It feels as though I just arrived here yesterday! My time here at Anam Cara Farm has flown by and I am sad that this is the end. I have learned so much from this outdoor classroom and from my various conversations and experiences throughout these last 3 weeks. It has been an opportunity for me to see how impactful being with animals in nature is. Although this is something I have always known, and just makes sense, it was awesome to be in this setting and see first hand the benefits of equine facilitated wellness.

This week I observed a riding lesson with a  ten year old child with autism. While he was riding I was chatting to the mum about family life and the difference she has seen while he has been riding. She mentioned to me that he is a different person when he is riding, he is calm, quiet and focused. He also loves to come for lessons and when given the choice of whether to continue or not he had no doubt that he wanted to continue despite the fact that transitions are hard for him so coming to his lessons can be a challenge at first. It was so great to see how pleased his mother was with his progress and the difference it has made in his life over a few short months.

It is surprising to me that more funding is not put towards something that is so natural and beneficial. Being here for a consistent amount of time has meant that I have been able to see how much work goes into managing and maintaining a farm. There is no such thing as having a weekend or evenings relaxing because the animals need to be looked after no matter what the day is!  I hope that wherever I end up in my teaching journey I will be able to spread the word about the benefits of equine facilitated wellness and I hope to implement the lessons I’ve learned here into my own classroom one day.

I plan to continue volunteering here and hope to continue on a lasting relationship with the wonderful people who have hosted me!

As I spend more time at my CFE and get more accustomed to the routine and the general tranquility of my environment I feel more and more at home here. It is hard for me to write a blog post that sums up my experience as I feel like the lessons I am taking from Empowered by Horses is on a more intuitive, emotional level than those that are directly taught. So far from my experience I know that without a doubt I support equine facilitated wellness and that I would not hesitate to recommend this as an option for any student I have, or person I know, going through various struggles in life.

This week I had the opportunity to hear Carla speak about PTSD and equine facilitated wellness which was another very formative experience for me. I won’t go into too much detail here but essentially it was about how horses can help us and why. So that includes things such as the fact that being with horses is proven to help with mindfulness and lower cortisol levels. As I helped Carla prepare for the talk I also went into the research and although there is not much I was inspired by the research I found and I will continue to follow the topic into the future.

As far as my own pedagogy is concerned I feel like this experience ties in very well to social emotional learning. I am constantly thinking how I can take this peaceful, mindful experience I am having into the classroom to benefit my future students. Therefore I have been thinking more about the benefits of having a class pet, or having a peaceful corner. It also bring to light the importance of getting to know your students to know what situations they have lived through so that you can work out how to make them feel the most safe and secure in your classroom.

I look forward to the following week and to see what new experiences it will bring!

This first week at Anam Cara Farm has been an amazing experience so far. I didn’t know how much I needed the calm sanctity of the barn and being outside all day until I was here! As well as having the chance to spend every day outside with the horses and other animals, I have also had the opportunity to witness a program where the horses clearly had a powerful impact on youth.

For this blog entry I’ve decided to focus on the program that I had the chance to be a part of this week called ‘Bold and Beautiful’. It’s a 6 week program where the students come for 2 hours to the farm where they talk about important lessons and spend time with the horses. I noticed that one of the main focuses was a talk around boundaries, setting boundaries and respecting boundaries. As soon as the girls came in they were immediately wanting to share how they have remembered the previous weeks lessons and about how excited they were for this week, the week where they get to ride the horses. It was an eye opening experience for me to see these girls come in ( 7 of them in grades 6-7) for the most part very quietly, and as the 2 hours went on I saw them all come out of their shell and share in a safe environment. When they did get to ride the horses the smiles on their face were huge and I could tell in that moment how important the work they do at Empowered by Horses is. Those students were able to feel calm, happy and seemingly care free in the moments they were at the farm, as these youth had been chosen for the program because they were considered at risk I think the safety and calming atmosphere of the farm made such a difference even in the short amount of time they spent there.

I am really looking forward to my next couple of weeks here and am excited to see what those weeks have in store for me!