Stable Influence Charity Programs - Equine Assisted Services - EAAT

“Results are an inconsistent measure of success and failure. You can perform poorly and win, just as you can perform well and lose.”~ Jim Murphy

What a cool, windy and rainy week. YUCK! Spread the word and please help find a few more great volunteers and riders to join the fun. We have space both days. Please - Please - let me know if you will not be able to come and help so I can properly schedule. Thanks.

Saturday evening gave us a nice sunset at the end of the day. Sunday was not windy, they quite gusty, then not windy. AARG! So decided not to ride Gracie, but did take her to the arena and worked on line with touch it, transitions from trot to walk at the barrels, sideways over a cone, ground pole and without a fence. Very very nice workout even though the gusting was gusting. Later worked with Craig on pulling weeks out of the arena. Monday, my hands and back are talking to me after pulling weeks. So after chores, I pulled even more weeks along the west fence to create a fire block since the whole desert is full of waist high w**ds. It was even more windy in the afternoon, so stayed inside out of the dust and worked on the computer. Later, we did have a pretty sunset. Tuesday, it rained most of the early morning from 11 PM Monday to about 4 AM and we got ½". Everything is very squishy, more rain and lots of wind predicted. Very brisk and cold out, so canceled class as I wouldn’t ride in these conditions. It was raining at 2:30, so very glad I decided to cancel class. Wednesday was also a very cool and windy day. We got ½" of rain very early in the morning and things were very wet. Add the wind and it was quite cold. Another nice sunset was given to make up for the cold and damp day. Thursday dawned sunny, but cool - well for us cold. It was 27 on our porch at 8 AM. BURRR. After chores, I did office work and headed out in the early afternoon to see who I could play with. The wind was blowing quite a bit making it very raw, the pen was still a smidge wet causing it to be a bit slippery and the ground was still somewhat squishy. So didn’t want to ride but did some ground play with the horses. Got Spirit on line and worked to help her extend her walk while on a circle. It’s sure coming. Didn’t want the horses to go faster as a slip could pull those old and cold muscles. Saturday was a bit warmer - well 32 on the porch at 7:30 AM. It was breezy even though it did warm up some. Lisa, Smitha and Craig, were my helpers today. They got the horse chores done and got the horses ready while I put the equipment out and fed the horses their hay. Just for fun Smitha got to play with Spirit while Lisa got Liber-T ready. Nice ground work for both. Smitha then mounted up on Spirit - for the first time - with Lisa helping. She had a very good ride. Just love her smiles - all the time. Lisa then mounted up on Spirit and got to ride some as well. Charleigh and Rhett arrived and we got started with usual tasks - some grooming and explore what was out and about around the arena. Charleigh mounted up on Liber-T and Rhett got on Spirit. Charleigh practiced walk and whoa as well as using reins to turn. She rode over the hill a couple of times, did well with the shape puzzles and a pretty good job jousting. Rhett also worked on reining and riding to target cones to place rings. He did a nice job jousting and rode over the hill as well. He asked about doing a trail ride. So off they went to ride the home trail. Kaleb arrived and did a very nice mount on Liber-T. He rode in pushing passenger position a couple of rounds to help allow his body flexibility to move with Liber-T. He then worked on quietly raising 1 arm at a time up and down in rhythm. It was very good. He did the peg puzzle with us moving the pieces around to challenge his picking them up. We didn’t do a lot of different things allowing good progress. He did the best dismount yet getting off of Liber-T. I, unfortunately, was busy close to the action and didn’t get any pictures to share. BUT - his mom, Maria, got the chance to ride Spirit just a bit.

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.