The horse kids are making such great progress. The focus here is on connecting with the horses and connecting with themselves. To grow confidence, sensitivity, awareness, gentleness, partnership, communication, and hard work. And yes riding, but that is not the first goal.
The group of kids have been coming together instead of separate for their lessons. It is working out great. They have developed friendships and a sense of community with each other. They range in age from 3 to 13 with a boy and girls. They are homeschoolers but not unschoolers. Initially they always waited to be told what to do next. I like to give some guidance but want them to explore and discover learning on their own path. They have recently begun spreading their wings that way...I think being together has helped. Last week after they finished cleaning, I was inside helping Scout go potty. Before they would have stood waiting for me to redirect them or come in looking for me. I watched them go to the sandbox and play a little. Then they found a wagon full of ice and worked as a group trying to get it all out. When I am working with one of the kids the rest can work on their own with their horse. They are doing so well and learning to be freethinkers.
They have all made personal achievements as well.
The littlest flower started not talking to me or letting me walk next to her when she rode. Now, she comes into the yard with big smiles and trots off to the shed to retrieve a brush and riding pad....leaving mom behind. We go off into the trails together, no side walker needed anymore. She sings, laughs, asks to see the fox hole or the moss or the lichen or the chipmunk hole. We find colors in the forest, listen for sounds and do her stretches. When you are not even 3 feet tall the world is very fascinating from the back of the pony!
My only boy originally came because his sister wanted to ride. Now he is the one who loves it. He had no focus and no patience when we started. He spent most of his time in his own fantasy world in his head. I had to work hard to keep his attention when speaking to him. His light bulb moment came when I said to him "If Tonto gets nervous and you start yelling what will happen to Tonto". This made perfect sense to him. He worked hard every week trying to keep his focus and control his patience with his sister. He would, out loud to himself, repeat the things he needed to remember. Now it is just second nature to him to be patient and relaxed with the horses and the other kids. He was initially fearful and stiff when sitting on the pony while being led through the woods. Now he is so relaxed he loves the games that require him to reach out and retrieve beads or perform stretches while riding.
There is the girl who is an only child. She was so shy and lacked confidence when she started. She has completely transformed. She is confident with herself and with the horses (she is the only one of the kids who has handled all 5 of them), her confidence has expanded to moments when a horse does something unexpected. In the past I would need to step in and help her. Now I have seen her follow though on her own and calm the situation down. Last week I watched her prevent an event from happening with her calm, confident control.
There are two sisters. The youngest was similar to the boy when she started. She would loose her patience easily, loose her temper and quit. I told her last week how proud of her I was, that she was a completely different person. Her horse shows her how she has changed. He is very accurate in mirroring emotion. He loves being with her, his eye is soft, he walks quietly along and I see lots of hugs and communication. I believe she has been the one who has paid the most attention to me when I talk about sharing your feelings honestly with your horse. I can only describe watching the two of them as peace and harmony.
The older sister (by only about a year) came because her sister wanted to learn to ride. She, from the start, completely understood and remembered everything I said. She has great spacial awareness, keeping track of everything and everyone while doing what she needs to correctly. She has the important job of riding Scout's future mount Tonto. She also has shown a great ability in caring for Scout. Because she is so good with Scout, the dogs and horses and can focus on multiple things at once and has a great sense of responsibility, she will be our new afternoon babysitter when Amanda goes to college. We let very few people have this job (only 2 right now Amanda and Zach) it is a great compliment to her.
These kids are primarily hiking in the woods the horses and leading each other around. Riding is a goal but there is no rush. What we are doing now is setting the stage for a life with horses and hopefully establishing personal life lessons. They will all ride in time, but I have never heard any of them talk about it. They are happy and joyful while here and so are the horses. Life is good
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