Guest House is back on AirBnB!
Our Guest House is available and listed on AirBnB! It is a fun but unpredictable adventure to stay here at Cheyne Ranch! The Guest House is its own private 600 sqft apartment, with one bedroom and one full bathroom. It is a cozy country getaway, clean and fully furnished! You never know what kind of animal antics you will see around here - a family check in today actually - and I’m pretty sure our 7 month old “baby” goats tried to run in the guest house. Those guests can consider themselves official goat wranglers now!
3 minis and a pony
Hello 3 minis and 1 pony. It's so nice to see you all getting along so well. Left to right: Princess Buttercup, Paisley, Nelson, Pearl & Zanina in the background.
Equine Therapy is an outdated term
You know how when we (as a society) learn more about something, we assign more accurate words around that something and collectively (albeit slowly) update our vocabulary and our thinking to reflect this updated understanding? Well... this same thing is happening in the Equine Therapy industry and I am working hard to change my mindset and update my terminology.
In late 2020, twelve of the largest and most highly respected international equine therapy organizations came together and collectively (more or less) published updated terms and recommendations of terms to discontinue. The broad consensus was to move away from the word “therapy” unless the person offering the service is a therapist. As in, a real licensed therapist such as an Physical, Occupational, Speech or Mental Health therapist, who is providing actual therapy according to their scope of practice. There are lots of follow-up paragraphs that go into detail about new recommendations of terms, but the main take-away is, I need to stop using the word “therapy” because I’m not a therapist.
It makes sense, but as much as I appreciate more accurate updated terms, it’s been a bit of a mental hurdle for me personally. When I think of the way I feel being in the barn and being around the animals, the word that comes to mind is “therapy.” Using the phrase to describe the self-care and benefits that arise from time spent doing “Barn Therapy” or “Animal Therapy” or Horse Therapy” is the same to me as when people say "Beach Therapy” or “Retail Therapy” or “<Insert-any-enjoyable-activity-here> Therapy.”
But alas, I am committed to continual learning, growing and aligning my business with professional best practices so using proper, updated terms and educating my own peers and students on this update is what I will strive to do.
In the meantime, if you catch me using the word “therapy” out of proper context, I’m always up for a gentle reminder. And stay tuned for new services we will be providing next year, including Occupational Therapy with horses. As in real, licensed Occupational Therapy from real, licensed OT’s.
Links for fun follow-up reading:
https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/acm.2020.0415
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6917924/
Photo Credit: https://www.pathintl.org/resources-education/education/33-about-path-intl/general/1987-optimal-terminology-faqs
Featured in Seminole County Magazine!
This is awesome! We are featured in the @doorlandonorth Seminole County Tourism blog! And the post is right next to the The Artistic Hand Gallery & Studio owned by Del Seaman , that place is so lovely. Oviedo is the best community
Introducing PALS
Since opening Cheyne Ranch to visitors, the goal has been to offer a place where people of any age, any level of physical, mental and emotional ability, and any level of comfort or experience with animals can spend time here learning and growing in positive, meaningful ways.
It turns out there is an entire burgeoning professional field dedicated to this exact concept! It is called Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) or more broadly, Animal Assisted Activities (AAA). There are a few professional organizations widely recognized for offering certification in this field, and two have granted me admittance to their certification tracks, PATH, intl and The Herd Institute. Both of these certifications should be complete by early next year.
In addition to the professional certifications, I dove deep and found a coach, mentors, read every book and article I could find, joined professional forums, watched videos and put into practice what I was learning in real-time with the willing, kind families who walked this early experiment with me. I brought in knowledge from my college degree in Human Relations, experience from my 18-year career as a medical software analyst & instructor and even my 6-year experience as a homeschooling mom to the Cheyne kids. Combining my life’s work of solving problems in order to teach and motivate others along with my passion for sharing the gift of these animals leads to this ideal service offering.
Finally, I am so excited to offer a Cheyne Ranch pilot program called PALS this fall. PALS is Personalized Animal Learning Sessions and its purpose is to take the well documented benefits of being in the presence of animals – and put some level of structure to that time by working toward specific learning goals. The learning goals primarily fall into 2 categories: 1) life skills or 2) primary education skills. I would love to talk to you more about how we can work toward the learning goal in a straightforward or “sideways” approach. Please join the interest list if you would like to learn more about this service. It has taken me years to arrive here and I can’t wait to start this new chapter of learning with you.
Fall 2021 Programs!
It's almost back to school time here in Seminole County! We are thrilled to wrap up another great summer of summer programs and we are excited about the fall programs! Please check out our website to learn more about how you can be part of our little animal community.
We have great news!! This fall we are offering PALS, which is a personalized animal learning session, and they are an awesome and productive way to spend 1:1 quality time with animals! You can read more about that here:
We also have 3! different nature club meeting times, as well as a few slots for beginner horseback riding lessons w/ Alyssa and of course the best way to spend time with your family is a Family Visit:
To sign up on our interest list, please visit:
We can't wait to see you all soon!
Moving away is hard
I thought I was starting the Cheyne Ranch business for my kids and myself so I could work in my own backyard and share the animals that I love. I had no idea how many people would bring their friendship, kindness and love to us along the way. One of the families that brings us so much joy to us is moving to Michigan today. I'm so happy for them and their new adventure, but so sad for how much we will miss them.