Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Equine Therapy

South Eastern School District
Equine Therapy
File_000.jpeg
"Teacher T-Bird"
October 21, 2015
File_000.jpegI had the opportunity to visit with our SEIS students who are participating in equine therapy at http://equiteam.org/ in Dallastown once a week for an hour.  
File_003.jpeg
An obstacle course to describe the journey
The students were asked to create a visual journey through the therapy experience with a “Beginning, middle and end”.  The students also identified and named the two horses either student or teacher and used a sticky note to physically label each horse.  Creativity and teamwork were everywhere as students constructed elaborate or simple visual journeys using whatever resources they could find.  But that was only half of the task...the other half was to get the student or teacher to walk through the journey with them.  I witnessed teamwork and process learning at it’s best.  Some students tried to take the lead of the horses,others looked for water buckets or favorite toys and some had to adjust their structures to allow the horses in.  
File_008.jpeg
Students found it easier to move the student
At the end, students discussed their journey, the process,  and experience moving the teacher (bigger horse “T-Bird”) and the student (mini-horse).  Just as with the other group the students were focused, attentive and participated with a great deal of insight into why some things were easier than others.  All students agreed that the journey was well worth it and they were excited to continue with equine therapy in the spring.  Thank you Equiteam.
File_003.jpeg
One group used just these three words to summarize their beginning, middle and end.

Search This Blog