Update on fall programs
Newsletter to families on interest list:
Hello parents! I appreciate your patience while I work my way down the interest list for our fall programs at Cheyne Ranch! To offer some efficiency, this post will attempt to answer frequently asked questions and provide the web links for online registration and payment.
I love our unique outdoor barn and animal learning programs. There is SO MUCH learning to happen when in the barn, around the animals, feeding, cleaning, caring for them, repairing stuff they break, learning countless life skills along the way.
Nature Club is a 3 hour small group weekly session, with 3 different times to choose from.
Mondays 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM (homeschool) - 4 openings
Wednesdays 3:00 PM - 6:00 PM (afterschool) - 3 openings
Fridays 9:30 AM - 12:30 PM (homeschool) - FULL
$35 each week or prepay $180 for 6 sessions (15% discount)
Register online here or contact me ASAP for any questions so we can get you registered
PALS is an individual or sibling session, customized for your child(ren), but primarily working through the same set of 300+ nature skills we use as our foundation and structure for Nature Club. I am the leader / facilitator for these sessions and these sessions (along with Nature Club) are my passion
New service, so 10+ openings each week
Can schedule weekly or every other week
$35 each week or prepay $180 for 6 sessions (15% discount)
Online registration is not yet available, but contact me and I will schedule you.
See dates and times in attached photo, or visit this link
Family Visits a 90 minute experience for your family or small group. We will meet and experience hands-on learning with our chickens, miniature horses, big horses, goats and bunnies. At the end of the experience we bring out a horse, learn and practice brushing / grooming the horse, and kids 180 lbs and under can ride on the horse as we take a short nature walk together.
Offered at select times on Sundays, Thursdays and Saturdays
$40 for the first 1 - 2 kids, $20 each additional kid.
Some families come a few times a year, some families come a few times a month!
Yoga what? oh yes! This amazing human named Ms. Sarah is coming to Cheyne Ranch! To teach yoga! for everyone (beginners like me!!)
Mondays 8:45 AM - 9:30 AM
$10 for the first family member, a donation of (you choose) amount for the rest of the family members.
I'm really excited about this!
Currently, we are completely full for horseback riding lesson spots. And the waitlist has over 30+ interested families. Alyssa is absolutely amazing and I am (seriously) on the waiting list for lessons from her as well. We are going to blink and her young children are going to be old enough for her to teach a lot more often, so I am trying to not wish the time away too quickly. As the mom of 4! teenagers, I know how fast this will fly, for all of us. A few ideas while we wait on the waitlist:
Sign up for Cheyne Ranch programs such as PALS, Nature Clubs, or Family Visits to spend time outdoors learning in nature - so much to learn with our feet on the ground.
Take a look at other amazing horseback riding trainers in our local area - these are 3 professional, safe and knowledgeable women I love and respect. I have made a web page for this (of course I did).
Enjoy some other local nature themed activities. I made a web page for that too: Local Outdoor Fun
Reading to the Animals, Birthday Parties, Kids Night Out & other events:
There is so much fun stuff planned here! Watch our social media pages for more details.
9/10/2021: Friday evening, Kids Night Out! Who cares if the Parents go out it is really all about the kids having fun for an evening @ Cheyne Ranch! We are going to do a mixed media craft, and hang with the animals. I really really want to have s'mores.
9/18/2021: Saturday morning, a really fun event planned called Reading to the Animals (or hopefully we will come up with a better name)
Birthday parties are super fun! We only do 1 each weekend so reserve early.
If you made it this far, thank you for reading! Please text me so we can set up a time to talk if you have questions.
Sally Ann Cheyne
Owner, Cheyne Ranch
Located in Oviedo, FL
Call / Text: (407) 680-3348
Website: www.CheyneRanch.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CheyneRanch
email: CheyneRanch@gmail.com
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!
