NEW PROGRAM!

Cowboy Poetry®
Character Building Program with Horses
Adressing the needs of at-risk youth in our community

Equine Assisted Learning presents participants of all ages and abilities with interactive challenges and learning activities to improved communication skills, recognize and build on strengths, comprehend truth, respect, trust, and honesty, understand natural consequences and focus on accountability, enrich relationships and teamwork, utilize critical thinking, planning, and problem solving skills.

Why horses? Horses require work. Whether in caring for them or working in partnership with them they require people to be engaged in physical and mental work to be successful, a valuable characteristic in all aspects of life. Horses are very much like humans in that they are social animals with defined roles within their herds. Just like humans they would rather be with their peers, they have distinct personalities, attitudes and moods, and most importantly, they have the ability to mirror exactly what the human body language is telling. They are honest which makes them especially powerful messengers. They like to have fun, yet they can also be stubborn and defiant.  The horses allow the student to self-discover and improve their processes to achieve the best possible outcome.

Character Education:
There is a concern in many communities that the number of suspensions, expulsions, teenage pregnancies, and incidents of youth violence are far too high. Ride With Pride has served Augusta County providing therapeutic horsemanship programs for special needs children and adults since 1990. In the past decade we have strived to offer programs that address the growing needs of at-risk youth including Anger Awareness with Horses groups and Image Enhancement Work Skills Programs.

Cowboy Poetry is the next step in helping youth develop the positive life-skills that can enable them to be successful members of the community. Youth with skills to resolve conflict peacefully, practice pro-social behaviors, and engage in service to the community have lower incidents of violence and greater potential for academic success. The goal of Cowboy Poetry is to encourage and promote the development of positive character skills thereby offering  youth the opportunity to make better choices for a better life.

Skills: Courage, Generosity, Respect, Imagination, Honesty, Friendship, Cooperation, Integrity, Forgiveness, Trustworthy, Caring, Confidence, Consideration, Creativity, Responsibility, Determination, Teamwork, Diversity

Developed in 2005 by Strides to Success, Cowboy Poetry is designed to partner students with horses to promote healthy life skills and develop strength based assets that stimulate positive behavioral changed. It is a therapeutic approach that impacts a variety of mental health and human development needs including attention deficit disorder, anger management, depression, anxiety, abuse issues, and communication needs. It also is highly effective in building leadership skills and teaching students about relationships. 

Ride With Pride offers this program as either an 8 or 12 week program for 4 to 8 students. Each week a new skill is identified. Each session consists of interactive discussion, an equine activity, classroom activity and a process review discussion. A pre and post test is utilized to measure student outcomes.