Sheila Martin, Therapeutic Horsemanship at Triple H Ranch – General Meeting, April 2nd, 2025

Blackhawk Golden ‘K’ General Meeting
Minutes
April 2^nd, 2025

Roger Willeford presiding, called the meeting to order with a ring of the bell at 9:30AM.
29 members were in attendance today.

The meeting was led with the Pledge of Allegiance and the singing of America, the National Anthem.

Invocation: Richard Johnson, mentioning making no foolish decisions, and the children.

Raffle: Linda Bontly oversaw the ticket sales and drawing this week.
The weekly pot was $14 and the big (Joker) pot was $117.
Richard Johnson drew a ticket from the bucket, ticket number 6896. Congratulations to the winner, Steve Skelly.
The deck of cards has 43/53 cards remaining. Steve Skelly drew the 4♦.

Roger Willeford thanks greeters John Sarnow and Mel Lemirande, invocator Richard Johnson, rafflemaster Linda Bontly and server Maury Frey.

A collection was passed for ECHO.

Happy Box: Steve Skelly announced he is happy because he will donate his raffle winnings to ECHO.

Jokes: Steve Skelly had a good joke about briberies in court.
Linda Bontly had a good joke, “the president has had a lot of upset lately, and is quite ill. He just can’t stop Putin.”

Don Hanneman, Dave Caverley, Dale Henning and Ray Cummings have birthdays in the coming month, and a song was sung.

Other Announcements: Roger Willeford spoke upon receiving a Thank You card from the family of Curly Bold.
Roger Willeford announced the Milton high school Interakt Club is making progress.

Committee Reports: John Janes announced the club is pursuing new signage. An 83×33” retractable banner with stand is being planned.
John Janes announced the Tree Sale is set, and handed out fliers. It will be in the Rotary parking lot, during the Earth Day celebration near the month’s end.
John Janes announced a blood drive is occurring at St. John Vianney’s on April 29^th.

Ryan Lewis introduced the day’s speaker, Sheila Martin. Sheila Martin is the founder & director of Triple H Ranch & Therapeutic Horsemanship, a nonprofit therapeutic riding center in Milton, WI. Sheila has spent her life around horses! She started riding at the age of 6, grew up in 4-H and showed in open, Arabian and collegiate horse shows. She has a degree in business management & entrepreneurship from Ball State University and comes from a strong family background of entrepreneurs. She is currently a 4-H leader and mentor, a member of Milton and Janesville chambers and Noon Rotary. Sheila has called the Janesville/Milton area “home” for 30 years, raised her family of four children here, worked in the Milton Schools and now calls Triple H Ranch her “midlife mission” of serving others in her community.

Sheila operates a Therapeutic Riding Center. It assists children to calm themselves in nature. They get accustomed to horses via petting and handling the animals, and riding. The children and young adults learn about good horsemanship.

Each month has a lesson or subject. For example, October is about skeletons. The lessons include x-ray photographs of a horse and a human. November was fractions, including pop culture references such as Star Wars that people can relate to.

The minimum age for orientation is 8 years old and depends on the individual’s maturity and impulse control.
Triple H Ranch has programs tailored for Alzheimer’s and Dimensia.
A waiting list exists, with families ready to be accepted.

Members had questions, including some about horses. Sheila explained horses requires much care, including shoeing, dental care and molars’ grinding, and cortisone in older ages. Horses live around 28 years, and Arabians 30-32 years. Sheila’s childhood Arabian lived to 38 years of age.

Triple H Ranch appreciates people that sponsor an animal. A horse’s care including feeding is around $350 monthly. Triple H Ranch asks $1,200 monthly for one hour weekly per student, which covers everything including insurance. The students develop in educational and emotional intelligence.