Board and Advisory
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Board of Directors
Molly Sweeney, President
Octavia Brown, Ed.M., Vice President
Alan Young, Treasurer
Robert J. Crump, J.D., Secretary
Susan Harding
Michael Kaufmann
Cynthia Ruiz, CPA
Tess Schmalbach, MD, PhD
James Smith, DVM
Renee Taylor, PhD
Executive Director
KC Henry
Advisory Council
Jane Fitzpatrick, PT
Leeda Fletcher
Marjorie Kittredge
Judith F. Lightfoot
Marion May
Pat Mullins
Kitty Stalsburg
Harry Swimmer
Scientific Committee
Renee Casady, PT,MS,HPCS
Peter Dedon, MD, PhD
Paul Haefner, PhD
Victoria Haehl, PhD
Brad Lewis, ACSW
Julie Lipovsky, PhD
Laura Lubbers, PhD
Karyn Malinowski, PhD
Nancy McGibbon, MS, PT, HPCS
Tess Schmalbach, MD, PhD
Tim Shurtleff, OTD, OTR/L
Deborah Silkwood-Sherer, DHS,PT
Emily Southgate, PhD
Paul Spiers, PhD
Jose Szapocznik, PhD
Renee Taylor, PhD
Clare Thomas
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We'd like to hear from you!
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The HHRF Board of Directors will be gathering at the Kentucky Horse Park for our annual strategic planning meeting this coming January. We would love your input leading up to it! Please email us if you are interested in taking a survey.
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Coming soon to horsesandhumans.org
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1) Commentary and notes from reviewers regarding all applications from the last cycle.
2) Articles from our Scientific Committee about how applicants can be sure they are putting forward the most competitive proposal possible.
Check in at our website to see both of these items published in the next two weeks.
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Would you like to get involved?
Co-fund a designated research project with HHRF
Make a donation to HHRF
Host an information reception
Help us identify researchers, professionals and potential funders in your area to add to our mail list
Join a board committee, advisory council or scientific committee (application available upon request)
Place a notice, ad or press release in your newsletter or affiliate publication
Contact KC Henry by email or by phone at 011.440.543.8306 to learn more. | |
| Dear Friend:
This year HHRF received
eighteen grant applications from a wide variety of disciplines within the scope
of EAA/T (equine-assisted activities and therapies. All applications received at least two and up to five
reviews by separate members of the professional scientific review committee.
However the scientific review
committee advised the board that they can not recommend any of the applications
for funding this year. The HHRF board remains committed to granting awards only
to the highest quality research that is rigorously developed, scientifically
sound and most likely to be published in well established peer review journals.
All who applied received a
letter with the recommendations from the reviewers on how to strengthen their
grant requests.
So while we are disappointed
not to be funding research this year, we are pleased to announce that our 2006
grant was published recently in The Archives of Physical Medicine and
Rehabilitation. We are also pleased
to share that the two 2008 grants are underway with exciting initial results.
Research is a very hot topic
now, not only in EAA/T but also in the more general field of the human/animal
bond. The National Institute of Health is opening up more funds for this and
the US Government is offering incentives for comparative effectiveness studies
in treating disease and disabilities for which EAA/T could qualify. HHRF is also looking both nationally
and internationally for funding partnerships with organizations that might want
to promote research with EAA/T and a specific disease or disorder.
So we will keep the money
coming with your help and we will continue looking for the very best
research.
-Molly Sweeney
HHRF Founder and Board President
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Report from Canada
 Claude Dugas, PhD, Professeur
Département des sciences de l'activité physique Université du Québec à
Trois-Rivières, sent the following report recently:
Miss Henry: I am writing to inform you of the
progress in our research project entitled *Hippotherapy to improve postural
control i n children with cerebral palsy*. The pilot study is underway and we
have collected data in the laboratory and in the field using the new equipment
and we are very satisfied with these first results.
We also wanted to inform you that we have decided to add one
measure during the postural stability tests performed in the laboratory. We
will r ecord the kinematics of the arm and trunk using the VICON system combined
with the force platform data. This will allow us to better describe the changes
observed during this testing and give another angle to discuss our result. This
will not have any impact on the proposed budget.
I also included a few pictures of our testing sessions in
the lab and on the horse with a pilot subject. Have a nice day and talk to you soon.
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HHRF at the International Congress in Germany
 HHRF Board member Octavia Brown and Executive Director KC Henry attended the XIII International Congress in Germany in August. About 900 attendees represented 39 different countries at the event, which was hosted by the Federation of Riding for the Disabled International.
KC and Octavia reported that research came up as a topic continually throughout the event, and was emphasized by all as being a critical aspect to develop in the EAA/T field.
"We had a consistent stream of people at our booth, all of them showing much interest in research and what we are doing," said KC Henry. Many of those visitors to the booth signed up for our mailing list (welcome to first time readers!).
"We marveled at the German ingenuity at providing entertainment around equine events," adds Henry. "From the hilarious evening entertainment of the "mounted" pantomime show jumper - to the mounted comedians - to equine based stories that entertained even non-horse people at the affiliated gala community events. Wonderful humor!"
We did come away with a question that is still unclear - perhaps readers can help us? We are looking to identify internationally based scientific peer reviewed journals that publish only the most rigorous research. Please tell us your thoughts.
Starting with second from left: Therese Kuypers (FRDI
Exec committee,Belgium), Norma Pearce (former E.D. of FRDI Australia), Peter
Edvi (Hungary), Pauline Perry (Australia, President of FRDI), Octavia Brown, Gisela Rhodes, Sanna Mattila-Rautiainen (former Vice-President FRDI)
Octavia Brown, HHRF BOD, with Jean Paul Hoff from France
- he is the developer of the lifting machine demonstrated at the
conference.
Octavia Brown of the HHRF Board (2nd from right) with Dr. Kabsu Kim, President,
Korean Association Riding for the Disabled (middle) and three representatives of Yong In University in Korea.
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Board Transitions
Renée Taylor PhD was welcomed onto the HHRF Board of Directors recently. Ms. Taylor will continue her work on the Scientific Committee as well.
Renée
Taylor is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist and Professor of
Occupational Therapy at the University of Illinois at Chicago. She is
also an avid horseback rider and ranch owner. She is an
internationally-recognized scholar who studies EAA/T, client-therapist
relationships in rehabilitation, and the psychobiological aspects of
post-infectious fatigue. In 1995 and  1997, Taylor received her M.A.
and Ph.D. in clinical-community psychology from DePaul University. She
completed post-doctoral training in child and adolescent psychology
1998, with an emphasis on health and rehabilitation psychology. Since
that time, she has also been practicing as a licensed clinical
psychologist specializing in adjustment to chronic illness and
disability.
Taylor has received over
$4,000,000.00 in federal research grants and has served on numerous
federal and international grant review panels. Currently, she is
completing two large-scale NIH-funded studies of post-infectious
fatigue following acute Epstein-Barr infection in adolescents and
adults. Recently, she has also initiated
a line of research on therapeutic use of self leading to the
development of a new conceptual practice model for occupational therapy
- The Intentional Relationship Model. Taylor has published over 70
peer-reviewed articles and five books.
"I
chose to serve because I believe in the vision of HHRF to promote
research and education in this important area. Horses are vital to
humanity - disabled or non-disabled. I imagine horses see us all from a
clean framework. To have known the generosity, judgment, and
herd-contexted communication of these noble animals gives me faith in
the healing power of horse-human relationships of all kinds - from
remediating physical impairments to soothing mental angst."
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Meet-And-Greet Reception for Our Donors at NARHA Conference
Friday evening, November 20
 Horses and Humans Research Foundation is extremely grateful for the support
of our donors! YOU are the most critical component of our success. Many of our "research investors" will be at the NARHA conference in Fort Worth, Texas from November 18-21, 2009.
Please join us for a Meet-and-Greet gathering in the Presidential Suite at The Renaissance Worthington Hotel at 6:00 p.m. on Friday, November 20, 2009.
Our board of directors, scientific committee members and advisory council members look forward to meeting with you, sharing our plans for the future and discussing the exciting progress of the three projects we have funded to date.
We hope you will be able to join us and allow us to thank you in person for your support- we continue to be humbled and encouraged by all of you who contribute to the growth of HHRF.
If you are not attending the conference we hope to meet with you at some other time during the upcoming year -perhaps at another EAA association conference or gathering- or please let us know if you find yourself in Cleveland, Ohio or near one of our board member's home towns.
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HHRF-NIH Meeting
National Institutes of Health expresses mutual enthusiasm for animal-humans relationships
Peggy McCardle, Ph.D., MPH, and Layla Esposito, Ph.D., both of the National Institutes of Health, met recently with KC Henry, HHRF Executive Director. KC reports that there was much discussion regarding our mutual enthusiasm for animal-human research - and how we can work together to ensure continued rigorous research is developed and supported. It was pointed out that HHRF-funded
researchers and other applicants should be encouraged to take their next step toward NIH-funded projects.
Ms. McCardle, the Chief of Child Development & Behavior Branch
Center for Research for Mothers & Children, and Ms. Esposito, Health Scientist Administrator of the Center for Research for Mothers and Children, both work at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. They encourage our readers/researchers to consider their present call for proposals and to watch for other similar ones in the future.
The current request for applications is due November 19,
2009, and NICHD accepts
investigator-initiated applications at any time. For more information, click here.
You can also look specifically at the R01 application, which is a large grant, providing up to 2 million in
direct funds over 4 years, and the R03 application, which is a small grant, providing up to 100K in direct
funds for 2 years.
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HHRF at the Washington International Horse Show
 The Washington International Horse Show (WIHS), a leading
national equestrian event based in Washington, D.C., since 1958,
chose the Horses and Humans Research Foundation as one of its
charity partners for the 2009 Washington International Horse Show at Verizon Center, held October 20-25, 2009.
"We at Horses and Humans Research Foundation are excited to be
one the charities in the spotlight at this classic event of the
equestrian community," says Molly Sweeney, founder and president
of HHRF. "Word is getting out about our mission, and people are
seeing that the work we do will impact the sport as a whole."
An equestrian tradition since 1958, the Washington International
Horse Show brings top horses and riders from the U.S. and abroad,
including Olympic champions, to the nation's capital to compete
for more than $400,000 in prize money and championship titles.
About 500 horses participated in show jumping, hunters, equitation
and dressage events during the six-day show this year.
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The primary goal is to support, promote and fund scientific research that explores the claimed, yet unsubstantiated benefits of equine assisted activities and therapies, leading to the discovery of the most effective methods and techniques for conducting thousands of existing and future programs.
The secondary goal is to educate the public (including parents, donors, insurance companies and physicians) on research findings so that equine assisted activities become more accessible to those in need.
We need your support to continue funding the highest quality research possible. Please consider making a donation to HHRF today. The generous matching gift opportunity is still in place, so every dollar donated is worth double that amount! | |
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