Students at W.P. Bate Community School in Saskatoon have been horsing around.
Pupils in grades 5-to-8 recovering from trauma or experiencing emotional challenges are taking part in the Equine Therapy Program at the Rosthern Youth Farm.
The students work in teams with program leaders to take the horses through planned activities with goals. It could be leading the animals through a designed course or running and jumping along-side of them.
The school’s Community Coordinator Shelly Fadrau says the students connect emotionally with the animals sometime recognizing their own traits in the horses.
She says a couple students talked about the horses being stubborn during the post-exercise discussion and admitted they can be stubborn as well.
Fedrea says in addition to benefiting from the interactions in a different environment, the students rise to the challenge..
The program at the Rosthern Youth Farm runs one morning a week for eight weeks.