Sleep, Mental Health, and Equine Therapy

Sleep can greatly effect the state of our mental health and plays a large impact on how we go about the day. In equine therapy and horse therapy we will see many patients who's depression sarted out from the lack of sleep. Here is more information from Psych Central. 

"Today, we think that sleeping through the night is a sign of normal and healthy slumber. In fact, people who wake up around the same time every night think their sleep is fractured — and that something is wrong, Randall writes. And when they complain about this concern to their doctors, they probably walk away with a sleeping pill, he says.

But segmented sleep has actually been the norm for thousands of years — that is, until the advent of artificial lighting. In the 1980s and ‘90s, history professor Roger Ekirch began seeing interesting patterns in his book collection, which included tales and medical texts: references to “first sleep” and “second sleep.”

Psychiatrist Thomas Wehr also began seeing strange results in his sleep experiment: After participants, who were deprived of artificial light for up to 14 hours, caught up on their sleep and felt more rested, they’d wake up around midnight and lie awake for about an hour, and then fall asleep.

In another study, Wehr found that during that hour awake the brains of participants were churning out higher levels of prolactin. This hormone reduces stress and relaxes the body after orgasm, according to Randall.

Before Thomas Edison invented the light bulb, people would fall asleep after sunset. Then they’d naturally wake up around midnight for about an hour. During that time individuals might do anything from praying to reading to having sex. Then they’d naturally fall back asleep until morning.

Randall notes that other studies have confirmed that people naturally experience segmented sleep. And in areas with no artificial light, people still experience first and second sleep."

Source: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/01/07/the-strange-surprising-scien...

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Why Do We Seek Approval?

Horse Therapy clients often all wonder the same thing. Why do we tend to seek approval so much in our lives? It's a great question and it's something that almost every human struggles with to some degree or another. 

"According to “Understanding the Psychology of Guilt” on eruptingmind.com, most children were taught from a young age to seek approval from their parents for the things they said or did. Since the need for approval, love and acceptance from our parents is strong, we become conditioned over time to seek approval from others as well. Whenever we don’t receive approval from someone who is not our parent, there is an automatic trigger and desire to win it back (which could explain the yearning to open that closed door).

When we aren’t met with approval, we no longer feel safe and protected. “When we meet ridicule or rejection, it can undermine our view of ourselves,” stated the previously-referenced article on advancedlifeskills.com. “If we internalize this kind of negative feedback, we can begin to doubt our personal worth. This threatens our sense of security and disrupts our inner harmony.”"

 

"To end on a more uplifting note, “Who Needs Approval” discusses what it means to hone in on self-validation. “When you act or speak in a way that makes you feel good about yourself, stop and acknowledge it. When you work hard on a project or goal, find a way to reward yourself. It is not egotistical to give yourself acknowledgment.”

Though in reality we are affected by our external environment, we can try not to embody rejection as a reflection of who we are; it’s important to maintain self-love and compassion, regardless of what occurs outside of ourselves."

 

I thought Psych Central did a great job in overviewing why we tend to reach out to others for approval. To read the rest of the article click on the source link below! 

Source: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/09/20/what-drives-our-need-for-app...

 

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Stress and Money

I really wanted to share this article from PsychCentral.com because I feel those in the equine therapy and horse therapy communities should take a look! Everyone has days where they are stressed about money, so this is a list of 8 things to do when you're stressed. 

"1. Ignore Amy.

The amygdala, the almond shaped group of neurons in the limbic system of the brain, isconsidered by most neurobiologists our fear system, and it acts like an ape or a how a human would have acted, say, back when we still had lots of hair all over. The adrenaline that you are feeling when you see stock exchange plummet is the amydala getting crazy, hosting a party in your head, whatever. I call my amygdala “Amy.” And whenever I panic, I tell her to go take a nap, that I can’t tolerate her noise and ruckus right now.

 

2. Distract Yourself

It’s not easy to quiet your amygdala, which is why the best thing you can do for yourself at times is to distract yourself. My mom knew the importance of this point when she knitted 100 blankets the year my dad left. For every occasion for about 10 years, everyone would receive an afghan as a gift. Until she stopped getting invited. (Just kidding.) This activity pulled her through the worst years of her life.

3. Surrender Control

The most uncomfortable part of financial anxiety is the lack of control most of us feel. It’s contrary to our human psychology. We want to drive the car, or at least be the passenger in the front seat giving directions. But in an economic downturn, we’re not even in the car. We have no say on which rest stations we are stopping at. In fact, much of the time if feels like we are riding in the trailer hitched to the back of the car. With the horses. Admitting that we’re not in control can be somewhat liberating. Because the stock market is life: you win some, you lose some, and you don’t have a whole lot of say in the whole matter.

4. Know Thyself

I have a friend who always freaks when the stock market dives. She sells all of her stocks and then invests again when they go back up. And she loses a lot of money in the process. Part of her problem, I think (and I can say that with authority because I am not her), is that she doesn’t know her risk tolerance. If she would realize that she has a low risk tolerance, then she’d see that she’d be better off in bonds and more conservative investments. Instead, she pulls out whenever there’s movement on Wall Street. Just like every other kind of anxiety, knowing your financial comfort zone can lead you to a path of peace. Or so they say

5. Turn It Off

Just like I said in my post “8 Ways to Manage Anxiety on an Anniversary,” one of the worst things you can do for your amygdala, or fear system in the brain, is to keep the TV and radio tuned into the latest news on Wall Street, to keep checking cnn.com to find out what the newest number is. This kind of compulsive behavior is toxic for the obsessive, sensitive folks who are prone to anxiety even without a reporter telling them to run for cover. Treat your amygdala well. Turn the news off. Except for this piece, of course.

6. Get Greedy

This point may seem contrary to the others, but I have studied investment strategies, and think there’s logic to what Warren Buffet once said: “When everyone is fearsome, that’s the time to be greedy, and when everyone’s greedy, that’s the time to be fearsome.” What does he mean? It’s the same sort of logic I describe in my “12 Depression Busters”: when the last thing you want to do is to get dressed and say hello to some folks, that is the time when doing so is more important than ever. So if you are afraid to invest a few hundred dollars into a course that could potentially get you a raise … don’t think about the dollars and concentrate on the potential raise.

7. Do Nothing

If you realize that your risk tolerance is quite low or if you have absolutely no money to invest, you can relax and do nothing. A story I read the other day profiled a guy who threw away his PIN number so that he couldn’t check his stocks any more. Just knowing that downturns are part of the economic process for the reward of high gains — that you have to risk volatility to acquire any profit and that this is all the nature of the beast — can sometimes help you sit tight and hang on during the wild ride.

8. Trust

I often make the point in dealing with severe depression that you absolutely have to trust that you won’t always feel so horrible and hopeless, that you will get better. Part of successful cognitive behavioral therapy is trusting in that optimistic message.

It has the power to pull you forward.

So know this: the economy will run its course and you will one day have a bulky wallet again."

Source: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/09/07/stressed-about-money-8-bette...

 

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CA: First Case of WNV Found

This is important for every horse owner to know about as well as those involved with horse therapy and equine courses. 

"The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has confirmed the first case of West Nile virus (WNV) in a horse in 2012, according to a statement on the organization's website.

"On July 26, 2012, the CDFA Animal Health Branch confirmed the first positive equine West Nile virus case in Stanislaus County," the statement read. "The 2-year-old unvaccinated filly displaying severe neurologic signs was euthanized."

In a blog post published today (July 31), California State Veterinarian Annette Whiteford, DVM, said, "Each year, we find ourselves using this sad occasion to remind horse owners to have their animals vaccinated. It offers them maximum protection against the disease. And once vaccinations occur, horse owners should be checking regularly with their veterinarians to make sure they stay current."

Clinical signs for WNV include flu-like signs, where the horse seems mildly anorexic and depressed; fine and coarse muscle and skin fasciculations (twitching); hyperesthesia (hypersensitivity to touch and sound); changes in mentation (mentality), when horses look like they are daydreaming or "just not with it"; occasional somnolence (drowsiness); propulsive walking (driving or pushing forward, often without control); and "spinal" signs, including asymmetrical weakness. Some horses show asymmetrical or symmetrical ataxia (incoordination on one or both sides, respectively). Equine mortality rate can be as high as 30-40%.

The USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service reported 83 cases of WNV in U.S. horses in 2011, with 15 of those cases being identified in California horses."

Source: http://www.thehorse.com/viewarticle.aspx?ID=20411&source=rss&utm_sour...

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Combating Lonliness

I love posting these articles from Psych Central because they can really be applied to everyone even if you arent involved with horse therapy and equine courses. 

"1. Realize that loneliness is a feeling, not a fact. When you are feeling lonely, it is because something has triggered a memory of that feeling, not because you are in fact, isolated and alone. The brain is designed to pay attention to pain and danger, and that includes painful scary feelings; therefore loneliness gets our attention.

But then the brain tries to make sense of the feeling. Why am I feeling this way? Is it because nobody loves me? Because I am a loser? Because they are all mean? Theories about why you are feeling lonely can become confused with facts. Then it becomes a bigger problem so just realize that you are having this feeling and accept it without over reacting.

3. Notice your self deflating thoughts.  We often create self centered stories to explain our feelings when we are young, it is not unusual for children to assume that there is something wrong with them if they are not happy. If they are lonely and sad, children may assume other people don’t like them when this is rarely the case.2. Reach out because loneliness is painful and can confuse you into thinking that you are a loser, an outcast. You might react by withdrawing into yourself, your thoughts, and your lonely feelings and this is not helpful. At its best, anticipation of loneliness might motivate us to reach out and cultivate friendships, which is the healthiest thing to do if you are sad and alone. When you are a child, and your sadness causes you to cry, you may evoke a comforting response from others. If you’re an adult, not so much.

Victims of bullying may well have fans and friends, but they often aren’t aware of it because the shame and loneliness get more attention. Habitual assumptions about social status continue into adulthood and if you are looking for evidence that the world sucks, you can always find it.

4. Make a plan to fight the mental and emotional habits of loneliness. If you realize you are dealing with an emotional habit, you can make a plan to deal with loneliness. Since healthy interaction with friends is good, make some effort to reach out to others, to initiate conversation and face time even when your loneliness and depression are telling you not to. Yes, it is work, but it is worthwhile, just like exercising is worthwhile even when you are feeling tired or lazy.

5. Focus on the needs and feelings of others, the less attention on your lonely thoughts and feelings. I can walk down the street thinking about myself, my loneliness and the hopelessness of it all, staring at the sidewalk and sighing to myself. Or I can walk down the street grateful for the diversity of people I get to share the sidewalk with, silently wishing them good health and good fortune, and smiling at each person I meet. The latter is more fun, even though I sometimes have to remind myself to do it on purpose.

6. Find others like you. Now days there are more tools than ever before to find out where the knitters, hikers or kiteboarders are congregating so that you can get together with those who share your interests. This makes it much easier to identify groups with which you will have something in common, a natural basis for beginning a friendship.

7. Always show up when meeting up with others. You don’t have to run for president of the knitters society at your first meeting. But you do have to show up. I have been telling others to practice yoga for 20 years and promising I would do it myself for just as long, but except for the occasional coincidental yoga offering at a retreat, I didn’t take the trouble of finding a class I could attend regularly until a month ago. Now I am enjoying it and it wasn’t that hard. I have put a reminder in my phone to resign from the procrastinator’s society.

8. Be curious, but don’t expect perfection or applause. Each time you show up is an experiment, a micro adventure in social bonding. If you are curious about and interested in others, they will be attracted to you because you are giving them attention. So you will get attention in return. Curiosity about others also takes your focus away from those painful feelings that tend to make you hide and sulk.

9. Kindess goes a long way. “There’s nobody here but us chickens.” This is one of my favorite lines from The Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment by Thaddeus Golas. Underneath the impressive facades of the high fliers are the same set of emotions we all are born with. Celebrities suffer from stage fright and depression too.

You have the power to offer loving kindness and generosity of spirit to all you come into contact with. It isn’t instinctual to be kind to strangers or people who scare you. But it is a choice. It is a choice that Jesus and Ghandi used intentionally. And in the long run it is a winning choice. The alternative, being mean or stingy with those you don’t know well, can get you a reputation as a Scrooge.

10. Be persistent even if a particular group does seem to be a dead end for you, try another. AA and AlAnon recommend that everyone try six different groups to find one that suits you best. If you are persistent, challenging the assumptions and feelings that tell you to give up and resign yourself to a life of loneliness, and showing up and being curious and kind to others and more and more groups, the odds are in your favor.

And once you have a friend or two, nourish those friendships with time and attention. Don’t be too cautious about whether you are giving more than you are getting at first. If you make more friends and some of them are takers, you can choose to spend more time with the friends who reward your friendship."

Source: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/07/16/10-more-ideas-to-help-with-loneliness/

 

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Equine Oat Research

I can't wait to see the result on ths research and I'm sure those involved in horse therapy would ne interested to see as well.

"The Equine Oat Research Advisory Board (EORAB) is now accepting pre-proposal applications for the first Prairie Oat Growers Association Equine Oat Research Grant cycle. Research projects that the Prairie Oat Growers Association (POGA) funds will aim to discover specific benefits of oats for horses. The EORAB invites researchers to submit pre-proposals that address one or more of the following questions:

• How do oats contribute to the health of the horse?
• How do oats contribute to the performance of the horse?
• How can oats be used to prevent or manage a clinical disorder(s)?

Topics should seek answers to more specific problems related to the broader research areas outlined above. For the 2013 grant cycle, up to $400,000 is available. Preference will be given to research projects designed to produce tangible results within one year from the start of the research.

The EORAB has a two-step selection process to determine which research project(s) are recommended for funding. Pre-proposals must be no more than three pages and are due by July 31. The EORAB will review the pre-proposals and select those it believes will provide the greatest benefit to the horse and oat industries, based upon scientific merit and in alignment with POGA's objectives.

Successful pre-proposal applicants will be invited to submit full proposals for funding consideration, which will be due Nov. 30. The EORAB will then evaluate the research proposals and recommend to POGA which proposal(s) should be awarded grant money. Researchers whose proposals are approved for funding will be notified by April 15, 2013.

"We have been planning the Equine Oat Research Advisory Board for more than a year now, and we are excited that we have reached the point where we can begin accepting research pre-proposals," said Bill Wilton, Prairie Oat Growers Association president and Equine Oat Research Advisory board chair. "It is evident just how much the equine industry stands to gain. The EORAB is looking forward to reviewing the pre-proposals submitted, and we are optimistic we will receive some brilliant project ideas that could benefit the entire equine industry."

The EORAB will review research pre-proposals and proposals, recommend which equine-related research studies should be funded by POGA, and advise POGA on further research or determine next steps based on research findings.

Keep your horse healthy with the information in Understanding Equine Nutrition.

The EORAB executive committee members include:

• Nathaniel White II, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS, professor of surgery at Virginia Tech's Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center;
• Lori Warren, PhD, PhD, associate professor of equine nutrition at the University of Florida;
• Mary Beth Gordon, PhD, director of equine research and new product development at Land O'Lakes Purina;
• Emily Lamprecht, PhD, development manager of Cargill Animal Nutrition;
• Brian Rossnagel, PhD, professor emeritus at the University of Saskatchewan College of Agriculture and Bioresources; and
• Bill Wilton, Prairie Oat Growers Association president.

"Our vision for the Equine Oat Research Advisory Board is to commission the scientific research necessary to prove the nutritional benefits of feeding oats to horses in order to better educate horse owners so they can make more informed feed purchase decisions," Wilton said. "We believe horse owners deserve to have a better understanding of what they're feeding their horses based upon objective, factual scientific research."

The full version of the pre-proposal application requirements for POGA's Equine Oat Research Grant 2013 are available at www.EquineOats.org."

Source: http://www.thehorse.com/viewarticle.aspx?ID=20243&source=rss&utm_sour...

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40th Anniversary of the Kentucky Horse Council

I wanted to share this with horse owners and equine therapists alike so we could congradulate the Kentucky Horse Council on their 40th Anniversary! 

"The Kentucky Horse Council, a statewide horse industry support group, is celebrating its 40th Anniversary in 2012.

Organized in 1972, the Kentucky Horse Council has evolved over time. Initially established as part of the state government, it was defunded during the recession of the 1980's. The Horse Council then reformed as a private nonprofit association.

Many of today's horse industry leaders, still active in executive positions in the equine industry, have been part of the Kentucky Horse Council board at one time. Anna Zinkhon, 2012 KHC board president, commented, "The Horse Council has benefited from the experience and wisdom of top notch horsemen over the years. This organization would not be what we are today without all of the direction and leadership from those who work with and love the horse."

Today's Kentucky Horse Council implements programs to support all horsemen and horses in the commonwealth. Top priority programs address the growth of horse ownership, support equine businesses, advocate for horsemen at the local and state level, and protect horses at risk. The Kentucky Horse Council also serves as an information resource for our signature industry, and provides communication and networking for industry participants.

"This is a milestone for the Kentucky Horse Council," commented Ginny Grulke, executive director of KHC. "There are only a few other horse councils across the country which are so long-lived. The Board and staff are working to ensure that this anniversary is followed by another 40 years of Kentucky Horse Council programs and support."

The anniversary will be celebrated at this year's membership meeting in November."

Source: http://www.thehorse.com/viewarticle.aspx?ID=20070&source=rss&utm_sour...

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Positivity and the Tipping Point

Whether we are talking about horse therapy or how your week was, it's always important to maintain a positive mindset. Please take a look at this video and you'll see what I mean :) 

Here is the test: http://www.positivityratio.com/single.php

Source: http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2012/05/18/video-on-positivity-and-the-...

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Using a Stethoscope

This is a must in every equine first-aid kit! This article is great for just casual horse owners and horse therapists! 

"Your emergency kit likely includes a stethoscope--a highly valuable piece of equipment during any urgent health situation. Knowing your horse's normal heart rate and gut sounds beforehand will allow you to better assess the seriousness of the situation--so use your stethoscope now.

A resting pulse is typically between 32 and 40 beats per minute (ponies' tend to have slightly higher pulse rates). Place the stethoscope in front of the girth area, just behind the elbow. Using the sweep second hand on your watch or a stop watch (or a similar feature on a cell phone), count the number of beats for 30 seconds and double it to get beats per minute. Measure at various times of day, such as before and after eating or at any change in circumstances or activity level; this will give you a clear idea of how your horse generally responds to his environment. Marked deviation from normal (without obvious explanation such as exercise) can indicate infection, pain, or illness.

Your stethoscope is also useful for listening to gut sounds. It is normal and healthy for sounds to come from the digestive tract due to the movement of feed, gas, and fluid. Intestines are made of muscles; processing forage continuously provides the necessary exercise to keep these muscles in good condition. Normally, the sounds will be low in pitch with some growling. Some colic cases occur when there is a change within the intestines (often due to obstruction, gas, or torsion) and sounds change or stop altogether. If you don't hear any noise, or if the sounds have become higher pitched, significantly slowed, or sound hollow, colic is likely and you should contact your veterinarian immediately.

Practice listening to four specific areas of the gut: along the upper barrel and the lower flank area on both sides. Generally speaking, sounds from the upper left come from the small colon and tend to be high pitched and of short duration. The lower left has sounds from the large colon. On the upper right, the sounds come from the large colon and cecum whereas the lower right has the sounds from the large colon. While the point of origin for gut sounds is not completely predictable, the important thing is to identify a variation from your horse's normal sounds.

It's important to understand that deviations from normal in pulse or gut sounds have many possible explanations, so unless you have extensive experience never put yourself in the position of diagnosing colic or other disorders. But you can be a valuable resource to your veterinarian if you know what is normal for your horse and can identify these deviations from normal before illness happens."

Source: http://www.thehorse.com/viewarticle.aspx?ID=19880&source=rss&utm_sour...

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Why Too Much Deworming Can be a Bad Thing

It's a weird thing to think about, but this article sums it up great! 

"Question: Can too much deworming actually be a bad thing?

Answer: While it is unlikely a horse will become ill or suffer harmful effects from being dewormed too often, in the long term, all horses' health can be compromised by the development of parasite resistance to dewormers.

When deworming strategies were developed in the 1960s, the protocol was simple: treat every horse on an eight-week schedule with the newly available benzimidazole anthelmintics (an anthelmintic is a medication causing parasitic intestinal worms to be expelled or killed). A dramatic reduction in mortality from parasitic disease resulted. During the next two decades, as new anthelmintics became available, veterinarians recommended rotating between classes of products, but still treating every horse the same.

Parasites, however, responded to the chemical challenge by developing resistance. In the case of small strongyles, identified as the most prevalent parasite in adult horses today, there is evidence of their widespread resistance to two of the three major dewormer classes (benzimidazoles and pyrantels). Contributing to the development of small strongyle resistance is the common practice of rotating drugs, some of which are still effective against this parasite and some of which are not.

Experts say it's time to throw out these outdated deworming practices. We now know only 20 to 30% of horses in a herd shed about 80% of the worm eggs. Thus, it doesn't make sense to treat every horse with the same eight-week frequency. Once you've determined how often each horse needs to be treated, it's important to make sure you're using products that are actually working against the target parasites on your farm. These practices are often called "strategic deworming" and are a better way to manage parasites and help avoid contributing to the development of resistance on your farm.

How does a strategic deworming program work? With the help of your veterinarian, the first step is to conduct a fecal egg count (FEC) on each horse, which will identify which parasites are present and which horses are high, medium, and low shedders. Based on the results, the veterinarian will recommend how often each horse needs to be treated. Your veterinarian will also likely follow up with fecal egg count reduction tests (FECRT), used to then determine whether specific products are still effective against the parasites on your farm. Ultimately, you might find it is appropriate to discontinue the use of some products that were on your rotation calendar.

By investing time to develop a strategic deworming program and incorporating a broad-spectrum anthelminitc product, you will be able to manage the parasite challenge in your horse or horses.

Managing all parasites through a strategic deworming program can help save money in the long run as a broad-spectrum product might be required less frequently for some horses.

More information about parasites, effective deworming strategies, and Merial's Zimecterin Gold broad-spectrum anthelminitic can be found atwww.RethinkDeworming.com."

Source: http://www.thehorse.com/viewarticle.aspx?ID=19845&source=rss&utm_sour...

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