Karen Gardner, MOT, OTR, HPCS
Karen has a Master’s degree in Occupational Therapy; is a Hippotherapy Clinical Specialist; and PATH, Intl. Master Instructor and Driving Instructor. She is a consulting OT and an adjunct professor for the OTA program at Lone Star College. Therapy specialties include sensory integration, aquatic and neurodevelopmental techniques. She also incorporates the concepts of Floortime (from Dr. S. Greenspan) into her treatment sessions.
Karen is certified as an Advanced Practitioner in Natural Lifemanship for Trauma-Focused Equine Assisted Psychotherapy. She is an active member of the AHA Faculty and has presented at local, state and national conferences on a variety of topics within occupational therapy, hippotherapy, adaptive riding, and horse training.
Karen’s current equine experience includes competitive carriage driving and competitive trail riding. She utilizes a variety of natural horsemanship techniques in her horse training and therapy sessions. She is a member of AOTA, TOTA, PATH Intl., LSTEN, ACTHA, and several carriage driving associations. Karen is a past president and former board member of the AHA.
Lisa Harris, MSVS, PT, HPCS
Lisa practices physical therapy at Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky where she incorporates hippotherapy through a partnership with Central Kentucky Riding for Hope.
Lisa has both an MS in Physical Therapy and Veterinary Science, specializing in equine biomechanics. She is a hippotherapy clinical specialist and has served on the AHA board as vice president, research chairperson, and newsletter editor. She is currently on the AHA board as the education chair.
Lisa is a PATH, Intl. Advanced Therapeutic riding instructor and graduate ‘A’ pony clubber who has evented through the Intermediate Two Star Level and has coached young riders through the Preliminary level.