kind of conflict in their life, whether it be work related stress or the loss of someone close to them, and then do certain activities involving the horses to help cope or problem solve.
In the first workshop/demo I did, we focused on one conflict and were then told to use paint on the horses to try and illustrate the conflict. We could write a word or paint a symbol or do anything we wanted to paint. The conflict I chose to illustrate was indecision and direction.
While we were painting the horses, we were encouraged to think and talk about what things we were painting, what they symbolized, what the horses' reactions might symbolize, etc. The horse I had chosen to paint, Jacky, was very restless and distracted at first. Horses are incredibly sensitive to emotions portrayed through body language as well as more subtle things like a person's heart rate. She must have sensed my confusion and restlessness while I was thinking and painting her. I have been feeling lost and without direction for a while now, doubting myself and unsure of my future. I was thinking about these things as I painted her, and I'm sure she was picking up on it. I tried calming her down by rubbing her and moving slowly, talking to her in a low voice, and stopped painting her. It worked, and I was able to finish painting her.
Her restlessness and nervous behavior was her reflecting my own emotions. By slowing down and comforting her, I was simulating what I needed to do for myself to make my doubts and fears go away. I realized that I need to just slow down and take pleasure in what's going on in my life now and not worry about the future. I'm usually pretty optimistic and not much of a planner, so me having stress over my future and what I'm doing has been very stressful and hard on me.
By the end of the session, Jacky was all painted with symbols like arrows and dotted lines to represent different directions I feel pulled in and she was also partly asleep. I also felt much calmer and more at peace after thinking through everything and working with Jacky. I most definitely am going to try this out with other people!
Tuesday, June 17, 2014
adventures in Colorado (typical day on the ranch)
Hey y'all!
So much for weekly posts and updates! I've been pretty busy working on the ranch and doing paper work for school credit and whatnot. Here's just a typical day on the ranch for me!
Almost every morning, I get up and head out to the ranch around eight in the morning. Since I'm staying in the house right next door, I just walk everyday to the fence line and through a gate. I really like that I'm so close because it means I can sleep in just a tiny bit longer!
The first thing to do on the ranch is feed all eighteen of the beautiful, handsome, friendly horses that live there. There are two barns, and a row of run-in sheds with little dirt lots for each. I spend about a half hour throwing hay and feed and saying good morning to each and every horse there.
After everyone gets their breakfast, I go through and fill up all the water tanks to the brim. It's pretty hot out here, but it's almost never humid! I don't miss the hot and humid part of summers in the south! Since it's so dry out here though, the horses go through a lot of water in a day. Sometimes when it's really hot in the morning, I'll hose down the horses' legs as I fill up their water and try to cool them off a bit.
Once all the water is topped off, I turn out any of the horses who have finished eating. Some horses are older and take a little longer to eat, so I keep them in till they are done. The younger horses go out first, and while they are out in their turn outs I clean out their pens/stalls. One different thing about caring for horses in Colorado vs. southern region is that, since its so dry, all you have to muck out is the poop! The urine dries up fast so there's now hauling ammonia-scented wood shavings everywhere. In fact, only a few of the boarders use shavings in their stalls, so mucking out fifteen plus stalls here is faster and easier than mucking out less than ten back home.
After all the horses have been fed and turned out and all the stalls have been cleaned, it's usually around time for a riding lesson to start! So far, I have helped out in leading the horse, side walking, and even instructing for part of a few riding lessons! I was so excited and proud of one rider when I helped her learn how to canter her horse, she laughed and had a huge smile on her face for the rest of the lesson!
In between working at the ranch and working with the different riders, I've also been doing a lot of researching and writing as well. I gave myself the personal goal to educate myself as much as I can about the effects of equine therapies on different disabilities, disorders, and other personal problems. I've really been interested lately in the effects of equine therapy with veterans, specifically those with PTSD. I don't really know much at all about PTSD, so it's been really educational for me personally with all this researching I've been doing. I'm also looking at equine therapy for troubled teens with many different cases of things like abuse or depression. It's a mix of science, psychology, education, and social work which are what I've been studying at school lately!
I haven't been a complete 24/7 barn rat though! I have been into Boulder a few times, as well as a small town called Hygiene. I'll be writing more about my trips around town later!
Stay tuned for more!
Jess
So much for weekly posts and updates! I've been pretty busy working on the ranch and doing paper work for school credit and whatnot. Here's just a typical day on the ranch for me!
Almost every morning, I get up and head out to the ranch around eight in the morning. Since I'm staying in the house right next door, I just walk everyday to the fence line and through a gate. I really like that I'm so close because it means I can sleep in just a tiny bit longer!
The first thing to do on the ranch is feed all eighteen of the beautiful, handsome, friendly horses that live there. There are two barns, and a row of run-in sheds with little dirt lots for each. I spend about a half hour throwing hay and feed and saying good morning to each and every horse there.
After everyone gets their breakfast, I go through and fill up all the water tanks to the brim. It's pretty hot out here, but it's almost never humid! I don't miss the hot and humid part of summers in the south! Since it's so dry out here though, the horses go through a lot of water in a day. Sometimes when it's really hot in the morning, I'll hose down the horses' legs as I fill up their water and try to cool them off a bit.
Once all the water is topped off, I turn out any of the horses who have finished eating. Some horses are older and take a little longer to eat, so I keep them in till they are done. The younger horses go out first, and while they are out in their turn outs I clean out their pens/stalls. One different thing about caring for horses in Colorado vs. southern region is that, since its so dry, all you have to muck out is the poop! The urine dries up fast so there's now hauling ammonia-scented wood shavings everywhere. In fact, only a few of the boarders use shavings in their stalls, so mucking out fifteen plus stalls here is faster and easier than mucking out less than ten back home.
After all the horses have been fed and turned out and all the stalls have been cleaned, it's usually around time for a riding lesson to start! So far, I have helped out in leading the horse, side walking, and even instructing for part of a few riding lessons! I was so excited and proud of one rider when I helped her learn how to canter her horse, she laughed and had a huge smile on her face for the rest of the lesson!
In between working at the ranch and working with the different riders, I've also been doing a lot of researching and writing as well. I gave myself the personal goal to educate myself as much as I can about the effects of equine therapies on different disabilities, disorders, and other personal problems. I've really been interested lately in the effects of equine therapy with veterans, specifically those with PTSD. I don't really know much at all about PTSD, so it's been really educational for me personally with all this researching I've been doing. I'm also looking at equine therapy for troubled teens with many different cases of things like abuse or depression. It's a mix of science, psychology, education, and social work which are what I've been studying at school lately!
I haven't been a complete 24/7 barn rat though! I have been into Boulder a few times, as well as a small town called Hygiene. I'll be writing more about my trips around town later!
Stay tuned for more!
Jess
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