Festina Lente

Therapeutic Riding dates 2012 / 2013

festinalente.ie — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 15:57:12 +0000

2012 / 2013 Course dates for the Training Programme for Therapeutic Riding

Click on one of the links below to view information.

Festina Lente Therapeutic Riding Coach application form1

Progarmme overview Therapeutic Riding Coach 2012 / 2013

Launching a new Upcoming Events Page soon

festinalente.ie — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 09:20:06 +0000

Calendar of Events 2012 “Coming Soon”

Watch out for our BONANZA DAYS.

Upcoming Events

Category Information

Adult Camps

Bonanza Days

Children’s Pony Camps

Children’s Private Lessons

Dressage Competitions

Equine Assisted Learning

Jumping Competitions

Recreational Riding for Young People & Adults with Special Needs

Therapeutic Riding

Donation Page launching in February

festinalente.ie — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 08:55:16 +0000

We acknowledge and deeply appreciate the support given to Festina Lente in the past and particularly over the past twelve months.

We are striving to continue to offer the same services and facilities despite the funding cutbacks but we know in order to move forward into 2012, we are in even greater need of your support.

“Friends of Festina” was launched in 2009 in an effort to address some of our shortfall and now moving into 2012 we have refreshed and updated our “Friends”.

With effect from February it will be possible to make donations to Festina Lente through PayPal.
Any donation you wish to make can be done on our web site www.festinalente.ie. We are hoping this will encourage you to visit our web site regularly so you can see what events are coming up in the near future, whether it may be an Art Class in the Gardens, or Potion Making or Adult Equine Camps – we want to keep you informed.

The top of our page is going to look like this with 5 different images to the left of our Festina Lente logo for you to click on from left to right: Twitter, Horse Gallery, Donation Page, Walled Garden Gallery and Facebook. Here is how it will look:

The amount of the donation can be whatever you want it to be:

• Donate €1.00 per month
• Donate €5.00 per month
• Donate €10.00 per month
• Make a Once Off Donation

With an increase in funding, in 2012 Festina Lente would like to:

• Offer MORE Equine Assisted Learning Sessions
• Increase the number of Therapeutic Riding Lessons
• Offer MORE Supported Helper Programmes
• To promote the beautiful gardens so more people can enjoy them
• Ensure the facilities and means are available for all our service users to offer them the most meaningful personal choices possible

We often say here in Festina that “inch by inch, life’s a cinch” – “yard by yard, life is hard” – with your help life may not be a cinch but it would really help a lot.

Please feel free to contact me with any query you may have.

Jill Carey
Chief Executive Officer

Learning everything about horses at Festina Lente…

festinalente.ie — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 13:58:29 +0000

Festina Lente Equestrian Training Programme has a number of vacancies in its programme…
if you would like to learn everthing there is to learn about horses, this training programme may be of interest to you. Over a three year period, you will learn how to look after horses, learn how to ride, learn how to create the right environment for horses and equally important you will be offered a range of personal development modules.

This is a FAS funded programme and as such, you will receive a Fas training allowance and you may qualify for a rent allowance.

For further information, please contact Siun Aherne at 01-2720704 ext. 207

Festina Lente presenting at the Horses in Education & Therapy (H.E.T.I.) Conference in Athens 2012

festinalente.ie — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 09:36:22 +0000

Festina Lente is delighted to announce that it will be presenting six presentations at the Horses in Education and Therapy International Conference in Athens on April 2012.

Every three years the Federation of Riding for the Disabled International (recently renamed ‘Horses in Education and Therapy International) holds a three day conference with presentations made by equine assisted learning providers from all over the world. This year the main topics for the conference include Physical Disabilities, Mental Health, Emotional Disorders, Autism, Learning Disorders and Promoting Social Inclusion. The main topics for the seminars and the workshops include Carriage driving, Yoga and Therapeutic Horse Riding and Training of the Trainers. Festina Lente is delighted that all six abstracts submitted were accepted and we look forward to sharing our experiences with many others from all over the world learning about what others do also.

Below are 6 links which lead to more information on each subject, click on your preferable choice to read more.

1. AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF THE IMPACT OF SUPPORTED HELPERS PROGRAMME ON THE WELL-BEING OF YOUNG PEOPLE WITH A DISABILITY.

2. AN EVALUATION OF THE INTRODUCTION OF CONTINUOUS FEEDING FOR 34 STABLED HORSES.

3. THE USE OF TAG TEACHING IN THERAPEUTIC RIDING WITH CHILDREN WITH SPECIFIC LEARNING DISABILITIES.

4. DEVELOPMENT OF A TRAINING PROGRAMME FOR THERAPEUTIC RIDING COACHING.

5. AN EXPLORATION OF THE IMPACT OF EQUINE ASSISTED LEARNING ON THE SOCIAL AND EMOTIONAL WELL-BEING OF YOUNG PEOPLE AFFECTED BY EDUCATIONAL DISADVANTAGE.

6. THE USE OF EQUINE ASSISSTED ACTIVITIES TO SUPPORT LEARNING IN CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL NEEDS.

Therapeutic Riding Coaching Training Programme

festinalente.ie — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 08:12:41 +0000

Therapeutic Riding Coaching Training Programme gets underway…………

Festina Lente Riding School has been providing therapeutic riding lessons for over 5 years – our youngest rider being two years of age. Therapeutic riding is an intervention which is used for people with a variety of physical, cognitive, emotional and developmental disabilities. Horses provide sensory input through movement which is variable, rhythmic and repetitive, with the three dimensional movement of the equine’s hips, pelvis and shoulders at walk facilitating a movement response from the rider, under the instruction of the therapist or coach. The walk of the equine mirrors the walk of a person hence providing transfer movement patterns to the rider’s lower spine and pelvic regions. For example, a large horse transfers 110 multidimensional swinging motions in the walk to the rider each minute. By being astride the horse – with the therapist or coach giving specific instructions the horse naturally helps to increase ‘body strength, control and balance’. As the horse walks, the rider makes subtle adjustments to his/her body position in order to try and maintain stability. It is this change that the rider has to make when a horse walks that is the base of therapeutic riding.

There are many elements associated with Therapeutic Riding sessions. Once mounted, the session will include physical exercises to help improve co-ordination, posture and balance. A variety of games and other learning aids are used as part of the sessions – all of which are used to stimulate the physical, cognitive, and emotional and development of the young person or adult. The exercises are done in a fun and varied way and include many learning aids. In addition, the Therapeutic Riding Sessions can include the sensory trail which has been specifically designed to provide both sensory stimulation and sensory integration. This also includes a water feature, woodland area, purposefully created mounds, mounds with different surfaces and a variety of games. Sessions are provided both in the indoor and outdoor arena and also along the sensory trail. For insurance reasons, children under 4 years have lessons in the indoor arena.

How horses learn was received with great interest as Orla Doherty, founded of the Animal Behaviour Clinic www.animalbehaviourclinic.ie gave a well received 1½ days of lectures and practical sessions on how horses learn. Of particular importance from Oral’s presentation was the emerging science of how horses learn. There was a lot of discussion around how domesticated horses have developed stereotypical behaviours (otherwise referred to as ‘vices) in response to their environment. The need to try and replicate, in as much as possible, a natural environment for horses was highlighted.

As this programme is accredited at a FETAC level 6, there are exams and assessments. Our group of students went away after day 3 with their first assignment which was to prepare either a demonstrated or presentation related to one aspect of the three days, with some super examples already submitted.

Progarmme overview Therapeutic Riding Coach 2012 / 2013

For further queries, contact Jill Carey at jillcarey@festinalente.ie

Festina Lente Walled Gardens new website

festinalente.ie — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 14:51:31 +0000

Festina Lente Gardens new website

Due to the growth and success of Festina Lente Walled Garden, there is now a separte website dedicated to all that goes on within this wonderful walled garden.

Visit Festina Lente Gardens Website. festinalentegardens.ie

Special Needs Helper Programme

festinalente.ie — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 12:09:25 +0000

Our supported helpers programme has been a FANTASTIC success with young people helping out in the Riding School between June and mid August. From as young as 5 years of age, over 30 young people have worked alongside our other helpers and got invovled with jobs such as mucking out, putting horses in and out, grooming, cleaning tack and generally helping out with everybody elses. We will be continuing this programme in September at the weekend.

Whils this programme is subsidised by Festina Lente Riding School, there is a cost of €29 per child per morning or €25.00 per afternoon. Further enquires from Clodagh at 01-2720704 Ext 201 or clodagh@festinalente.ie

Update on Friends of Festina Lente

festinalente.ie — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:41:39 +0000

In August of 2009, we launched our ‘Friends of Festina Lente’ with a wonderful Victorian Garden Picnic. With over 500 guests – many of whom dressed up in Victorian clothes, it was a wonderful evening – and remarkably – it didn’t rain!. This important fundraiser is the start of our efforts to ensure that our Equine Assisted Learning Service will continue into 2010. This service supports over 200 children each year and was piloted with AIB funding during 2009 and 2010.

We need to fundraise over €100,000 each year in order to keep this service going. So far, we have reached one third of our target. You can support this very worthwhile service for €10.00 per month. Please contact us directly or if you prefer, you can download a form from our website. Thank you

Term Riding

festinalente.ie — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:32:18 +0000

If you can’t attend your lesson, please phone: (01)- 272 01 84

There are some places available on term riding:

Contact Clodagh at 2720704 ext. 201 or clodagh@festinalente.ie

What is Term Riding? Term Riding consists of one hour weekly coaching and half an hour stable management lessons to children from the age of 6 years. Lessons can be every week or alternate weeks

The stable management section focuses on teaching riders about horse care, horse behaviour, how to approach a horse correctly, how to see things as a horse to help riders understand how to communicate more effectively with a horse, horse feed and many other aspects of horse care.

The term is run in conjunction with the school year and consists of three terms i.e. September to Christmas, January to Easter and Easter to summer. When scheduling the calendar we also incorporate known school mid term breaks.

When a rider is offered a place on term riding, their place is then secure and will continue as long as the rider wishes. All riders will be assessed prior to being offered a place to ensure they are placed in the correct group Currently, our rate is €33.00 per lesson multiplied by the number of weeks in the term. These fees are payable in advance. As the horses/ponies are tacked up in preparation for each lesson, we request that we are advised as far as possible in advance when a rider is unable to attend their lesson. Credit is only given for missed lessons in the event of prolonged illness and a medical certificate is given.

“Troy”, our mechanical horse is proving to be a valuable asset in assisting any new nervous riders that join us and is also an extremely useful tool in teaching the rider “a more correct position” when learning the rising trot for the first time.

Lunge lessons are also provided.

Our coaches work on the basis of postive reinforcement and where appropriate, use a range of learning aids with an emphasis on fun and learning.

The category of riders catered for are Beginners / Beginner Improvers / Weak Intermediate / Intermediate and Advanced Levels. Beginner riders are not required to have riding boots or hats or back protectors as we have a limited supply available for these groups. However, we do insist that all riders’ hats are compliant with current BHS Standards.As an AIRE (Association of Riding School Establishments) and BHS approved centre, we also recognise the importance of certified learning. To this end, we hold AIRE Exams each year. This gives the rider (should they wish) an opportunity to achieve accredited learning for their effort and commitment they choose to give to their riding each week. There are a total of 10 Levels that can be taken and we prepare our riders for such exams within their weekly lessons.

Total number of term weeks for Year 2012 = 36weeks

Term 1: Tuesday 10th January to Sunday 1st April:
11 weeks (one week break for mid-term from Tuesday 13th February to Sunday 19th February inclusive).
Saturday riders ride only 10weeks (St. Patrick’s Day, 17th March).
Term 2: Tuesday 17th April to Saturday 24th June:
10 weeks (no break)
Term 3: Tuesday 4th September to Sunday 23rd December:
15 weeks (one week break for mid-term from Tuesday 30th October to Sunday 4th November inclusive).

Read Term riding Policy: Term Riding Policy