peteyfoozer
Lovin' The Homestead
I had a love for horses ever since I was a kid. I lived in the #1 drug center in the country as a kid, but my activities with horses kept me out of that mess. Boys and everything else took a back seat to my riding. I spent every free minute with them and trained show horses and riders for 30 years. Then I learned about NARHA and opened an Equine Assisted Therapy Center. We were able to treat over 66 different types of disabilities including, CP, MS, Autism, Spina Bifida, Stroke, ADHD and others. There are almost no limits to what a horse can do for people, especially for people with special needs. It is a therapy platform that is extremely successful and cannot be reproduced in conventional settings. THere has been great success in treating kids and adults with both physical, emotional and psychological challenges. I even rehabilitated myself after a couple of bad accidents by riding, and now it is the only way to keep my muscles strong and my joints moveable due to RA, as it allows me to use the muscles without impact to the joints. I had to use a wheelchair to get through shopping two years ago due to pain and lack of strength. I had quit riding a few years earlier. I started again and now I am independently walking. I also live on a working cattle ranch so they are therapy, recreation and working partners. Amazing animal, the horse!