And They're Off! -- First Medicine & Horses Class

At first I was sorry to see a small class with some no shows. But as my challenge this quarter is squooshing 24 hours (old format for the course) into 8, I am glad we have a small group. That way we can probably do all the activities we did last quarter.

First we watched round up, observing the dyanmics as the herd butted and postured their way back to horsey heirarchy equilibrium. Then we used the stars of the NBC video--Dream, Madison, and Tucker.

An aside--can we say we "used" the horses? I always have trouble with that one. There is a sort of political correctness debate among equine experiential learning practitioners about saying you "use" a horse in your class. I've decided that since physicians often ask their colleagues, "Who do you use for neuro" when looking for a consultant, it's OK to say we "use" the horses. I often prefer the word "employ" because we literally do employ them. I look for horses that are retired, temporarily lame or injured, or otherwise unrideable to do the classes. That way they get some attention and they earn their keep--helping out the owners who keep them around, not putting them down just because they don't earn an income as lesson horses.

So as I sit here the next morning, the outstanding vignette from yesterday is the student who gave her hand to Madison--proving once again we teach that which we most need to learn. For a moment there, I gasped as I was not 100% certain Madison would not escalate her friendly lippiness into a more aggressively playful nippiness. I thought she might actually chomp down on finers.
When I was at the stage this student was at of unfamiliarity with horses, I was much more cautious about giving my body parts away. Some of my reaction yesterday was my own "mouth issues" with horses. Some of it is probably, objectively, the fact that one of the universal issues for doctors in training is boundary issues--how to set safe and professional physical and emotional boundaries with patients.

The other persistent thoughst are 1) great weather! The first day of last quarter's class, we all shivered in a cold, pouring rain; and 2) relief that our $200 banner from Stanford VisArt withstood Madison's chomping on it. Could a Kinko's banner have done that well?