Career in Therapy?

[Carly Rae]

Hi,

I have seen people have Therapy Miniature horses and they travel around and bring joy into peoples lives.

I'd love to have one of my miniatures to be a Therapy mini, for people who have disabilities, children with disabilities, Hospitals, Ageing homes, Day cares ect. My minis are so gentle and love cuddles and attention, I love making people happy with my miniatures, for example,

Last weekend I took my 15 yo mare into town just for a walk (I live In a small town) and every time someone would pass Willow would bring a smile to their face. We stopped at the little corner shop/fuel station and a mother bought her little girl up for a pat and the little girl was over the moon just to have a pat from Willow she has the biggest smile on her face and I could tell it made her day better. On our way home from the park a car passed with a person with Down's syndrome, as soon as he saw Willow he sat up higher so he could see and his smile just melted my heart.

So these two people that I saw had inspired me to share the love of my miniatures to more people, and make them happy.

I am still only 15 - 16 in February next year so I want to study in something that will help me, If anyone has any suggestions of what I should study I would highly appreciate it

I would love to do this as my career, and If anyone has anything or anyone that could help me with this or just any tips or information it would be great also does the mini have to pass any tests to get a certificate in therapy? , I have only just thought of this with my 22 year old sister as we were talking about what I should be. So i still have to look further, I could contact the USQ, University of Southern Queensland to help me, we just had careers day at my school and USQ is willing to help anyone

Should I try that?

Thanks!!

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

As a career you will need to be in equine related job and have t as a side line. Unfortunately it's not a money maker as most sessions are free or voluntary. Start doing an equine course or look around for a yard job. Insurance for therapy horses is very expensive due to the nature of the people they generally meet (I'm talking maybe 2-3 thousand dollars)

 

[Carly Rae]

Thank you, just after I posted this I found information. It is a shame, I was really looking forward to it too guess I'll have to keep looking for a career path

 

[paintponylvr]

Carly-Rae -

Here in the USA, there are Therapists that work with horses (especially minis) w/i their practices. The sessions ARE NOT in-expensive! Some of them will take their horses into an office setting, others do their Therapy work from an office in their home w/ the mini/horses in the yard/barn right off the office or have an office in the barn.

Since I've never done an "assisted" therapy session, I'm not sure how exactly it works. But I do know that the Therapists are licensed - think that would be in the psychological fields? There are also quite a number of therapists who are now involved w/ horses and Veterans who have PTSD. And of course, there are the ones who work with handicapped folk... Look into NARHA and REINS or even equine Assisted therapy. Also, check out physical therapy.

Our 3 daughters volunteered at a local Therapeutic Riding Center. It was a very small one - but they worked with kids (and a couple of adults) with the horses. They sat on the horses, "painted" the horses, did "basketball" and "sword fighting" from horseback (pool noodles and nerf balls), petted the pot-bellied pig - etc. The funding was dropped for this particular program and it was shut down. The woman who owned the farm, the equipment and horses had to sell most of it (kept her property/house).

Not long after that, our middle daughter got a back injury while we were clearing some property (a tree broke & part of it fell on her, crushing her to the ground before then rolling over her shoulders and head & off). After surgery & months of physical therapy, we went to St Andrews University - (hope this link is ok) where she was able to take rehabilitative/therapeutic riding lessons to get back into riding herself. She competed only one more time before going on to college herself. I'm thankful that that program was there - I think that her/our lives COULD have been vastly different w/o that! Madira had just turned 16 then - she is now 22 and is in her own last year of college at Meredith College. Over Spring break next Feb, she plans on going to Scotland and is hoping to return there to work in Theaters - production support/costuming design after she graduates (guess I'm a "bad" parent, I can never remember the name of her degree programs - major in one, minors in two) ...

You might check into that. I have no idea how the insurance works for these situations and I don't know if this would work in the country you are in.

 

[Barefootin]

I was the program director for our Therapeutic riding center. We worked with each individuals Doctors and Therapists and often had a licensed physical therapist or therapist assistant volunteering during sessions. Sessions were not cheap but neither was our overhead. It is wonderful to bring joy to these people but that is really just the tip of the iceberg. What we did was incredibly hard work both physically and emotionally. Very different from Nursing home visits and such. Here in the States, I know that to do nursing home visits, hospital visits, etc. the horses have to be certified therapy animals. And those visits are often on a volunteer basis so no money just good Karma.

 

[Carly Rae]

Thanks for the replies everyone, even If it is only volunteer work i'd still love to do it

Maybe when I am older and I can pay all those things Ill look more into it then

 

[FurstPlaceMiniatures]

Here's the wonderful advice I got when I was a teen looking into a job with horses - don't do it. Instead, shoot for a job where you make some serious money and have a flexible schedule so you can enjoy your horses as a hobby that breaks even on a good year on the side.

I listened. I manage a large dairy farm. I work a lot of hours, but generally speaking I am done by 4:30 every day (don't even ask what time I start though!). I make very very good money for someone my age, and therefore can afford 2 of my own horses - a mini stud and a pony mare. I make my own schedule, and my work for the most part doesn't need to be done at a specific time, just done well. For example, when I had a pony that was very sick, I could take an extra hour for lunch and just stay an hour later, or go in an hour early the next morning.

I'm not telling you not to do miniature horse therapy - it's a GREAT thing but you probably aren't going to get rich doing it.

 

[Max's Mom]

I think that you're at a great point in your life for exploring all kinds of possibilities and discovering your interests. Your interests may or may not lead to a job or career, but they are worth exploring and enjoying just for their own sake. In the few posts I've read from you, it sounds like you love your horses and doing things with them, that you love to learn and find out new things, and you get a lot of pleasure in making other people smile and feel happy. Keep discovering what you are good at and what brings you joy, and that will lead you down a good path! I wouldn't necessarily dismiss things simply because "you can't make a living" at them. These possibilities (even if financially impractical) still have a lot of value in helping you to learn about yourself and in guiding you to other things you might never have thought about.

 

[Carly Rae]

I think that you're at a great point in your life for exploring all kinds of possibilities and discovering your interests. Your interests may or may not lead to a job or career, but they are worth exploring and enjoying just for their own sake. In the few posts I've read from you, it sounds like you love your horses and doing things with them, that you love to learn and find out new things, and you get a lot of pleasure in making other people smile and feel happy. Keep discovering what you are good at and what brings you joy, and that will lead you down a good path! I wouldn't necessarily dismiss things simply because "you can't make a living" at them. These possibilities (even if financially impractical) still have a lot of value in helping you to learn about yourself and in guiding you to other things you might never have thought about.

Thank you for the kind words

You made my day happier

I do love my miniatures with all my heart and I want to learn so I can become a better horse person and help people out

I have been told many times that I should just stick to having horses as my hobby and I totally agree, I was on another forum and they suggested exactly the same. I was looking to be a stable hand, or a stud hand but then I went off that path after being told more about the industry.

I then looked into Animal grooming, mobile doggie services, that is still on my list because while I still get to work with animals, I am also learning skills which will help me with my minis

I am also looking into the Agricultural industry, Last term at school I did Agricultural Science and I did enjoy working with the sheep and cattle.

My first career path that I wanted to go on was nothing to do with animals, it was a Marine Archaeologist, Studying wrecks scuba diving and stuff I chose not to go with that as it did have its pluses but it did have many minuses about it, one being scuba diving can be extremely dangerous and the ocean scares the heck outa me but I love ship wrecks haha.

But yeah, I do have more ideas like a Vet nurse, zoologist ect. But like many people have told me is "You are still young to explore different things" I am constantly looking for different paths for myself and the teachers at school are pretty helpful but I still cant decide haha