SUNDRE - Working with horses in teams of two enables participating students the opportunities not only to learn about the animals, but also to grow as individuals, said the principal of River Valley School.
“They learn a lot about reading social cues, trust, and building relationships not only with their peers but also with an animal,” said Leslie Cooper-Shand.
For approximately five years, the equine assisted learning program — made possible in part through a partnership with equine expert Christine Schauer, who facilitates the program out of the Eagle Hill Equine arena, which is managed by Samantha DeWitt — has provided about 100 students with the unique opportunity, she said.
“It has certainly serviced a number of kids,” she said.
“Traditionally, we’ve run a couple of sessions a year, each for six weeks.”
There are typically two batches of six kids each semester, for a total of about 24 every year, who get involved, she said.
Due to the nature of working with horses, there tends to be a misperception that the youth are developing horsemanship skills, she said.
“They don’t actually ride,” she said.
“They work in teams of two, with one horse, and kind of navigate getting to know that animal.”
Not to be confused with dressage, which involves mounting a horse and guiding it through specific steps, the students only work from the ground, she said.
“It’s not so much about their horsemanship as much as it is about their humanship,” she said, adding the focus is not about becoming an expert with horses but rather improving the students’ ability to develop relationships with people.
The training involves learning to communicate not only with the horse but also as a team as they guide the animal through an obstacle course. The process helps to establish trust and build relationships as the students improve their ability to read cues and develop an enhanced sense of spatial awareness, she said.
“We have kids that can use extra support in those areas,” she said, calling the program, “a real confidence-builder for these kids.”
Living in a rural setting sets the stage to make the unique program available, she said.
“Often, there’s a perception that urban environments have perks we don’t have access to — and in some cases that’s true — but this is something we can take advantage of, and I’m so pleased we have the opportunity to do so.”
Of course bringing the students to the Eagle Hill Equine centre represents a cost of transportation, not to mention expenses involved in the arena and horses, she said.
Sending one student costs roughly $270, so by the time two dozen are factored in for the year, the expense quickly adds up. And although the school has applied for grants, which are never certain to be approved, the backbone supporting the program has largely been contributions from donors and volunteers, she said.
Among them, she added, is Al Wattie, the former president of the recently dissolved James River Junior Horsemanship Society, which donated its remaining funds worth about $17,000 to River Valley School specifically to sustain the program.
“With that donation, I’m confident we can continue to run the program for some time. Every year we can get under our belts, that’s awesome,” she said, expressing profound gratitude on behalf of the school to both Wattie and Schauer.
Wattie, who now lives in Sundre, originally spearheaded the effort to launch the society about 15 years ago at a riding arena north of town.
“I owned the James River Horse Palace,” he said during a phone interview.
At the time, there were many youths involved, primarily learning English riding and dressage, or “the fancy walks and trots,” he said.
Inspired largely by a desire to ensure kids who were interested in horsemanship had the opportunity to get involved, Wattie said young people can learn a lot about life from working with horses and other animals.
“They learn respect, responsibility, how to handle them, and how not to be pushed around,” he said.
“It’s just really good for them.”
Among the success stories that come to his mind are a student who in 2012 went on to represent Alberta at an equine competition in Lexington, Ky. and is now pursuing her third year in medicine after completing a pharmacy program, as well as another who became an engineer and is now employed with Microsoft.
“They’re really smart kids, good kids,” he said.
“It’s nice to see them go that far.”
Those were exhilarating years, he said, adding the James River Horse Palace's interior walls were often adorned with ribbons.
“It was pretty exciting for all the young kids to be so successful with it.”
The James River Junior Horsemanship Society was governed by five volunteer directors and registered with Alberta Corporate Affairs as a non-profit society in 2012. Funds were raised through a number of annual events such as dinners, silent auctions, pizza sales, colt raffles, bottle drives and more, said Wattie, expressing a deep appreciation for everyone who volunteered and contributed, including the Ladies of the James River Community Hall.
The difficult decision to dissolve the society was largely the result of waning numbers of youths involved in recent years, he said.
“We hardly had any kids riding any more,” he said, speculating that the sputtering economy played a substantial role.
Buying good horses for the youth and taking them out to shows on weekends wasn’t cheap, and numbers seemed to decline along with people having less disposable income, he said.
“Times change, and not always for the better.”
But Wattie will never forget the community’s unwavering support over the years, which he cited as his main reason for moving to the area from a farm west of Leduc.
Although he has since sold the James River Horse Palace, Wattie said he is glad to have been able to help ensure River Valley School’s equine assisted learning program will continue to endure for the immediate future to provide students with the invaluable learning opportunity.
“The horses actually teach the kids.”
