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Website Home Page Newsletter Directory Current Schedules - Class/Session (Riders) Current Schedules - Volunteer Activities The Many Ways to Sponsor G.A.I.T. |
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Volunteer Of the Year!Volunteer of the Year! Every year, the Pike County Chamber hosts an event to honor outstanding volunteers in Pike County. This year, G.A.I.T. selected Gary Rusnack as our “Volunteer of the Year”. Gary Rusnack is a man of many talents and he has graciously brought all of them to G.A.I.T. He began in 2008 with a volunteer training session held in January. “I need something to do that keeps my body active and makes me feel good about life.” he said. One thing that makes G.A.I.T. unique from other non-profit organizations is the Then he began coming when classes were not in session so he could pick up manure in the arenas or clean horses’ stalls or fill water buckets in each of the ten stalls. Again he took another challenge to come once or twice a week to wash, scrub, rinse and dry the stall mats of one of the horses, named Halee. He has since added Missy to his stall-mat-washing chores as well. People volunteer for all sorts of things, in all sorts of ways, for all different reasons. But I don’t know too many people that will volunteer to do the things just mentioned. Along with his volunteering at G.A.I.T., you may have seen him working at 7 th Street Coffee, or displaying his stained-glass art work around town. There is something even more special about Gary. He suffers from Systemic Lupus. This painful physical condition does not keep Gary from helping other people. He is an extraordinary person. Mr. Gary Rusnack, we are proud to name you as G.A.I.T.’s More G.A.I.T. Additions! Some of you may have noticed a few new faces at the barn — cat faces, that is. “Rommel” has similar markings to “Spirit”, G.A.I.T.’s barn cat of 11 years. Rommel is cute, personable and nicknamed “Mini-Me”, “Cashew”, and “Doppelganger”. The other new cat is black and white whose name is “Peanut”. Our horses might nickname her “Terror Cat”, “Scuchi Kitty” or “Trouble” because she just loves to try to scare the horses! It might surprise you to know that despite the size difference, cats can startle a horse and cause them to shy. That could be dangerous if a rider were on the horse at the time the horse got frightened. This is because cats are by nature predators and horses by nature are prey animals. Predators will stalk prey animals. Their behavior is “hard-wired” into their brains at birth. That is where good horse training comes in! At G.A.I.T., long before riders get on the horse, an extensive amount of training goes into teaching the horse to get used to new things, new sounds, and new sights For example, Peanut recently tried to scare Patrick by running around and under Patrick’s feet while a rider was on him. But because of good horse training, Patrick didn’t react to the cat at all — no matter how much trouble she tried to cause the horse! Peanut finally became bored and left Patrick alone. Hopefully now, Peanut and Rommel will help Spirit do their “real” job — to keep the stable free from rodents! Welcome aboard, kitties! |
In This Winter Issue! |
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physical activity involved. Gary walks beside the horse to help riders with special needs with their tasks of balancing, coordinating their body parts to plan for movement and to understand what is being asked of them. As if this wasn’t enough, he decided to attend several additional volunteer sessions which included grooming the horse and leading the horse. 
without getting scared!