Free Rein Equine Assisted Activities

This week at the Dublin Horse show there will a be great representation from the Equine Assisted Activities sector showcasing the many great benefits horses can have for humans therapeutically.

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Working with horses ‘can help to motivate children with additional needs’ A comprehensive register for horse therapy services should be established here, according to one expert in the field.

Everyone had fun today and even Pongo got involved and was playing her role of Police dog very well for the an exciting game of cops and robbers in the fields. As the sessions are person centered, no two session’s are ever the same and one minute there could be a very intricate plot evolving in an imagination game and the next session could be playing a high energy ball game and next we could be just taking a stroll and having a chat. All whilst soaking in the movement, smells and utter beauty of our best equine friends who allow us to be ourselves and freedom to breathe in nature.

And all the while Tristian & Arthur are minding us all ❤️

Seeing this brave mum climb aboard last week was a magical moment. We love to see the family connections that grow from these moments too.
We often get comments & feedback from parents that they find their time here relaxing too. Just being around the horses, the animals & outside in countryside can be such a nice time out from life’s busyness.

Exciting to see Equine Assisted Activities highlighted in the national news recently. Well done Sue and Audrey for providing such a wonderful service for the families in your area 🙌👏

Therapeutic riding session available tomorrow morning due to last minute cancellation. Call 0872193486 for details and booking

This is a seriously impressive show of balance and coordination. This was all her idea too which we love to see. Providing our riders with a safe space to get creative and try out new things is a big part our person centred approach. Its all about taking things at their own pace and just follow their lead. Skys the limit then 🌈

From ribbons to Transformer battle preparation - Jessie you got this

Jessie looking equally beautiful today in her ribbons thanks so much Lucy.

Jessie all dolled out on her day off out partying at the Cork Summer show! Fionn was very proud to tell the judge in the family pony class that she also loved her work as a therapeutic riding pony ❤️
We were thrilled to be supported at the ring side by one of Jessie’s super riders Sophie and her lovely mum Kate (sorru we didn’t get a photo 😞)
And look who we also bumped into too -our fabulous volunteer Isabella and her wonderful assistance dog Gunner who got prizes in the dog show too. Well done guys.
Super day out - thank you Cork summer show organizers and team.

These two have a great bond ❤️

A day for whipping out those shades 😎

Great article. We love to include heavy work in our sessions with activities like lifting poles to set up an obstacle course, pushing the wheelbarrow, poo picking the arena, lifting equipment to name a few. It really helps with regulation whilst having lots of other benefits as shown below.

If you look at the iceberg image above, you’ll notice that the image depicts an iceberg with activity words above the water level. These tasks depict the heavy work actions that we see in action.

Heavy work may include:
Pushing, Pulling, Lifting, Carrying, Chewing, Jumping, Carrying, Squeezing, Climbing, Pinching, Brushing...and Any other actions that use the muscles and joints with weight of the body or object

Under the water level, you’ll notice words and phrases that depict underlying skills. These are the components of heavy work that you might not “see” in action, but they are occurring with and through heavy work.

These are skills that we need for everyday tasks. Heavy work involves these components, and are what makes body awareness and movement happen. These are the skills that contribute to the organizing and regulating capacity of heavy work. The potential of these underlying components to contribute to the effectiveness of heavy work activities.

These underlying components include:
Proprioception
Interoception
Core strength
Coordination
Motor planning
Body awareness
Vestibular input
Core strength and stability of the shoulder girdle
Proximal joint strength and stability (elbow, wrist, etc.)

We like to say that it’s like the chicken and the egg saying. The underlying and contributing factors of heavy work contribute to the heavy work actions and the heavy work actions contribute to the underlying contributing factors.

HOW TO USE HEAVY WORK ACTIVITIES
Now you are ready to use heavy work sensory input...

Some deep pressure work activities require no equipment and very little space. Others may require some props and a bit of space. Select your heavy work activity according to the space and items available to you.

And have a few options available. Each child has a different sensory make up and preference and will respond differently to the heavy work input that you introduce. Fine out more here:
https://www.theottoolbox.com/heavy-work-activities/

Alwena and Arthur relaxing into their treatment with the wonderful Emma Sayers Veterinary Physiotherapy today.
We are so lucky to work with such amazing equine professionals such as Emma. These range from dentists, vets, farriers, chiropractors & physiotherapists to other more holistic practitioners such as Reiki masters , herbalists and animal communicators and healers. We’d be lost without this team around us who travel distances to get to us and give generously with their time. Our ponies & horses mean the world to us and we try to do right by them and read any tiny behavioural or physical changes as their way of communicating something to us and in turn we do our very best to give them what thet need. After all they give us humans so much - we truly owe it to them ❤️

What a lovely morning of…
Pony painting
Dino scavenger hunts
Fairy spotting
Treasure map creating
Exploring the fields
Puppy training
Feeding the ponies
And all under the watchful eye of Mr Sun shining down on us ☀️
Well done to all our riders, ponies, parents and leaders ❤️

What a beautiful day it was yesterday. Perfect for an amble down the fields followed by some impressive horseback archery practice. Happy days ☀️

In today’s session we went for a wander down the fields to say hi to Tristian and he came over for a chat.

Do we need to make a special small stable door for this little fella ?

Anyone else got that good feeling heading into the long weekend? We know someone who has 😊

The sweetest moment captured on camera. This little girl’s love for animals would melt anyone’s hearts ❤️

A new face around the place and no one is happier than Arthur to have another boy for company again (First time since we lost our lovely Jack two years ago😢). Welcome to the team handsome little Tristian.

We got a special visitor on Sunday. Odhran and his dad bought their puppy Obe to meet us. What a little cutie ❤️

Sunday was pony pampering day and Arthur got a lovely bath in the sunshine and dusted off those winter woolies ☀️

What a happy sight! Alwena snoozing in the summer field enjoying the warmer, drier weather with a belly full of nice sweet grass. Rolling out the fly rugs, stocking up on fly spray - bring on the sun we are ready 😎

Great to be back to where it all began …Festina Lente…. catching up with old friends and meeting other equine assisted activity professionals (both human and equine).
Thank you for a super-day team Festine Lente with super presentations, workshops and delicious food.

Caring Capall
EquiSense - Integrated Equine Assisted Services
Festine Lente

In all the windy chaos of storm Kathleen we were busy mucking out stables when we heard the all too familiar cheep from the rafters above. The swallows are back ❤️This always gives us immense joy at this time of the year to see them and always signals the weather must surely be improving (pleaee please🙏).

Great to see the Irish Times featuring Therapeutic Riding.

‘A lot of kids are stuck sitting down at school all day and it doesn’t work for them. It just doesn’t’ Hannah Morgan is a therapeutic riding coach in Festina Lente, Co Wicklow