Time Out With Horses - Youth
This is our main programme for one or two students with a ‘Buddy’ and a pony or donkey. It is a concentrated time for fun and learning while gaining farm skills and experiences. Students also get hands-on with our fabulous horses and donkeys while gaining confidence.
Students don’t need to have had experience with horses.
We explore topics such as well-being, identity, choices, self-talk, friendships, emotions, teamwork, communication, passions, boundaries and more. The ponies and donkeys help the students learn these skills in a tangible way. The majority of our work is ‘
on the ground’, meaning students may not get to ride until the last session.
Our Time Out With Horses programme can be adapted to suit our clients re content and time however our standard sessions run for 2-3 hours weekly for up to 10 sessions. Every student goes through Orientation and a Safety session, Horsemanship 101, and the programme includes at least 4 aspects:
​
-
Farm Tasks: Gain farm skills, life skills and horse care skills, as experiential ways of learning empathy, responsibility, teamwork, problem solving and perseverance.
-
Equine Time: Gain horsemanship skills as experiential ways of learning confidence, trust, empathy, respect, leadership, perseverance, boundaries, problem solving, body language and non-verbal communication.
-
Team Tasks: Gain team horsemanship skills as experiential ways of learning interpersonal confidence, trust, empathy, respect, leadership, perseverance, boundaries, problem solving, body language and non-verbal communication.
-
Debrief Time: Solidify and reflect on experiential learning, tune into cognitive understanding, reflect on personal strengths, success and challenges and gain feedback for next session.