School programs involving horses benefit of Airdrie living

For horse lovers, owning a home in Airdrie means you have the best of both worlds.  The amenities of living in a city with good neighbours nearby and a school down the street, with quick access to the country side where your favourite stable might be located. 

Living in Airdrie means you’re never more than 10 minutes away to the edge of the city.   The surrounding countryside is full of acreages, ranches and farmland connected with a network of grid roads where riding horseback is part necessity, part recreation.

Proximity to the countryside is one reason why it’s so easy for students attending schools in the Rocky View School District to take advantage of programs involving horses.  That includes a new therapy program involving horses through an organization based outside of nearby Carstairs called Equine Enrichment.

Rocky View School District has just signed a five-year agreement with Equine Enrichment for students from kindergarten all the way up to Grade 12.

Program Preview for Special Needs Teachers

There was a trial run in February for teachers and staff to try out the program for a few hours to see what students would have to do and to see how it might benefit them.  It’s a six-week program which is of particular benefit to special needs students in the Rocky View system.

One of the teachers who tried it out was Janelle Jones, a teacher at Ralph McCall School in the Woodside Estates area of Airdrie.  As a special needs teacher, Jones said the experience at Equine Enrichment was highly impactful.  She said in an article published on AirdrieCityView.com that it was an amazing day and that words couldn’t quite describe the experience.  She explained that she could tell that her horse responded to her emotions just through body language and that if she was feeling confident then the horse was confident.

The Carstairs organization has been operating for the past five years, offering one-on-one private sessions for people who have recently been through difficult circumstances or some type of trauma.  A coaching session on horseback can also serve as a turning point to mark a pivotal occasion.  Individuals learn to overcome their fear of horses and find that they actually relate to the animal they work with. The animal becomes a friend to the individual and seems to understand and care in some sense about what the individual has been or is going through without using words – strictly through body language.

Coaching students in a school division is new for the outfit.

Students would travel to the facility for two hours weekly, for six weeks.  The students are also given some takeaway messages – not necessarily homework – where they keep their experience fresh in their minds as they go through the week.

Airdrie Students Learn New Skills

Some of the skills students learn are mindfulness, boundaries and boundary setting, communicating in a healthy manner and teamwork.  Often students with challenges are missing these essential life skills.

While the school district in Airdrie has an agreement with Equine Enrichment and teachers have been introduced to the program, it’s up to the individual schools in the City of Airdrie to determine if there’s a need for it within their own student body and if funding is available.

Parents in Airdrie who think they’d like their children to take part in this program, independent of the school district, are welcome to sign up for the program privately. 

The program uses the theory from Equine Gestalt as part of its therapy in cooperation with another Alberta organization, Heard Wellness Through Horses.

Carstairs is 36 km north of Airdrie.

Parents can check out the Equine Enrichment website.