ROAD TRIP to: Horse Sense for Special Riders!



Trail Ride at HSSR



This week we had a change from our normal classroom atmosphere by jumping in the car and going to visit Horse Sense for Special Riders. Click here to view there site and learn more! Anyways, we met with the lead instructor, Chris Gruendeman, who is a Physical Therapist and has been with HorseSense since ~2003. Chris explained to us the services that their facility provides and what some of the benefits of riding horse may include for populations with additional needs. Some of the skills that one might work on at Horse Sense could be, but are not limited to, balance, communication, an increase in self confidence, following directions, motor control, sequencing etc. Their facility has very skilled staff members and can accommodate a wide variety of disabilities and as long as the participants get "OKed" by a doctor. I really enjoyed visiting this facility and would love to volunteer there sometime. I have never assisted with any type of animal therapy and think it would be a great thing to experience!

LifeStriders Therapeutic Riding Center

After researching other therapeutic riding programs in Wisconsin, I discovered that they are few and far between, which means that many people do not have a program that could serve them in their area. Click here to view the therapeutic riding programs offered, according to county, in Wisconsin. I further looked into a program in Waukesha County called LifeStriders Therapeutic Riding Center. Similar to HSSR, LifeStriders is a non-profit organization that " provides life-enhancing, physical and psychological experiences and services to individuals with special needs." I think it is amazing how much horses and therapeutic riding programs have the ability to make such profound change in an individual's life. After being exposed to this type of therapy, I know that it is definitely something that I would like to know more about and experience for myself.

Until next time,

Katie

Handimals

Another interesting week in Innovative Activities, but by this time, I've come to expect nothing less :) This week we were introduced to hand art! The idea with had art is that one uses their hands and arms to make unique creations simply by painting them! Our class was very creative with this project! We had some people go with a Halloween theme, some made animals, and we even had a sea monster! Below you can see a few examples :) Hmmmm can you tell the difference between our class and the pros? :) This would be a great way for people to be able to express themselves in the TR field. It is important, as it always is, to keep in mind the population you are working with this activity. One population that we especially thought you would need be be cautious with would be the elderly becuase they generally have more sensative skin which might not tolerate the paint as easy as others could. We did, however, brainstorm an idea to overcome that obstacle. Since many of the students in our class did not particularly like the feeling of dried paint on their skin, we thought a great way to avoid it would be to wear gloves instead so that the paint does not actually have to come into contact with skin! For other populations, the focus may simply be the sensory feelings associated with the paint and paint brush on their skin or possible increased body awareness. I had so much fun with this activity! It's been awhile since I've been able to "get messy" in class :) I'm getting a much more comprehensive definition of  the word "Innovative" every week!
Until next time,
Katie



Elephant

 


Sea Monster!

 




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Dalmation

Mark Jenkins

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kGkmCeHnVs&feature=related

If you watch the short clip of the video above, you will get a pretty good idea of how the course of our class went last Thursday. Mark Jenkins is an artist who makes sculptures using nothing more than an object, saran wrap and packaging tape! All of the figures in this video were made precisely this way, dress up in some street clothes and put on display throughout the city! Although our class had a lot of fun making our own sculptures, we also had a very meaningful conversation about how this activity could be presented to a variety of populations, for example, corrections, the elderly, persons with psychological disorders etc. Some of the things that we discussed were what goals could be accomplished through this task as well as certain considerations that the facilitator must make prior to the activity to make it more applicable/safe to the specific population. I thought that this was an awesome activity as could definitely be described as INNOVATIVE! It just goes to show you what kinds of amazing things can be done/created with such few resources :) I'm sure that this isn't the last time that I will be making a tape sculpture, and I can't wait to see how I can utilize this project in the future!