Updated 7/9/2018: the following is focused on using What, How, Why, and Where to teach the Skill of your lesson – it’s a nice “additional info” post to the Teaching the Skill post. There is also the Teaching Techniques: Hows & Whys post about using those as a teaching technique throughout your lesson. It’s very similar, but this post … Continue reading
Radio Interview: A Struggle with PTSD
Today I heard a wonderful interview on NPR’s Fresh Air giving insight to PTSD and current treatments. They interview David Morris about his book “The Evil Hours” and experiences it is based on. He was a journalist embedded with troops in Iraq, and almost died when his Humvee ran over a roadside bomb. His book … Continue reading
The Impact of Horse Movement and Handling on the Rider
The following notes are from the 2014 PATH Intl Conference seminar “The Effects of Equine Handling on the Biomechanics of Mounted Human Subjects” given by Celia Bower, PT, HPCS, and Margo Dewkett, Master Instructor, of Windridge Therapeutic Equestrian Center of East TX, who has been utilizing hippotherapy for 10 years active in researching efforts to validate equine movement … Continue reading
Teaching Your First Therapeutic Riding Lesson
This topic is for Instructors in Training who are preparing to teach their first Therapeutic Riding Lesson. My first lessons were chaos because I had no idea what I was doing, so I want to share some ideas with you to make your first experience a good one! While teaching your first lesson is a … Continue reading
Teaching Tips: Social Stories
Social Stories What A “Social Story” is a story used to model appropriate social interaction by describing a situation with relevant social cues, other’s perspectives, and a suggested appropriate response. Why Helps teach students routines, expectations, and behavioral standards in an alternative format (story, visual, etc.) Can be personalized to individual behavioral intervention Particularly helpful/popular … Continue reading
2014 State of the Blog Report
Belated Happy New Year! One of my favorite part of New Years is the “Annual Report” WordPress sends me about this blog, because I love seeing all the different places people read from. It’s encouraging to know that even thought this planet is so big and often hard to live on, there are other people all over … Continue reading
Adaptations and Teaching Techniques for Riders with Severe Disabilities, Part 6: Example Riders, Cont.
Adaptations and Teaching Techniques for Riders with Severe Disabilities, Part 6: Example Riders, Cont. Rider #3 Rider Info Age: 9 Gender: Male Diagnosis: Mitochondrial Ecephalmyopathy Mitochondrial Ecephalmyopathy is a condition caused by mutations in the genes in mitochondrial DNA, affecting the brain and nervous system (“encephalo”) and muscles (“myopathy”). It can cause muscle weakness, exercise intolerance, hearing loss, … Continue reading
Adaptations and Teaching Techniques for Riders with Severe Disabilities, Part 5: Example Riders
Adaptations and Teaching Techniques for Riders with Severe Disabilities, Part 5: Example Riders Rider #1 Much thanks to my coworker Annie Cornette from PALS for writing the following about one of our riders with whom she has had much success. Rider Info Age: 13 Gender: Female Diagnosis: Cerebral Palsy (spastic) Additional details/conditions: increased spasticity in the lower and … Continue reading
Adaptations and Teaching Techniques for Riders with Severe Disabilities, Part 4: Skills & Activities
Adaptations and Teaching Techniques for Riders with Severe Disabilities, Part 4: Skills & Activities So far I have given notes on the physical and cognitive challenges of severely disabled riders, and the adaptations and support you can use to help teach them how to ride. Now we will discuss the actual riding skills to teach … Continue reading
Adaptations and Teaching Techniques for Riders with Severe Disabilities, Part 3: Cognitive Challenges
Adaptations and Teaching Techniques for Riders with Severe Disabilities, Part 3: Cognitive Challenges As an instructor the first thing you should address is the physical postural challenges of a rider, because only when they are in good posture can they correctly apply the aids. However, posture is impacted by both the rider’s physical condition as … Continue reading