Why "Horse Sense"?

​As the first entry in my new blog "Horse Sense", let me tell you about the name. Several years ago I was invited to a presentation by a friend, a practitioner of Myofascial Release in Austin, Texas. She told me nothing about what to expect. I attended because I trusted her as a friend. What I learned changed the direction of my thinking and my career.

The presenter, Dr. Brian Garner, a professor of Mechanical Engineering at Baylor University, had designed and built a device that exactly replicated (maybe "modeled" is a better word) the motion of a therapy horse. His presentation included documentation of benefits to children with learning difficulties of various types - and his goal was to create more opportunities for kids to access the device. Of course I had to ride it - and that's when everything changed.

Skip this part if you don't like history:

We rode horses growing up, my two older brothers and me, since our mom owned a horse and having her three boys muck out stalls helped pay for boarding. Payment to us was riding the chuckwagon ponies all we wanted - as long as we didn't use saddles or anything else comfortable or practical. Since my legs were the shortest, I learned more about falling off than riding. I always smile when someone spouts "gotta get back up on that horse"...what do they know about getting back up on a horse? I could write a book about it.

Back to the presentation...

I rode the "MiraColt" for about five minutes and it was a nice feeling and for sure it was the easiest horse ever to ride - so it felt like nothing special had taken place. But when I walked back to my chair and sat down I suddenly felt like my hips had been placed in a vice. I mean the pronounced absence of movement in my hips and backside were dramatic. Forget "sitting is the new smoking" and all the catchy fitness marketing fluff. When you smoke you are actively doing something harmful - but sitting is doing nothing while getting early onset rigor mortis. You don't need to "do" anything when you sit - and sitting on a chair (or whatever) will lock you up, guaranteed.

So back to the name of my blog: Horse Sense. My intention is to shine light on ideas or products or procedures or diets or whatever else fits under the "wellness" umbrella. However, my goal is always to turn down the noise, boil off the excess bathwater and toss out all but the baby - getting down to what it is that makes whatever it is "tick". You see the horse has been around a long time - and the relationship between humans and horses has been more deeply meaningful and therapeutic than most researchers know. And more wonderful and exciting than the grizzly old ranchers will ever tell.

Preview:

In my next post I will share thoughts from my experience assisting the research team at Baylor. We brought kids on the Autism spectrum in and ran a gazillion (a lot of) tests before, during and after they rode the MiraColt.

​Stay tuned and God Bless!

​:D