Hey everyone,

Here's a letter I got recently from one of the boys we work with using our Running with Mustangs curriculum, for working with adjudicated and at-risk youth. All our businesses can use a little testimony about the effectiveness of EAGALA-Model Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, and here's another one!

"Thank you for all your help and support. When I first started at Horse Sense I just wanted to do it because of the horses. Then when ya'll had me start the skill cards, I knew that before I finished I was going to become a better person. I'm surprised by the way I control my anger because I've never been able to control my anger, not even with the anger management classes. I've learned a lot more than I did know about horses since I met you. I really appreciate everything you've done and I will always remember you."

To read more about our Running with Mustangs curriculum, click here!

Happy Trails,

Shannon

Hi everyone!

Well, we just had another graduation of two boys from our Running with Mustangs program this week, and it was amazing. We created this curricula for the Gang Violence Prevention Program of Buncombe County, which is funded by the North Carolina Governor's Crime Commission and is a collaborative effort with several Buncombe County organizations, including the Mediation Center, our non-profit sister organization. Running with Mustangs offers Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, Natural Horsemanship, Vocational Training, and Spoken-Word Poetry for adjudicated and/or incarcerated youth. (Learn more about Running with Mustangs by clicking here.)

The closing/graduation is always a special time, in which the boys' therapists, case workers and other special people from the Youth Development Center come to see what the boys have been working on for the past 8 weeks/16 sessions at the farm. During the graduation, the boys "freestyle" their horse skills with their horse partner, and also read a few of their poems from their Spoken-Word Poetry work aloud. There is rarely a dry eye in the audience, and the whole Horse Sense team gets out to cheer 'em on.

Well, I just got the feedback forms from the boys, which they complete at the end of their treatment, and was blown away by what I read. (We ask all our clients to fill out feedback forms, so we can improve our skills and services.) One of the questions we ask is: What has changed for you since you began coming to Horse Sense? One of the two boys wrote:

"I used to listen to my thoughts; now my thoughts listen to me."

The other young man's feedback form had an equally remarkable comment. When asked what he had learned in his time with Horse Sense, his answer was simple, and profound:

"I am important."

I took these feedback forms from room to room, from desk to stall in the Horse Sense office & barn, reading these amazing sentences to each staff member. Today I'm here at the North American Handicapped Riding Association Conference (NARHA) in Hartford, CT, and I'm sharing those sentiments with attendees as I help out at the Strides to Success booth. I'm telling it to anyone who is interested in the work that we do in this field who will listen.

Why? Because this is what we do it all for. This kind of change and these kind of results justify every single thing we've done as we have struggled to bring Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and Equine Assisted Learning to Western North Carolina. And it's not just us. We as a field of Equine Assisted professionals all over are getting these kinds of results every day.

So these feedback forms are definitely going in my "Undespair" folder, the file I reach for when I'm knee-deep in grants and budgets and I can't quite remember what I'm doing it all for. And I hope it offers you the same inspiration for plugging away.

More power to us all! May the effects of our work and practice continue to ripple...

Shannon Knapp
Horse Sense of the Carolinas, Inc
HorseSenseOtc.com

Hey everyone!

This past week Liza Sapir and I presented at the Animals: Our Allies in Health conference here in Asheville, NC. The event was two days, and brought together professionals from a variety of fields, including DVM's, MD's, PhD's, OTR's and lots of others with many initials after their names!

This educational even explored the links between animals and humans from the perspectives of public health issues, from the risks associated with factory farming, and the role of animals in search and rescue. It also included presentations on "Canine Detection of Critical Health Events", and a wonderful first-person narrative by Mike Lingenfelter on animals in service to human health.

Further, Horse Sense presented specifically on Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and At-Risk Youth (Trailblazers, look for the complete presentation on the forum!) and another presentation on prison programs with dogs. Representatives were there from Delta Society and many other key organizations in Animal Assisted Therapies.

It was also quite an animal-lovers event. There were many service dogs present, and even a chicken (that's a first for me!).

Happy Trails,

Shannon

Hey everyone!

I recently attended the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges annual conference in Norfolk, VA. Entitled "Navigating the Complex Waterways of the Judicial System," I represented both Horse Sense of the Carolinas and EAGALA at the three day conference July 27-30.

At our booth I answered questions from primarily judges from all over the country about this "horse therapy" idea. I was pleased to see that quite a few had heard of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, and several others were interested in how this could help them help the folks who come through their courtrooms. With over 400 attendees, we created awareness of EAP as a viable treatment option for judges in the judicial systems.

There were also many wonderful presentations and events, including "Addressing the Needs of 'At-Risk' Youth Through Community Collaboration," "In School, the Right School, Finish School-Education Issues for Youth in Care," and "A Call for Action: Helping Children and Improving Systems of Care Through Detention Reform".

It was an informative and useful conference. I'll bring you more highlights from it in the coming months, as we delve a little deeper into some of the issues raised at the presentations.

Happy Trails!

Shannon Knapp
Horse Sense of the Carolinas, Inc

Recently I attended (and Horse Sense & EAGALA had a booth at) the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention's National Youth Gang Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia, June 23-26. (Click on logo at right to take you to the OJJDP website to learn more.) It was a wonderfully informative conference, and we had a lot of interest in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and utilizing the EAGALA model for working with court-involved and particularly gang-involved youth!

This conference focused on the range of services for this particular population, from Faith- and Community-Based Organizations to Law Enforcement. I attended many helpful and insightful breakout sessions with new ideas for prevention and intervention, both areas that Horse Sense is involved in in our own community.

Of particular interest to me was a presentation called "Community-Based Gang Prevention, Intervention and Suppression and Re-Entry", given by the Gang Reduction and Intervention Program (GRIP) of Richmond, VA. Quite similar in description to the Gang Violence Prevention Program in Buncombe Co, NC, which Horse Sense is a part of (now funded by the Govenor's Crime Commission), the GRIP program was launched in 2003 and has really leveraged the idea of partnership and community-based intervention. Among the folks from the GRIP program presenting were representatives from the Office of the Attorney General for Richmond, VA, the Richmond Police Department and various GRIP outreach workers.

There are various ways EAP/EAL programs can work with gang programs in their community. Prevention would include events to engage kids before they become involved with gangs. Intervention would include programs like Horse Sense's Running with Mustangs, providing counseling, skillbuilding and vocational support for kids already involved in gangs. Re-entry is another area where EAP/EAL is an appropriate consideration. (Suppression, however, is primarily a police/enforcement level of engagement.)

Howdy everyone!

Today Lisa and I spent the day in Morganton, NC attending the North Carolina Gang Investigators Association's Gang Awareness Symposium, and all-day event designed to educate about gang and gang activity in our state.

As many of you may know, we are active in serving gang-involved and youth at-risk of gang-involvement in Western North Carolina, and events like this keep us informed and aware of new trends and developments that affect us and the kids we serve.

Today's symposium had an Overview of Gangs in North Carolina and, although no one would really expect North Carolina to rate high on such a scale, there are over 550 gangs across 62 counties in our state. Pretty surprising numbers, wouldn't you think?

Also part of the day was a presentation on Psychology Behind Gangs, along with a presentation by Gang of One(tm), a Charlotte-based program that offers a variety of services, such as prevention, intervention, suppression and reentry of former "gang-bangers" back into society. It's a large collaborative effort that is well worth a look!

Like the many programs involved in Gang of One (tm), Horse Sense of the Carolinas is part of a larger collaborative effort in our own Buncombe County called the Gang Violence Prevention Program, begun in 2006. Our Running With Mustangs curriculum is the culmination of our five years of work in the field with adjudicated and incarcerated youth.

To learn more about gangs and possible gang activity in your area, visit this website called Helping Gang Youth. While there, be sure to download the National Youth Gang Survey 1996-2000. Although a bit outdated, it's still a great reference. Or, contact your local police department and ask if they have any upcoming trainings or educational presentations about gangs in your community!

All the best,

Hey everyone!

Well, another group of boys from the Youth Development Center (YDC) here in Western North Carolina (WNC) are about to graduate from our Running with Mustangs program. We are always sad to see them go!

From rather simple beginnings and with the collaboration and efforts of the YDC, our Running With Mustangs program is the counseling and vocational element of the multi-agency Gang Violence Prevention Program in Buncombe County. Running with Mustangs has grown into one of the cornerstones of the programming at Horse Sense of the Carolinas, and we really feel that others are looking to us as leaders in the field of innovative treatment of this specialized population.

As those of you who have attended our trainings know, we're passionate about adjudicated youth, and we're honored and grateful to be able to provide such an effective intervention.

Running with Mustangs, our curriculum for working specifically with incarcerated youth, is comprised of four components:

• Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP)
  
• Natural Horsemanship
• Vocational
• POETIX

We always begin with EAGALA-model EAP, and then progress into Natural Horsemanship. The Vocational and the POETIX components run concurrently with the EAP & Natural Horsemanship.

Today the boys prepared for their graduation ceremonies, in which they will perform some of their spoken-word poetry, and also demonstrate "freestyle" some of the skills they've learned playing with horses. The confidence and satisfaction in their eyes always fills us with gratitude.

As soon as we incorporate these boys' poetry into our Mane Lines book, we'll make them available for you to buy. All proceeds from the Mane Lines goes to support the Horse Sense Scholarship Program.

All the best as we continue to make a difference, together!

Click here to learn more about our Running with Mustangs program.

Hey guys!

Just getting back in from the 3rd Annual Youth Violence Prevention Conference in Charlotte, NC, which took place today, March 25th. There were some wonderful presentations on a variety of topics. The focus of the conference was "Girls Gone Wild: The Rising Tide of Violence in Young Females."

Among our keynote speakers was Dr. Deborah Prothrow-Stith, a nationally recognized public health leader and author of Sugar & Spice and No Longer Nice: How We Can Stop Girls' Violence and Murder is No Accident: Understanding and Preventing Youth Violence in America. It was an honor to hear her speak about the topic, and I'd like to draw attention to a few of her key points.

She talked about there being 3 Waves of Youth Violence in the United States, pointing to the First Wave of young male violence in urban poor neighborhoods, such as in Chicago, New York and other big cities. We're all familiar with that wave. The Second Wave is the one characterized by the suburban, rural, smaller-town feel, such as Columbine. The Third Wave she points to is with girls and young women, the topic of today's conference. (She hinted at her thoughts toward a Fourth Wave, that of much younger children and violence.)

Perhaps the most interesting idea was revealed when she spoke about the Risk Factors that foster youth violence. They include:

• Poverty
  
• Access to Guns
• Alcohol/Drug Use
• Biological/Organic Abnormalities
• Culture of Violence

The first 4 risk factors are equally evident for both boys and girls (girls and boys have similar rates of poverty, similar access to guns, etc.). She pointed to the last one as on the rise for girls, that our society is now actively "marketing violence to girls," a la Zena the Warrior Princess and such. While violence has always been marketing to some degree to boys, it's now being "sold" to girls more and more. I'm intrigued by this idea, and find merit in it.

If you have a chance to look at her work, I think you'll find it illuminating. And she was just one speaker among many for the day!

All the best,

Shannon