
East Gaston senior
Hannah Mullis is helping horses help people
By Alan Hodge
alan@cfmedia.info
Take an inquisitive scientific mind, a love of horses, blend in a desire to do good deeds for others, and you have the formula that inspired East Gaston High senior Hannah Mullis to come up with a prize winning way to further the cause of hippotherapy at Shining Hope Farms near Stanley- and beyond.
Never heard of hippotherapy? The term hippotherapy refers to how occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech-language pathology professionals use evidence-based practice and clinical reasoning in the purposeful manipulation of equine movement as a therapy tool to engage sensory, neuromotor and cognitive systems to promote functional outcomes.
Mullis has been visiting Shining Hope Farms for about five years riding horses and learning more about the therapeutic work that goes on there.
“I started volunteering at Shining Hope because I loved horses,” she said. “Then I realized how much I enjoyed being a part of therapy and I now want to be a therapist after college.”
A couple of years ago it occurred to Mullis that it would make an interesting research project to investigate just exactly what the horses experience as they carry hippotherapy patients around the riding rink.
With the exception of Mr. Ed, horses can’t talk, so Mullis came up with the idea of measuring the horse’s heartbeat with a stethoscope as she played music from her phone.
“I played a variety of music from pop to classical,” Mullis said. “I found out that the faster the music, the faster the horse’s heart would beat.”
In a follow up project, Mullis also measured the heartbeat of horses as they had a person mount up, as they walked across a little footbridge, or as a rider stretched out to place a ring on a pole. She used both an experienced rider and a therapy client in the tests.
“The horses reacted differently to the level of rider experience,” said Mullis.
The purpose of the projects was to examine ways that the horses could go about their work in an efficient manner that put the least amount of stress on them.
“Hannah’s work can have implications for the hippotherapy industry as a whole,” said Shining Hope Farms founder Milinda Kirkpatrick. “It will allow us to make tweaks in our day to day operations and activities.”
Mullis hopes her work will build equestrian equilibrium and inner peace.
“I hope it helps horses be even happier than they are now,” she said.
During her project, Mullis had help from her East Gaston biology teacher Brian Johnson.
“He is a very supportive and awesome teacher,” she said.
Johnson had these to say about Mullis.
”She is a very driven, remarkable student and very advanced for her grade level,” said Johnson. “The project was her own idea and she did it on her own time.”
The inventive, detailed work that Mullis did and documented has brought her well-deserved recognition. Her project won first place at the Gaston County Science Fair. At the virtual UNC-Charlotte Science Fair she took Best in Fair Grand Prize. That honor qualified her for the International Science and Engineering Fair that will be held in Atlanta May 7-13. She is the first East Gaston student to go to that event and the first from Gaston County in ten years.
So, what’s the future hold for Mullis?
After graduation in June she will be attending Appalachian State and majoring in Exercise Science or Communication Science. No matter what her career path, there’s bound to be a horse not far away.
“I believe there will always be a horse in my future,” she said. “As well as some form of work with children who have special needs.”
For more information about Shining Hope Farms visit https://shininghopefarms.org.
alan@cfmedia.info
Take an inquisitive scientific mind, a love of horses, blend in a desire to do good deeds for others, and you have the formula that inspired East Gaston High senior Hannah Mullis to come up with a prize winning way to further the cause of hippotherapy at Shining Hope Farms near Stanley- and beyond.
Never heard of hippotherapy? The term hippotherapy refers to how occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech-language pathology professionals use evidence-based practice and clinical reasoning in the purposeful manipulation of equine movement as a therapy tool to engage sensory, neuromotor and cognitive systems to promote functional outcomes.
Mullis has been visiting Shining Hope Farms for about five years riding horses and learning more about the therapeutic work that goes on there.
“I started volunteering at Shining Hope because I loved horses,” she said. “Then I realized how much I enjoyed being a part of therapy and I now want to be a therapist after college.”
A couple of years ago it occurred to Mullis that it would make an interesting research project to investigate just exactly what the horses experience as they carry hippotherapy patients around the riding rink.
With the exception of Mr. Ed, horses can’t talk, so Mullis came up with the idea of measuring the horse’s heartbeat with a stethoscope as she played music from her phone.
“I played a variety of music from pop to classical,” Mullis said. “I found out that the faster the music, the faster the horse’s heart would beat.”
In a follow up project, Mullis also measured the heartbeat of horses as they had a person mount up, as they walked across a little footbridge, or as a rider stretched out to place a ring on a pole. She used both an experienced rider and a therapy client in the tests.
“The horses reacted differently to the level of rider experience,” said Mullis.
The purpose of the projects was to examine ways that the horses could go about their work in an efficient manner that put the least amount of stress on them.
“Hannah’s work can have implications for the hippotherapy industry as a whole,” said Shining Hope Farms founder Milinda Kirkpatrick. “It will allow us to make tweaks in our day to day operations and activities.”
Mullis hopes her work will build equestrian equilibrium and inner peace.
“I hope it helps horses be even happier than they are now,” she said.
During her project, Mullis had help from her East Gaston biology teacher Brian Johnson.
“He is a very supportive and awesome teacher,” she said.
Johnson had these to say about Mullis.
”She is a very driven, remarkable student and very advanced for her grade level,” said Johnson. “The project was her own idea and she did it on her own time.”
The inventive, detailed work that Mullis did and documented has brought her well-deserved recognition. Her project won first place at the Gaston County Science Fair. At the virtual UNC-Charlotte Science Fair she took Best in Fair Grand Prize. That honor qualified her for the International Science and Engineering Fair that will be held in Atlanta May 7-13. She is the first East Gaston student to go to that event and the first from Gaston County in ten years.
So, what’s the future hold for Mullis?
After graduation in June she will be attending Appalachian State and majoring in Exercise Science or Communication Science. No matter what her career path, there’s bound to be a horse not far away.
“I believe there will always be a horse in my future,” she said. “As well as some form of work with children who have special needs.”
For more information about Shining Hope Farms visit https://shininghopefarms.org.