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August 09

Blog has Moved!

PACTH Blog has moved! Click on the link below to go to the blog page and add the button to your own website to share the blog!

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May 25

Phase I!

Hello!

It has been a few days since the blog has been updated! So sorry for that!

Phase I was May 15-19th and was a blast! There were 27 people either going through the training or auditing it for continuing education. There are some pictures below of the week. It was great to meet people, hear their stories of how they began teaching or how their interest in therapeutic riding began. Hearing stories that people have to share is one of my favorite things. Stories not only move us but they connect us.

For those of you who were at Phase I and made new friends or caught up with old friends, please use this blog or facebook as a way of continuing to stay connected and in touch with each other! Utilize this blog as a way of asking questions, not only will you receive an answer from one person but through the beauty of technology you have the ability to connect with a bunch of people! At least one of us has probably faced similar circumstances that you are facing. One thing that Phase I or a form of continuing education does for me, is that it sparks my creativity again. I am energized and full of new ideas after finding inspiration from the people around me. Again, use this blog or facebook as a way of sharing creative ideas with each other!

Here are some pictures from Phase I - thank you to Harvey Smith for taking these!

Phase I instructor candidates and auditors

Billie Burgess and Darby Fritsche during a lesson where Billie is the instructor and Darby is role playing

A View of Wilson College Equestrian Center where Phase I was held

Pam Hayes Houldin riding Toby-O

I also want to take a minutes and Congratulate Pam Hayes-Houldin on receiving an Honorary Doctorate Award from Wilson College. She was granted the degree at Wilson's graduation on Sunday!

If you have any more pictures you would like to contribute, questions, comments, or a story you like to tell about how you became involved in therapeutic horsemanship, please let me know! You can email me at megwestover@gmail.com.

-Megan

5:01 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

May 06

Thursdays are for Training!

Happy Thursday!

As I write, I can look out my window and see that spring is in its fullest, nearing the transition into summer! I love this time of year when everything is all still so new and we relish every single warm day!

We are nearing PACTH Instructor Training! It is just a few weeks away! I am looking forward to meeting/catching up with many of you!

Today I wanted to broach the subject of choosing horses for our programs. This is something that many, if not all of us, at some point have to face. Its especially challenging in a time where the economy isn't in its best state - which means the horse world isn't in its best state. You might have seen the upswing of offered donations to your program - horse's that are looking for a new home. Or quite possibly you might have the ability to purchase horse's fit for your program.

I wanted to leave today as a more discussion formated blog. I want to know what you look for when purchasing or accepting a donation horse, what is the first quality in the horse that you look for? And why this quality?

I think this is a very important aspect in all of our programs because horse's can make or break it. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

-Megan

When commenting, feel free to add a link to your programs website or blog.

1:43 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

April 29

Thursdays are for Training!
Happy Thursday!

Thursday's are going to be specifically about the training that we put into our therapeutic horses. I would like this to be a place where questions can be answered and ideas shared about the training that happens in our programs. The ideas that I share will be coming from the experience that I had at Wilson College and at Horsepower Farm.

I have always found the training that goes into our horses to be fascinating. If you step back from the small picture and see things in a big frame, how you manage to create a horse that is patient, steady, and listening almost all the time is really an amazing feat. There are many different angles on how to create these traits in a horse, almost all horse's are going to have to have you come at it from different angles because they learn in different ways just like people, and the training we put into our horses never stops. We are always teaching our horses something.

One of my favorite horses to work with at Horsepower Farm was this tiny little sorrel mare named Scooter. She was a fantastic horse, one of the most gentle and kind hearted horse's I have ever met. The training that went into this horse though was incredible, before she came to Horsepower she was a top notch reiner that was competing on the circuit. I am using her for an example though because training isn't always something that we can have complete control over us, we use horses who have come with their own past's... and some as we well know, can be difficult in working with. Scooter was such a nice horse first, because she had a heart of gold and secondly, because she had so much training. Before Horsepower Farm used her for therapeutic lessons, she had hours upon hours of training. We had to consider this when she went through the training program at Horsepower Farm, taking into consideration what she had been trained and the way that it had been gone about.

I bring up this point because today I want to encourage you as instructors and trainers to make sure you are taking into consideration where your horse has come from and the previous training it might have. There are many times where I might grow annoyed with a horse because it is doing something I don't want it to when in fact, I am the one unknowingly telling it to do that. Instead of disciplining the horse, I need to take a step back and consider what might had previously been taught to the horse. BUT there are cases where a horse's behavior is unacceptable and must be disciplined right then and there. NEVER comprise your safety, rider's safety, or horse's safety!

A few things to think about in these spring months when our horse's are settling back into their normal working routines and our therapeutic programs are beginning to get very busy.

Think about some of the things your horse does that might seem bad or annoy you. Is there an explanation for this? Is there something in the horse's background that might be causing this behavior?
Think like a horse, learn to feel and sense things in the way that a horse might. Researching horse behavior might help you in this process. Simply observing your horse's in the pasture is another good way of doing this.
If your horse is acting in a not normal way and you are concerned - take a couple days and write down your observations. Sometimes this process allows us to gain new understandings.
Talk to someone else who is a professional in the field. Gain their perspective and advice, its amazing what a set of fresh eyes and ears can do!
Always. always make sure things are safe!

Please leave comments on what you think. Are there other things that need to be taken into consideration when a horse is showing a new behavior that is undesirable? What are problems that you see in your horse that you have a question about? What are some of your own personal experiences?

Thanks for reading! Enjoy the sunny weather!

-Megan

12:15 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

April 26

Meeting Monday!

Today begins the first of what I hope to be lots of introductions all the way around for PACTH. I realize that I haven't fully introduced myself so I am going to start there for this Monday.

As I have said before in my previous posts, I am Megan Giordano (used to be Westover) and I am the blog editor. I first entered the horse world at the age of 6 with my pony Moki. From that time on my love for horses has only grown! I showed Hunters in high school with my little bay mare Nessa (who is now semi-retired as a therapy horse at Horsepower Farm) and a tiny bit of western pleasure with a couple of other horses.

Nessa and I, 2004.

I graduated from Wilson College in the spring of 2008 with a degree in Equine Facilitated Therapeutics and another degree in Religion. My time at Wilson was amazing, I fully enjoyed the life of a college student and the time I spent learning the EFT work was incredible. Right after graduation, as in the day after, I began working for Pam Houldin at Horsepower Farm. I was an instructor, helped with the riding and training, managing while Pam was gone, and really a jack of all trades. It was a great experience and built upon the foundation that had begun at Wilson. My love and passion for teaching therapeutic horsemanship only grew with experience. Horsepower Farm worked with children and adults of many different disabilities. I found that although I loved all the different parts of therapeutic horsemanship, specifically I found that I really enjoyed working with underprivileged children and juvenile delinquents.

In the summer of 2009, I got engaged to my close friend and love of my life, Vince. We got married just a few months ago! Because Vince's job is in Chambersburg, I moved to the Chambersburg area in the winter of 2009. I am currently working on my master's in Mental Health Counseling at Shippensburg University. I am very active in PACTH as you can imagine, I am working on the blog and I sit on the board of directors.

Vince and I, July 2009.

I am passionate about education, that we all continue to grow as instructors, program directors, volunteers, etc. I love to learn and consider myself a forever student. I hope that together as a community, we can encourage each other in growth - through sharing ideas, asking questions, learning from those around us, and all of the many other ways education can take place. I hope this blog to be a source of inspiration, networking, and education. So please, with that said, comment on the blog, facebook me, email me - let me know what you would like to see, questions you would like answered, if you would be willing to have yourself and/or program featured on a Meeting Monday, and comments you might have about the blog!

Hope you all have a great week! Take a minute and find the PACTH fan page on facebook this week!

Megan Giordano

1:05 PM GMT | Read comments(0)

Pennsylvania Council on Therapeutic Horsemanship