Wow, ya'll, the semester is almost over and our projects are coming to a close.  This project has flown by! Over the semester I have had the opportunity to work with all different kinds of children, while being able to teach them about horses, it has been a dream.  I have helped with the Open House by baking some cookies for the day, and trying my hand at photography.  I have done some research on our databases for the Red Barn to add to their library, and I have been able to help some with the Christmas Fundraiser! To give you some information about the fundraiser, it will be at The Good People Brewery on December 6th from 6:00-8:00. We will be selling the rider's original artwork, and donations are always accepted.  It should be a fun night with friends, music, and great food. Everyone is welcome to attend!

Working with and meeting everyone at The Red Barn has been wonderful, and everyone has been so welcoming and helpful.  The children and the parents are so wonderful to talk with and learn from, and the horses are top notch.  One day, if my schedule allows, I would love to become a certified instructor and be able to teach children this way myself.  I have learned so much from my time at The Red Barn, and it will be an experience I never forget! Hope to see you all at the fundraiser! 

Things at The Red Barn have been going so smoothly lately.  We have been full of lesson's every day that I have been there and it has been so great! Also, we have begun planning for the Christmas Fundraiser, which hopefully will be held at Good People Brewing Company, or if that doesn't work out we will have it at Avondale Brewing Company.  Also, at the event we will be selling some of the kid's individual artwork and accepting donations.  We are trying to appeal, not only to those who consistently support The Red Barn, but also to the young people of Birmingham who may just want to come to our event for a fun night on the town!  I am really excited about this fundraiser, I think that it will be really fun and hopefully raise a lot of money for our cause!

The Open House!!

Our Open House was Saturday October 12th, and I just wanted to post some of the photo's I took from that day!

We had "Sweet Tea" the clown come play with us! 

Learning to Lasso was a blast! 

Our live pianist! He was awesome!! 

A picture from one of the horse demonstrations!

Another picture from one of the horse demonstrations!

We even had some real scottish dancer's...

... and plenty of other games for the kids!! 

Also, a Folk artist came to do art with the kids

Take the Reigns

So... Joy, Joe, and I finally all got to talk about possibly getting Three Hots and a Cot to come out to The Red Barn and participate in the Take the Reigns program (See my second blog post for more on that)!  Joy was very excited to hear that there was a group of people who wanted to participate in the program.  So far, the plan is to have a "pilot" encounter, with about three men from Three Hots and a Cot and some of our horses.  After that we will talk to the men who participated and see what they would like to change about the program and what they liked. After that we are hoping that it may potentially become a regular thing!

Some other things that have happened at the barn is that we have gotten 3 new horses! One is a Saddlebred and quarter horse mix, another is a pony, and the last one is a miniature pony (I'm not sure their exact breed).  This picture is from tonight when we were bringing all of the horses in.  Topper (left) and JJ (right) are the pony and miniature pony.  They are great with the kids and Topper is perfect under saddle! It is so cute to see a little kid riding him, they are the perfect size!

Well, I'll be sure to keep everyone updated on the the status of the Veterans project!

Last night at The Red Barn was amazing.  It was the first time I got to see measurable improvement in a student.  I have heard awesome stories, and seen many students at the beginning of their time at The Red Barn, but last night I got to experience it for myself.  One child, I have really gotten to know and be with consistently, made vast improvements last night.  Its always one thing to know something works, and believe in a program, but its another when you get to see change and be a part of it.   Seeing positive change in a child that has been through so much is something that makes me sure that I am in the right field of work.  I've always known  what I loved to do, and what I was passionate about, but I had no idea how to get a "big girl job" doing it.  I mean, I could not be a camp counselor forever, but nursing has given me that same ability to make a difference and be a positive influence on children when there are so many negative influences out there.  Here is a video of some of the ways The Red Barn utilizes horses for therapy in kids!

On another note, this weekend is the Open House at The Red Barn from 2-4.  I'll be out there all day Saturday and can't wait to meet more of the students and people who are interested in working with The Red Barn! At the Open House we are having treats and snacks, hot chocolate and coffee, live music, a horse skills demonstration, a dance demonstration, a clown visit, and a folk artist to do an art project with the kids.  So far it sounds like it is going to be a great day,  and I can't wait to tell you all how it went!

So, I have exciting news!! Joe and I are going to try and get PUBLISHED! We are just in the planning stages now, but we are going to do a paper on how to use Equine Therapy with Veterans.  Everyone involved seems to be really excited, and since there isn't a lot of information on this specific topic I think it will be well received.  I would love to one day expand on this topic and do a research study on this, but that has to be approved by IRB so we cannot go that in depth just yet.  This week I will be doing a lot more research on the topic and meeting with a librarian to find more articles.  I can't wait to really dive into this exciting opportunity!!

This week was at the Red Barn was interesting.  It was the first time I had seen a therapeutic riding lesson that didn't go perfectly.  It was very interesting to see how even that got turned into a teaching moment and how important it is to have other things around the barn that can stimulate the kids. The lesson had to adapt to the situation, but I think it ended up being a good thing because it seemed like more counseling than usual happened.  We are still in the throws of planning the Open House, but it seems to be coming together nicely! The music is booked, a folk artist is doing a craft with the kids, we are figuring out how we will be doing tours, and we've decided to just have some snacks and drinks since it will be from 2-4. (photo from theredbarn.org)