At Rainbow Acres, the T.E.t.R.A. equestrian program plays a vital role in the holistic care for the Ranchers. As part of the program, Ranchers learn responsibility, gain self worth, and have a whole lot of fun! Recently, T.E.t.R.A. has been working through the cirriculum for Anatomy & Physiology 101 (AP101) in Equine Exploration class. As part of this class, Ranchers are learning about the nine different physical systems (skeletal, respiratory, endocrine, etc.) of the horse. The goal is to be able to identify at least two parts from each system and the physiology, or function, behind each system.
But who wants to sit in a classroom all the time? Not our Ranchers! To make AP101 more hands-on, the Ranchers painted various internal structures that they had been learning about on Rubia – our patient and understanding Ranch horse. By making the images, the Ranchers identified and learned more about the heart, stomach, intestines, kidneys, lungs, trachea, esophogus and the skeleton. After the lesson, they got to give Rubia a bath!
The Ranchers had a blast painting Rubia, but in addition to all the fun, they had a real sense of learning and understanding. It is one thing to watch a power point, but being able to transfer that knowledge to a living horse takes some skill. When a person looks at a horse and is asked to identify where a specific part is, there are no arrows pointing to the correct answer. The person must use their imagination and think about what goes on underneath the skin, and then make a judgment call as to where that particular part is. As always, our Ranchers do an excellent job!
