Meet Emily! Her mom, Erin, shares their family’s story including how much HETRA has helped Emily on her journey to gaining confidence while working on strength, flexibility and cognitive healing.  Support Team Emily with her Drive to Ride campaign here:https://www.classy.org/team/380285

Ed Armstrong is the Coordinator of Adaptive Sports and Recreation at QLI here in Omaha. Today we discuss the importance of recreation and alternative therapies.  HETRA and QLI have partnered several times to help people get back to riding or start to enjoy riding after a life changing injury or accident.  Together Ed and I discuss the emotional journey that rehabilitation can be and the importance of getting back to things that make you feel good again no matter what it is!  Even riding an Equicizer with virtual reality goggles!

Learn more about QLI here: www.https://teamqli.com/

Help us work toward our mission with a donation: https://www.classy.org/give/168754/#!/donation/checkout

This episode is sponsored in part by Equi-Force. Find out more at www. equi-force.org

This episode is also sponsored in part by Equicizer. Find out more at www.equicizer.com

Meet Dash! His mom Clare, shares the great progress Dash has made in the arena and how they see that progress help him at home.  Dash guest stars in this episode too, listen to hear his favorite things about HETRA!

Support Team Dash with his Drive to Ride campaign here: https://www.classy.org/team/376029

This is a special edition of the Not Just a Pony Ride Podcast: Tales from the Rail. These are short stories told by those that watch from the rail as their participants climb into the saddle and ride out to reach their goals.  Together with their equine partners, our participants are accomplishing amazing things both in the arena and out and we are here to share their stories.

Let’s talk research!  In this episode we are joined by Anastasia Kyvelidou, PhD, an Assistant Professor in the Physical Therapy Department at Creighton University. Together we talk about the exciting research project happening at HETRA, studying the effectiveness of hippotherapy in children with autism spectrum disorder.  We also discuss the importance of research as a whole for our industry and what it takes to put together a great project.

Dr. Kyvelidou graduated from the University of Nebraska Medical Center with her doctorate from the Medical Sciences Interdepartmental Area (MSIA) with a focus in pediatrics. She has completed two post-doctoral fellowships at Northeastern University in Boston and in the Biomechanics Department at the University of Nebraska Omaha, where she was also an assistant professor.  Dr. Kyvelidou‘s research focuses on neuro-developmental disabilities during infancy and childhood.  Her most recently funded projects aim to discover motor and perceptual signatures of autism in the first year of life as well as to understand the mechanisms of effectiveness of hippotherapy in children with autism spectrum disorders.

Help us work toward our mission with a donation: https://www.classy.org/give/168754/#!/donation/checkout

This episode is sponsored in part by Equi-Force. Find out more at www. equi-force.org

This episode is also sponsored in part by Equicizer. Find out more at www.equicizer.com

This is a special edition of the Not Just a Pony Ride Podcast, a short story series: Tales from the Rail. Meet Nikola!  His mom, Alexie shares his progress and funny things they appreciate about their time at HETRA.  “As he gets older especially it's so important for him to experience therapy in a fun way. He has lots of challenges in life and this is something special for him.”

Support Team Nikola with his Drive to Ride campaign here: https://www.classy.org/team/376025

Events, campaigns, grants, sponsorships, donors… there are so many ways to fund your mission! How do you choose what is best for you center?  Edye Godden, CEO of HETRA and Angie Connell, Development Director at HETRA discuss the pro’s and con’s of each including how we use the different sectors of funding to ensure a good foundation for our organization.

Find out more about our consulting services at www.hetrauniversity.org

Help us work toward our mission with a donation: https://www.classy.org/give/168754/#!/donation/checkout

This episode is sponsored in part by Equi-Force. Find out more at www. equi-force.org

This episode is also sponsored in part by Equicizer. Find out more at www.equicizer.com

What an honor it is to have Amberley on our show, if you know rodeo then odds are you know this wonderful woman!  In this episode, the cool and confident Amberley Snyder shares her story with us and how she has learned to advocate for herself and others along her journey.  Learn more about Amberley and reach out to her on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @AmberleySnyder

Amberley was born in California as the second to six children. Amberley fell in love with horses at a young age and began barrel racing when her family moved to Utah at the age of 7. She competed in junior rodeos and up into high school, winning multiple titles and awards. Her senior year she finished as the National Little Britches World All-Around Cowgirl. Amberley was also serving as the Utah FFA State President in 2009. In January of 2010, Amberley was involved in a rollover truck accident, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down. Eighteen months after that day, with a seatbelt on her saddle, she returned to competing in rodeo. She now competes in the Women's Professional Rodeo Association in barrel racing. Amberley has earned her place competing amongst professional barrel racers and has won multiple awards with the Cowboy and Cowgirl Hall of Fames. In 2018, Netflix released a movie based on her life titled Walk Ride Rodeo where Amberley was able to be her own stunt double for the film. Amberley shares her story of triumph over tragedy hoping she can motivate others to believe in themselves and get back on the horse.

Help us work toward our mission with a donation: https://www.classy.org/give/168754/#!/donation/checkout

This episode is sponsored in part by Equi-Force. Find out more at www. equi-force.org

This episode is also sponsored in part by Equicizer. Find out more at www.equicizer.com

Why are horses such good therapy partners? Several reasons, but this episode focuses primarily on horse movement and how it impacts the rider. As therapists and instructors, we don’t just pick a random horse! We consider movement, conformation and several other factors when selecting a partner for our riders.  Listen to hear Edye Godden, OTR/L, Clinical Specialist in Hippotherapy, CTRI and Shelby Winnail, HETRA’s Equine Operations Manager, CTRI, discuss a horse that has lateral movement, and how we use that movement to facilitate different goals in our riders.  To see video content that Shelby and Edye refer to in this episode, go over to the new ‘Not Just a Pony Ride’ private group on Facebook or watch the full-length “Why Horses webinar”.

Find the full length “Why Horses” webinar and other webinars mentioned in this episode here:  https://hetra.org/programs/hetra-university/register-for-webinars.html

Consulting Services free 15-minute consultation:  https://www.tfaforms.com/4890916

To see video content from today’s episode on the Not Just a Pony Ride Private Facebook group:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/notjustaponyride

Help us work toward our mission with a donation: https://www.classy.org/give/168754/#!/donation/checkout

This episode is sponsored in part by Equi-Force. Find out more at www. equi-force.org

This episode is also sponsored in part by Equicizer. Find out more at www.equicizer.com

Megan is an active duty military member and a mother to 3 beautiful children.  After experiencing the sudden loss of her son, Megan found herself at HETRA looking for peace. In this episode, Megan shares with us how horses have impacted her life and how she continues to grow with their help.  Kelli Hatzenbueler, mental health therapist, is also here to discuss the types of programming they did together and exactly how she saw Megan grow during her time with us.

Learn more about the type of program Megan participated in with Kelli’s webinar, “Wellness Coaching in the Equine Environment”. Find it here:   https://hetra.org/programs/hetra-university/register-for-webinars.html

Help us work toward our mission with a donation: https://www.classy.org/give/168754/#!/donation/checkout

This episode is sponsored in part by Equi-Force. Find out more at www. equi-force.org

This episode is also sponsored in part by Equicizer. Find out more at www.equicizer.com

Lauren Taylor grew up around horses. She competed in all three rings as a junior, eventually accepting a working student position in Ireland with Cian O’Connor as a 17-year-old. When that barn closed, she came back to America, where she landed a working student position in Wellington, Florida, with Tori Colvin for the winter beginning her last junior year.  She continued training her horse, Speechless, under the watchful eye of Brigid Colvin.

Following the winter circuit, Lauren obtained a job working for the Ingrams. She worked there for one year before being kicked in the head while hand-grazing one of her boss’s horses. The accident happened while in Aiken, South Carolina, on 5/12/19.  Lauren suffered a severe traumatic brain injury, collapsed lung, and broken nose and skull. She spent her first 12 days post-accident in a level-one trauma center in Augusta, Georgia. Her chance of survival was less than 7% with a less-than-1% possibility of enjoying any quality of life.  Lauren was completely unconscious and then minimally conscious for almost three months. She lived off of a ventilator, tracheostomy, and feeding tube during that time. She spent six months in acute care in Atlanta, Georgia, followed by six additional months in the post-acute setting in Omaha, Nebraska. Every aspect of Lauren’s brain was damaged, thereby affecting her speech, vision, balance, perceptions, memory, and the ability to reason and process emotions.

Although many doctors and therapists told Lauren that her ambition of walking again without a device was not realistic, she refused to give up. Today, Lauren jokes that she is not a “good mover,” but is now “serviceably sound.”

See what Lauren is up to now here:  https://www.ksdk.com/article/life/heartwarming/st-louis-woman-recovery-brain-injury/63-54af9df5-335e-40a5-bd9a-cdbd3009d4fd

Help HETRA work toward our mission, helping others like Lauren with a donation:  https://www.classy.org/give/168754/#!/donation/checkout