Hippo What?

Tonight I went to Papa's Pizza. It's a kid-friendly, over-priced, greasy pizza joint...and it's called Papa's.  Needless to say, not the typical restaurant Brian and I frequent :)  But tonight, I went, to support my massage school buddy, Mark.  I didn't know the details except that 50% of whatever I spent would go toward a non-profit that he works with that has something to do with horses and kids.  "Cool," I said, "I'll be there."

I thought I'd just pick up my to-go order, say hi to Mark, and be on my way.  What I did not predict was being asked by an incredibly enthusiastic woman named Ferronato if I'm interested in hippo-therapy.

"What?"  Blank stare. Inner thought: No, I came for the greasy pizza and Mark.  "What therapy?"

Hippo therapy.  You know, right?  No, I don't know what that is, and I've heard hippos are are violent, so I don't think I'm interested.  (Here's a little Greek lesson.)  Evidently (I was enlightened to learn) "hippopotamus" is greek for "water horse", and "hippo-therapy" is "horse therapy".  Oh, horse therapy.  Ok, I can wrap my head around that, sort of.  I told her I took horseback riding lessons in 6th grade, but that was about all the horse knowledge I had.

I listened intently to her describe (with great passion, I might add) what exactly she does, and I found myself tilting my head and raising an eyebrow when she said she's had chiropractors come out and adjust a human in a horse arena, then adjust the horse - yep, evidently gettin' cracked isn't just for humans! - and then she proceeded to describe this incredibly fascinating process of using hippo-therapy to heal and re-align someone's structural integrity.   Evidently the therapist (like my friend, Mark) will sit behind the "client" in the saddle and "massage" or manipulate their muscles and stretch/re-align them while on the horse.  And they do this with disadvantaged kids.  And they charge $100/hour.  Huh?  Who knew?


I walked out of Papa's with a common and getting-more-familiar feeling that I like to call an "only in Eugene" moment.

When my order came up, and Ferronato asked me again if I was interested in equine massage or hippo therapy, I said "No, I'm thinking more along the lines of prenatal massage...but I'll definitely spread the word about what you're doing!"
So, in keeping my word:

You can check out Ferronato's and Three Treasures Farms at: http://www.threetreasuresfarms.org/bio.php