Malama Pono Equine Assisted Services

Malama Pono Equine Assisted Services PATH Intl. provides standards of professionalism and safety for people working in the EAAT field and guidelines for those providing EAL.

-Therapeutic Riding
-Equine-Assisted Learning
-Horsemanship Skills
-Mounted Yoga Postures and Stretching for Strength and Balance
-Building Resilience and Life Skills
-Mindfulness
-Trauma Recovery
-Volunteering Malama Pono EAAT exists to provide learning and respite opportunities for people of all abilities through Equine Assisted Activities and Therapy conducted by caring, credentialed profess

ionals, protecting both the physical and emotional safety of all clients on the beautiful island of Maui. "Equine-assisted learning (EAL) is an experiential learning approach that promotes the development of life skills for educational, professional and personal goals through equine-assisted activities. In an EAL setting, the experiential approach integrates equine-human interaction that is guided by a planned learning experience to meet the identified goals or desires of the participant(s). Working with equines provides opportunities to teach critical life skills such as trust, respect, honesty and communication. Equines use mostly non-vocal communication and are in-tune with human behavior. This can help participants to better understand and learn how our non-verbal communication might be impacting or influencing others in their lives. Equines ask people to be aware of their surroundings at all times. Through interactions with the equines, participants learn a heightened self-awareness. Self-awareness is important in order to reveal patterns of behavior and gives participants the opportunity to think in a new way. Furthermore, participants gain self-esteem and self-confidence while learning how to work with such a large and powerful creature. In all, equines provide us with a way to see our internal landscape and modes of operation exposed. They offer us the opportunity to experience humility, compassion and challenge - all critical elements to supporting self-growth and self-awareness." (PATH, Int'l)

In these traumatic Covid 19 times, opportunities to develop greater resilience and problem solving skills are critical to participants of all ages. Use this link to access Registration Form:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ZzNTc0KfdkXP-NoZWUa1yB3czBMXgW-UShzc1Qq2Rd0/edit?usp=sharing

10/19/2023

Registration is now open! Register check important information and dates. Mahalo!

12/09/2022

"I can't"

I just need you to do 1 more good circle.
"It hurts me to do, I can't."
I just need you to try a little harder.
"I would like to, but I can't"
One more time, stop ignoring the leg.
"I'm not trying to, but I just can't bend in that direction"
Keep your head down, stop being silly!
"Lowering it hurts, I can't hold it"

How many times has our horse told us that they CAN'T do something, but it has fallen on deaf ears or been misconstrued as "I won't"? How many times do you think they've tried to tell us, as gently as possible, again and again while being constantly ignored? Imagine how often they must've tried before they felt the need to scream it as loudly as possible? That "dangerous behavior" is a desperate attempt to get you to listen because they literally CAN'T do what you're asking of them, not without pain. We as a CEE or CSE don't profess to be equine behaviorists, but we do understand pain and how it is often communicated. Oftentimes it isn't the pinning of ears or swishing of tail, but much more subtle. The tail held to one side, moving out of the elbows instead of the shoulders, dropping the back, being a bit heavy on the forehand, mouth open during riding but not pulling or chomping, uneven or increased respiratory rate and much more.

Tripping can be attributed to a saddle that pinches the thoracic trapezius.
Irregular breathing or urinating during/immediately after riding can be from a saddle pressing into the Bladder Meridian.
Refusal to bend, counter cantering, tail to one side, swapping leads or feeling like they stepped in a hole behind could be from a saddle twisting and the panel connecting with the spine.
Girthiness can be attributed to having the wrong length of girth where the buckles sit against the pectoral or latissimus edge. It could also be from uneven pressure caused by some shaped girths, or a girth that is too bulky.

12/04/2022

There's no nice way to put this, but we as an industry need to do away with a lot of bu****it practices that only serve to feed our vain desire to have something "pretty" and completely forgoes the living, feeling, SENTIENT creature on the other end.

- Flash (tight or not, get rid of it)
- Mane pulling - We already know that they can feel the lightest touch, so why in the name of everything are we yanking out their hair! Why are equestrians causing their horse direct, willful trauma?
- Clipping whiskers - Luckily this is illegal in some places, but still heavily practiced in others despite the fact that they are CRUCIAL to spatial awareness at the very least.
- Heavy schooling & jumping before skeletal maturity. We already know parts of the body mature at different rates, with the vertebral plates fusing as late as 6 years old for some horses. So why then are we riding BABIES into the ground!

All of this, for what? A 'prettier' horse? A little ribbon? A quicker turn around for "training" which means more money for the "trainer". Everything for vanity, ego and greed.

As the pendulum swings further to the side of compassionate equestrianism and continued education in all things horse related, one cannot help but scratch their head as their fellow riders profess their love for their horse and then proceed to inflict pain and suffering without so much as batting an eye. Are they so removed from reality that they fail to see that literally ripping out chunks of mane might be pretty damn painful for the horse? Or perhaps that a gaping mouth is normal and nothing to be concerned about. Or horses who are basically completely broken by the time they're 12 because they were ridden too early, too hard and are now paying the ultimate price.

/end rant

Address

Lahaina, HI
96761

Opening Hours

Thursday 9am - 12pm
3pm - 5pm
Friday 9am - 12pm
3pm - 5pm

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