Riding project helps teach vital life skills
Horses expensively trained to remain calm
A Bradford horse riding programme for disengaged school children has drawn praise from participants and their parents.
Changing Lives Through Horses (CL) is a national project
organised by the British Horse Society (BHS) that takes place with qualified coaches
at approved riding centres including the Throstle Nest Riding school at Wilsden
Equestrian Centre.
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Opportunities extended
The BHS project is aimed at young people who are
“permanently excluded, at risk of permanent exclusion or who have special education
needs or disabilities”, those who are not in employment, education, or
training, or lack the skills to improve their economic situation.
Throstle Nest is run by Jeanette Wilder, who has been
working with horses since she was 12 when, along with her brother, she used
ponies from the family dairy farm to teach riding skills to children from the
Eccleshill area in Bradford. Wilder’s passion for horses has been extended into
providing opportunities for young people who are otherwise very unlikely to learn
to ride the animals.
“We put something back into the community. The Riding for
the Disabled Association (RDA) is linked to us. When the BHS established
Changing Lives four years ago, I immediately got us involved. Whilst it brings
in some income, we lose out by needing to turn away other customers,” said
Wilder
A general lesson at Wilsden costs £20 for 30 minutes and £25
for 45 minutes. On the Changing Lives programme the fees are £28 an hour and
£45 for two. The costs are covered by schools, the RDA, parents and charitable
associations.
Prodding and poking
Amelia Helm, aged 14, has been riding for ten years. She
persuaded her school to let her begin attending CL sessions in September.
“I am struggling speaking in school lessons,” she said.
“Coming here is relaxing. It is fun and I have no worries as I don’t need to
make an effort for people. “I do the lessons with other age groups and I relate
to them as we are all passionate about horses.”
She also attends weekend pony club lessons and enjoys mucking
out the stables and looking after the horses. She wants to do work experience
at the riding school next year as she is looking to work with horses when she
leaves education.
In addition to support from volunteers, Throstle Nest
employs eight full-time staff, all women
On site it has 21
horses, more expensive to buy in recent years. Horses must be four years old
and fullytrained before they can be used in the riding school and the animals,
which need to be calm and forgiving enough to be able to overcome some prodding
and poking, must be five before they can be employed on RDA sessions. To save
costs, Wilder bought a three-year-old horse, which staff are training. There is
no guarantee the horse will prove suitable for lessons.
There were nine children of varying abilities aged seven to
15 years on a Tuesday CL session in November. “We don’t tend to look at their
diagnosis but just work with them on a weekly basis as the children can be
totally different on each occasion,” said Wilder. “Sometimes they can be having
a bad day because of a change of medication. We have a plan but you can realise
it won’t work. You must be patient but we have a much lower ratio of staff
compared to pupils than at school and so we can make swift changes.”
Special relationship
Warren Keighley, aged six, who has complex needs, has been
attending the CL programme for two years.
“A physiotherapist identified that working with horses would
be very beneficial for building his core strength,” said his mum Hannah. “The
facilities here and the whole environment and dedication of staff, who are
empathetic with children that have different needs, means you feel included.”
Grandad Martin is also a big fan. “Warren has moved from
being afraid to get on a horse to saddling it up, mounting, leading and
dismounting from the animal,” he said.
During lockdown the centre trained parents and grandparents
in how to lead horses and this helped facilitate lessons for Warren.
Before lockdown,
Warren had built a special relationship with staff member Evie. On the day Big
Issue North visited, the pair had met for the first time in over a year.
A smiling Warren said: “What I liked about today is when I
saw Evie and I cried as I was happy. Missy was my horse today. She is a bit
cheeky like another horse called Dolly. I like coming here and being in charge
of a horse.”
According to Wilder the racing industry is offering
opportunities to young people to undertake apprenticeships in stable yards and
the pay thereafter is good.
Wilder explained that children attending the CL project are
taught to work with others and to pay attention and concentrate as otherwise
they get into trouble with the horse.
“It also improves their balance and by being fun it helps
develop an interest that we can channel into education generally,” she said.
“If they switch off at school in English and mathematics then we can get them
to write about horses and work out how much to feed the animals.”
In more basic scenarios, children get to recognise different
colours when they pick up objects when riding a horse.
The CL programme uses a range of awards that “are structured
around promoting the holistic development of all involved and nurturing six
life skills for all young people: building relationships, communication,
confidence, responsibility, teamwork and perseverance”.
Susan*, who has seen her two sons benefit from engaging with
horses said: “My eldest, who is hypermobile and has been diagnosed with
attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, has improved his core strength by
coming here.
“He has completed the award scheme development and
accreditation network qualification, which took him a year. He is not going to
achieve a standard qualification, so having a certificate where he can say
‘Look, I can do this’ is great for self-confidence.”
Susan’s youngest son
is nine. His CL programme is funded by his school and the RDA.
She said: “It has created a connection with horses, which
has helped him emotionally and his attention span has expanded. When riding he
must consider the needs of the horse and this moves him away from thinking
about himself and helps him to get on with other children.”
Susan believes that many more disengaged children would have
their lives improved if there were more opportunities to attend the project.
MARK METCALF * Name changed
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