Stable Influence Charity Programs - Equine Assisted Services - EAAT

“Everything is a gift. The degree to which we are awake to this truth is a measure of our gratefulness, and gratefulness is a measure of aliveness.” - Brother David Steindi-Rast

If you are interested in joining our program, give a call soon to beat the heat. We have space for new riders on both riding days. Spread the word. Temps are roller coastering with hot this weekend and next. Mornings are still very nice though. Please help find a few more great volunteers and riders to join the fun. Please - Please - let me know if you will not be able to come and help so I can properly schedule. Thanks.

Thank you for your donations - Smith Family. Saturday evening we, once again, got a really pretty sunset. Kitty Carmel was with me to enjoy it. Sunday morning was very windy and cloudy. But, by the time chores were done, the cloudy was gone but the very windy and gusty was still there. So, I just played with the horses a bit on line. Had Liber-T work on the circle to engage her trunk and hindquarters. Dakota got to do some lateral work and work a bit on the circle at a very forward walk to stretch her shoulders. Gracie got to practice 180's on the fence line and come to me. Nice. Spirit’s turn is tomorrow. We had a nice sunset, but didn’t get pictures. Licorice came out to enjoy it with me. Monday, there was smoke smell from the Hazen fire in the air early, but with the wind, it cleared out to not be a problem. Lisa came to help with chores and ride Gracie. I got Spirit out to play along. Nice workout for Lisa and Gracie doing taught to be caught and stay with me at liberty in the pen. I got Spirit well connected at liberty in the pen. Both horses connected so well, they followed us around when we were finished and played the carrot stick games we did on Saturday. Then to the arena for a good mount at the steps to work on walk, trot some, lots and lots of circles. They even did sideways around a barrel - very flashy. I worked on Spirit’s circles, yielding hindquarters, whoa, backing up. All going well today. The cactus gave us another pretty flower, on which a honeybee was gathering pollen. Later, I almost missed a really nice sunset display, but peeked out the window at the right time and got some beautiful pictures. Tuesday was beautifully cool and nice in the morning, but the wind picked up - 16 MPH steady and 30 MPH gusts. So, for safety, I canceled class. BUMMER. It was a good thing too as the gusts were very strong at the time we’d be riding. Not good to breathe all that dust. But, we did have an interesting sunset with the scattered clouds around later on. Wednesday after doing chores, I got to ride Liber-T. Even though it was quite gusty, not as strong as yesterday, so OK to ride. Liber-T was wanting attention, so I took care of that. Pushed her for a good “working” walk on the home trail to work her back and hindquarter muscles. In the arena also did a lot of lateral work with indirect rein, sideways, indirect/direct dance and nice trotting with good round up to work her back and hindquarter muscles. Also, did bunches of touch it - the cones, the barrels and the stump, just for fun. Thursday and Friday were busy with errands and appointments. Saturday, Cat, Lisa, Saanvi and Smitha all came and got busy with chores and getting horses ready. Cat and Smitha took Liber-T, Saanvi got Spirit and Lisa had Gracie “catch” her for a workout. In the arena everyone did well with their ground games, then mounted up. Lisa had a great ride on Gracie working on neutral rein, circling and going where pointed. Cat rode Liber-T with 1 rein and worked on flipping the rope and circling obstacles. Saanvi did well with Spirit and got some nice right turning and circles. Charleigh and Rhett came and got busy with grooming their horses. Charleigh then took Spirit around and had her step up on the tire. Rhett explored the “food” on the barrels with Liber-T and did a bit of touch it. Both mounted up. Charleigh changed positions while Spirit was walking and worked on reining a bit. She enjoyed using the small hoop to move her arms up, down and around. Nice jousting too. Rhett also worked on only using 1 hand to ask Liber-T to turn and did a very nice figure 8 around the barrels. He did a nice weaving of the cones. They helped pick up the arena toys before ending their ride.

Our horses are crucial in our mission to provide therapeutic services to our clients and to keep them healthy and happy. AND - Although hay is in for the year, we will need to purchase more again next fall - so there is always a Hay Fundraiser. Thank you to those who have donated in the past. We purchase enough each fall for the year so we can get consistent quality hay. The best time to purchase is at the end of summer when prices are lowest and the hay is freshest, so that’s when we do it. I don’t know what this year will bring, but we plan for $25 for 1 bale of hay. You can donate through Zelle to [email protected] or send a check. PayPal works through our “Donate” button, but they do charge a processing fee of almost 3%, so less than what you donated comes to us. You can make a donation any time and receive dollar for dollar tax credit on your AZ State taxes for 2025. Again, the best way is with a check or through Zelle and [email protected]. We are an Arizona Qualified Charitable Organization (QCO) and a donation will reduce your AZ State Taxes. Use QCO Code 22306 on Form 321 to receive a tax credit on your AZ State taxes - for 2025 up to $495 for a single person and $987 for couples. For all you Fry’s VIP shoppers, please sign up at Fry’s Rewards choosing Code and Fry’s will donate to Stable Influence. We get almost $400/year from Kroger each year. Shopping on the web? Go through iGive.com or GoodShop.com e-malls, choose to support Stable Influence through your on-line purchases. The e-mall merchants will donate a percentage of the purchases to us. You still get great prices, and we get a bonus. It’s a Win Win. THANKS!

The loan we had to get for a new car for Stable Influence is shrinking. But, it’s still not fully funded. So - Fundraiser - A car for Stable Influence is still out there. Anything you can donate will be much appreciated. You can donate through “Zelle” to our e-mail address - [email protected]. A big thank you to those who have made donations.

Gratitude is one of the sweek short cuts to finding peace of mind and happiness inside. No matter what is going on outside of us, there is always something we could be grateful for.” - Deavita

If you are interested in joining our program, give a call soon to beat the heat. We have space for new riders on both riding days. Spread the word. Temps are still in roller coaster mode, but it’s been nice overall. Please help find a few more great volunteers and riders to join the fun. Please - Please - let me know if you will not be able to come and help so I can properly schedule. Thanks.

Sunday was quite nice, but a bit too windy to ride. So, I played with Gracie on improving her liberty work, draw and stay with me. Then I got Spirit out and after some playing in the pen, I took her to the arena to work on touch it and backing up with yo-yo and driving. She’s been doing better in the pen, but not so much in the arena. I was taught you want to have your horse respond well in 7 locations. So, this is location 3 for Spirit. Horse pen, outside the horse pen and in the arena. She is getting better at touching cones and barrels. She was backing up much more easily with yo-yo and driving. It’s a process. Then I gave Dakota some attention asking her to use her shoulders to cross her front feet and then walk a circle with energy. She is healing from her shoulder twist back in January, but it sure is taking a long time. Liber-T just got cuddles and hugs - which she enjoys a lot. Monday was again windy and gusty, so chose not to ride. BUT - played again with Spirit working on connection. Did some going backwards, which she seems to not like doing and over all it’s getting better and better the more I ask. I then played with Gracie - also working to improve connection and draw at liberty. Tuesday Ellie and Karen came to get Spirit and Liber-T ready. Ellie played a bit with Spirit at liberty in the pen and got a very nice draw and stay with me as spirit went to her and walked and stopped beside her - no strings attached. FUN. Both gals got a chance to play more with warming up the horses both on line and mounted. Spirit was giving Ellie a hard time turning right, but we couldn’t figure out why. Cayden arrived for his lesson on Spirit and started with doing friendly, porcupine, driving, yo-yo games and stay with me task which is getting quite good. It’s getting easier each time. Meanwhile, a vulture was circling above. I told everyone to keep moving! Mounted up, he worked on weaving cones, having Spirit touch her nose to a barrel and going over the hill. He also was having right turn challenges. With his eagle eyes, he noticed by looking down on Spirit’s neck, she had a small swelling on the right side of her neck. It was hard to see from the ground because of her long mane on the left. But, he saw it - that explains the resistance to right turns. She didn’t show any issue with rubbing on it, but didn’t like turning that way. I put some treatment on it. Natalie arrived and got on Liber-T while Cayden was finishing up his ride. She did some puzzle work, walk on and whoa as well as going over the hill several times. She finished with a trail ride to the horse pens which she really enjoyed. Wednesday morning I checked Spirit out and the swelling was gone. She turned her head to the right, but riding her will answer whether she is all healed up. Meanwhile, Craig continues to w**d whack the w**ds and is getting a lot done. THANK YOU. Although a bit blustery, I got Spirit out to see if I could work on the right turns. I checked out her neck and there was no evidence of a swelling, heat or pain. Good to go. She bent to right on line. Once mounted, she did very nice neutral rein to the right. Had a bit of trouble when I asked for indirect rein, but to do that your hand is across the withers on the other side of where you want the horse to turn. So, if I had my hand out to the right, she gave me very nice right turns, softly and willingly. Another amazing sunset was on display this evening. Thursday, after pulling w**ds, doing chores, moving hay and riding yesterday, I was tired, but spent the day doing monthly banking stuff - YUCK! But did have some interesting lenticular and wave clouds and another pretty sunset to enjoy in the evening. Got a series of pictures of the sunset from start to peak. Friday was errand day. Saturday, we had no riders scheduled, but Saanvi and Smitha came and got undemanding time to play with horses. Smitha took Liber-T and Saanvi got Spirit. They started out with “catch me” then “stay with me” all at liberty. Meaning No Strings Attached. Both gals got their horses to come to them, walk beside them, stop and turn. Pretty neat. After grooming and tacking up, we headed to the arena for play with carrot stick and string, before playing serious ground games with the horses. Smitha was able to get all 7 games with Liber-T. She improved sideways and learned squeeze. Saanvi got to game 5 with Spirit. I didn’t want her to try sideways with Spirit as I think Spirit would push the barrels and - go. Both mounted up. Saanvi worked on turns - especially to the right with Spirit. She was very successful with very little bracing with Sprit. She did figure 8's, indirect rein, lots of circles, go over the hill, cavaletti and ground pole as well as whoa and some backing. Smitha rode Liber-T with 1 rein at first. Then got to do some indirect reining and even a few steps of sideways. Both played with carrot stick riding - asking for turns using the carrot stick rather then reins. It’s coming. A fun day for everyone with lots of learning.

Our horses are crucial in our mission to provide therapeutic services to our clients and to keep them healthy and happy. AND - Although hay is in for the year, we will need to purchase more again next fall - so there is always a Hay Fundraiser. Thank you to those who have donated in the past. We purchase enough each fall for the year so we can get consistent quality hay. The best time to purchase is at the end of summer when prices are lowest and the hay is freshest, so that’s when we do it. I don’t know what this year will bring, but we plan for $25 for 1 bale of hay. You can donate through Zelle to [email protected] or send a check. PayPal works through our “Donate” button, but they do charge a processing fee of almost 3%, so less than what you donated comes to us. You can make a donation any time and receive dollar for dollar tax credit on your AZ State taxes for 2025. Again, the best way is with a check or through Zelle and [email protected]. We are an Arizona Qualified Charitable Organization (QCO) and a donation will reduce your AZ State Taxes. Use QCO Code 22306 on Form 321 to receive a tax credit on your AZ State taxes - for 2025 up to $495 for a single person and $987 for couples. For all you Fry’s VIP shoppers, please sign up at Fry’s Rewards choosing Code and Fry’s will donate to Stable Influence. We get almost $400/year from Kroger each year. Shopping on the web? Go through iGive.com or GoodShop.com e-malls, choose to support Stable Influence through your on-line purchases. The e-mall merchants will donate a percentage of the purchases to us. You still get great prices, and we get a bonus. It’s a Win Win. THANKS!

The loan we had to get for a new car for Stable Influence is shrinking. But, it’s still not fully funded. So - Fundraiser - A car for Stable Influence is still out there. Anything you can donate will be much appreciated. You can donate through “Zelle” to our e-mail address - [email protected]. A big thank you to those who have made donations.