WE DON’T MAKE ANY MONEY AT TIMBER CREEK THERAPIES, AND THAT’S PROBABLY ANOTHER REASON WHY THERE AREN’T OTHER FACILITIES LIKE OURS. I DONATE MY TIME. I’M HAPPY TO GET UP AND GO TO WORK EVERY DAY.
— CINDY MCCARTY, DIRECTOR OF TIMBER CREEK THERAPIES
“They’re very dependable, versatile and reliable,” Bill says. “The dealer has come down to check on the loader or pick up things for us; they’re very accommodating and prompt,” Cindy adds.
The Bobcat skid-steer loader and attachments ensure that Timber Creek will be able to provide therapy for patients, helping bring hope to many who are discouraged and an opportunity to enjoy another horse ride at Timber Creek Ranch.
ABOUT TIMBER CREEK
Bill and Cindy purchased 220 acres near Panora, with natural springs and various timbers, and started Timber Creek Ranch, originally because Bill wanted a place to raise cattle, having grown up on a cattle ranch. It has 60 acres of tillable land; half to raise hay and the other half for pasture.
“It was kind of his get-away hobby,” Cindy says, “and he and I have always had horses. We would ride out in the timber.” That’s when she started to think about helping patients with the use of horses.
“I thought about adults I worked with in nursing homes who had strokes, especially those who didn’t have hobbies. I thought, if I could get them out here, they would really like it. I started reading about using horses in therapy and I’ve always loved horses, so wouldn’t it be great if I could work with horses and do therapy, too?
“My friend, Sue Behrens, a wonderful physical therapist who had put some of her patients on horses for movement disorders, was seeing good results from it. So we talked about what we could do to offer more therapy using the horses.” Behrens has been a physical therapist at Timber Creek Therapies since the beginning.
That thought started Cindy down a path of much reading and studying.
“I went to 11 different states and took training from other therapists who have programs and learned how it all started,” she says. “Every place I visited, I would look at the facility and think about what we might be able to do at our facility.”
Through her studies, Cindy learned the way a horse walks is the same way a human being walks. Here is how she describes it: “When you walk, your pelvis moves your torso, your trunk, in three different places, simultaneously. You get an anterior posterior motion, lateral motion and rotation pattern. All three of those things are going on at the same time, and there’s no machine that has
continued on page 32 FALL 2013 WORKSAVER 31
ABOVE: Side walker Merv Krakau goes along with a guest who visited Timber Creek Therapies for the opportunity to ride a horse for the fi rst time in decades. BELOW: The therapy center’s Bobcat skid-steer loader and auger are used to install new fence posts.
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