Horses Help – Learning Life Skills Through Horsemanship    Horses Help is an innovative community program that enables adults with developmental disabilities to acquire physical, intellectual, and social skills through engagement in horse-related activities. Through “learning by doing” with the wonderful horses at Canyon Creek Farm, participants will learn to care for the animals in such areas as nutrition, stall care, grooming, and exercise and will also learn how these newly practiced skills relate back to their own health and hygiene. Using the horse as a teaching medium, independent living skills will be practiced and learned in an alternative setting that provides adults with an opportunity to feel a sense of responsibility, self-worth, and pride, thus improving their overall life satisfaction and well-being!

HORSES HELP-Learning Life Skills Through Horsemanship!

Program director, Stephanie Mielke, MA, OTR/L is a licensed occupational therapist combining her lifelong passion of horses with her dedication of helping others. She has received Level One Certification for Equine Skills and Treatment Principles in Hippotherapy by the American Hippotherapy Association, the national association that sets the standards of practice for occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language pathologists utilizing horses in their practice. Stephanie is a clinical faculty member at the University of Southern California and is currently completing her final residency towards her clinical doctorate degree in occupational therapy. Together, Stephanie Mielke and Tammy Craven have developed an exceptional program that connects the rescued horses from Canyon Creek Farm with adults with disabilities who are in need of community programming in order to enable them to participate in life’s activities to the best of their ability. By using the powerful connection between horses and humans to teach crucial daily living skills, Stephanie and Canyon Creek Farm aim to show that “Horses Help” to improve health and happiness.

Initially, the location will be at a residential home for adults with developmental disabilities. (We will be bringing 1 or 2 horses to their site). There are 8 such facilities within a 25-mile radius of our ranch. Our hope is to expand CCF in order to house the program on the farm (this will involve HUGE fundraising efforts as the facilities will need to be made handicapped-accesible and NARHA-approved.) For the pilot program, we will be working with up to six individuals (21 to 55 years of age) who meet the developmentally disabled critieria. According to the Department of Developmental Services, the term developmental disability refers to "a severe and chronic disability that is attributable to a mental or physical impairment that begins before an individual reaches adulthood. These disabilities include mental retardation, cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, epilepsy, autism, and disabling conditions closely related to mental retardation or requiring similar treatment." After this pilot program, depending on financial, human, and equine resources, we will be expanding this program to a maximum of 50 individuals. (This would entail hosting the program on multiple days at multiple sites). In the future, with additional therapists, occupational therapy fieldwork students, and volunteers, this program could become very large and prominent...but for now, we want to ensure success by keeping it manageable. Horses helping humans and humans helping horses. For more information on this project, please contact us at Canyon Creek Farm 661-269-2118 Thank you for caring!