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Senior SQUARE 
This special section is brought to you by the....
April 25, 2012
 Issue II 
By Katie Collins
Brush News-Tribune Staff Writer 
For Eben Ezer ActivitiesDirector Shaire Chavez, thebright smiles that beamedfrom the faces of her resi-dents made the first-everouting to the Dillehay Ranch well worth the trip.“I can’t believe how muchthe neighbors opened uphere this morning,” shesaid with a smile. “It is abeautiful morning to visitand I just hope that thecommunity will reach outwith even more uniqueactivities that we can bringour neighbors out to.”For Don and KristiDillehay, owners of theDillehay Ranch and organ-izers of the Blue HorizonsInc. youth organization,providing this sort of horsetherapy is nothing new, buteven they couldn’t haveforeseen just how muchinteracting with the horseswould mean to local seniorcitizens from Brush whotook their very first trip tothe Dillehay Ranch on April16. Through their BlueHorizons organization, theDillehay’s have been pro-viding horse therapy to anumber of area childrenwith special needs andfound the sessions a suc-cessful way to get kids tocome out of their shells,develop social, emotionaland mental skills thatlinger for a lifetime.Horse therapy has alsoproven an exciting new way to develop those same skillswith senior citizens. Thosewho are familiar with hors-es recognize and under-stand the power of the ani-mals to influence people inpowerful ways.Developing relationships,unearthing fond memoriesand caring for horses natu-rally affects the peopleinvolved in a positive man-ner. Just ask the residentsof Eben Ezer who weregraced with the opportunity to relive childhood memo-ries and to even make somenew memories of their own.Along for the ride thatwarm Monday morningwere Eben Ezer LutheranCare Center residentsGladys Walker, SamSchwindt, Charlie Dukart, Joy Kjeldgaard, Shirley Gregory and Patty Basher,all of whom started off theirsession by relating theirown stories and memoriesof working with and ridinghorses.For Joy Kjeldgaard,Brush’s first rodeo queen of 1956, her connection withhorses is infamous and shetold the group of her daysas a trick rider. Her signa-ture move, standing up ona horse without holding thereigns, was a crowd pleaserback in her day and shewas also known for herinfamous move which hadKjeldgaard ride two horsesat once, standing with afoot on each steed`s rear.Shirley Gregory told thegroup that she had oncebeen a rider for 10 years inthe Greeley Stampede andeven won a few trophies atthe Brush Rodeo in thepast. Shirley fondly remem-bered her horse, Big Red Teton, saying, “He wasbeautiful and I sure domiss him.”
Horse therapy proves to be beneficial for area senior citizens 
Katie CollinsNews-Tribune
Activities Coordinator Marcia Gibson, along with resident Gladys Walker, get somegrooming tips with Don and Kristi Dillehay.
See
Therapy
page 3
 
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2012 • BRUSH NEWS-TRIBUNE • SENIOR SQUARE
2
By Rich Biren
When my wife and Ivisit our grandsons,funny things happen.On one occasion oneof them hurried intothe house covered inmud. He lookedbewildered as if hedidn’t have a cluehow it happened. He said innocently,“I was only moving some dirt.”Often I shake my head and smile. Butsometimes things happen that bor-der on the paranormal.One evening we played Hearts withour daughter and son-in-law. Weneeded a short rules refresherbefore starting. After severalhands, everything appeared normal.I was losing.About an hour after the kids wentto bed, we broke for a bite to eat.The grandchildren were tuckedunder the covers. The quiet was apleasant change from the hecticactivities of the day. The sleepingarrangements had the seven-year-old sleeping in our bedroom untilsomeone (usually me) carried himback to the boys’ room. This workedwell with all three able to sleepuntil the wakeup call at 7:00 forschool. It was time to transport theoldest back to his room.Tiptoeing down the hall, I slowlypushed the bedroom door open wherethe 2 and 5 year-olds slept. Theroom was dark. The older one slepton the top bunk and the other onealways found space on the largerbottom mattress. I didn’t dare flipthe light switch and wake them.With the door slightly ajar, I feltmy way in the dark to the end of thebottom mattress. I grabbed thequilt. “Oh!” I felt a small leg.I had done this same exerciseevery night for two weeks. Thisspace had always been vacant exceptwhen the oldest didn’t get to sleepimmediately, he walked himself tothe room. I suspected he movedhimself. I retreated from theirroom.Walking back towards the cardtable, I thought mischievously ofpretending to knock on our bedroomdoor, peek inside, and shout, “Whathappened? He’s gone.” It might geta semi-hysterical parental reaction.Remember, I’m a senior. I can getaway with it by pleading temporaryconfusion. But for some reason Ichose not to. Maybe it was the fearof mandatory attendance to grand-parents school for creating unnec-essary parental worry. Maybe theauthorities would insist my visitswith the grandkids be supervised.That’s embarrassing!After pushing our door open, Iflipped the switch expecting to seean empty bed. WHAT! I couldn’tbelieve my eyes. The seven-year-old slept soundly on our bed. Whowas wrapped under the cover in theother room? I hurried back to theother bedroom determined to get tothe bottom of the situation.(Remember, it was the bottombunk.)Opening the door, I waited brieflyfor my eyes to adjust to the darkbefore kneeling at the end of themattress. I grabbed the cover andfelt only the smooth sheet under-neath. Nothing else! Confused, Icontinued to search without feelingany body. What was going on? Iworried I was loosing it. (I’m suresome of you are already thinkingthat.)Recently I read a book on “GhostsOf The Old West” and admit the ideaof paranormal experiences wasfresh in my mind. Had I experiencedone or was my mind playing tricks?Only a minute had elapsed betweenwhen I initially felt the body andwhen it disappeared. Would anyonebelieve me if I reported a missingbody. And who was missing? MaybeI needed to keep this to myself.After pushing the covers off to theside, I returned to my bedroom andcarried the oldest to his room. I sethim down on the mattress, coveredhim up, and left the dark roomshaking my head. I was definitelyoperating in the dark.I returned to the table hoping thepassage of time might clear my con-fusion. It’s not everyday a body dis-appears. There must be an explana-tion.Later, my daughter gathered someclean laundry and delivered it to theboys’ room. When she returned sheannounced, “He took off all hisclothes!” My daughter explainedthe two year old sometimes took offhis pajamas and diaper and thenrolled up in the quilt to stay warm.My confusion cleared. It wasn’tparanormal. It wasn’t my mindplaying tricks on me. It was only mygrandson operating in the dark.Thank goodness!
Senior Slices...Operating in the dark 
(ARA) – If you’re planning a homeimprovement project, you’ve proba-bly heard some horror stories: con-tractors who overcharge, underesti-mate the actual cost of a job, drag aproject out weeks longer than itshould take, or simply leave a jobunfinished.While the majority of contractorsare honest, you still need to check acontractor’s business license, and thebusiness’s financial stability, beforeyou hire anyone for your spring homeimprovement project.Online resources likeContractorCheck.com, by Experian,can help you check a contractor’s cre-dentials. Experian maintains a data-base of more than 5 million contrac-tors and their businesses' informa-tion, and ContractorCheck.com allowsyou to view this data, which includescritical information such as:* Company name, address andphone number* Multiple operating addresses* How long the company has been inbusiness* License, bonding and insuranceinformation* Contractor specialties* A credit review that will revealany past collection or derogatorycredit events* An easy-to-understand contrac-tor ratingAdditionally, ContractorCheck.comreports include public record informa-tion such as liens or judgments againstthe business.
How to find the right contractor 
 
BRUSH NEWS-TRIBUNE • WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25, 2012
3
Gladys Walker trained trick horsestogether with her late husbandJacob Walker, also known as “HorseJake”, whose tricks he taught to hishorses were infamous and displayedin rodeos throughout the country,including Cheyenne Frontier Days.Among their famous tricks weretraining a horse to push a baby buggy with baby in tow, teachinghorses to sit like a dog and even tosmoke a pipe.Sam Schwindt recalled his early days, which saw Schwindt raisingand breaking in a few quarter horsesfor his family.Patty Basher, also a former RodeoQueen, fondly remembered a timewhen her parents raced wild horsesin Wyoming and looked back on herdays in 4-H and horsemanship clubswith a bright smile.Although Charlie Dukart’s family did live on a farm near Sterling inhis day, horses weren’t an animalhe was too familiar with, but whenit came to brushing, grooming andfeeding the horses on the Dillehay Ranch,Dukartlitup just asbright as all his fellow neighbors.Horses are indeed large and pow-erful and can be naturally intimidat-ing to many, creating the opportuni-ty for some to overcome fear anddevelop confidence. Equine-assistedactivities and therapies have alsobeen proven to help people of allages to experience the emotional andphysical rewards of working withhorses.Elderly patients in many areas of the world can overcome anxiety anddepression, work on building non-verbal communication, decrease asense of isolation and empowerthemselves to take on other chal-lenges in their lives.At the Dillehay Ranch, KristiDillehay brought out four of herquarter horses including Storm,Annie, a colt named Kyota and evenLeta, a 24-year-old horse who theDillehay’s received from Wigginsafter she’d contracted a case of theWest Nile Virus, but was able to getthrough the illness. Sandy Chapinalso brought her horse Sara for theresidents to visit with. The Dillehay’s also brought outgrooming brushes, apples andgrains for the seniors to use in inter-acting with the horses.In this horse therapy, as in otherforms of animal therapy, patientslearned how to groom, feed and leadthe horse while discussing and pro-cessing feelings. When the Dillehay’scat Zeus came out to pay a visit tothe seniors, the benefits of all kindsof animal therapies were enlight-ened, as even the furry felinebrought about a change in disposi-tion for the Eben Ezer neighborsthere before they sat down for a pic-nic lunch at the ranch.According to Chavez, the outingwas a tremendous success and EbenEzer would love to get involved ineven more activities for their resi-dents.Any community interest in helpingthe neighbors get out would begreatly appreciated. Contact ShaireChavez at 842-2861 extension 246with your ideas for more Eben Ezeradventures.
Therapy
From Page One 
Contact the Brush News-Tribuneat 842-5516 if you areinterested in participatingin our July 2012 editionof “Senior Square”.
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