Gramma's Afterschool Pony Club

Ahhh, my sweet Gramma.  We lost Gramma earlier this year, but her memory lives on.  Gram's always had something to say and definitely something to teach.  Her favorite thing in the world, was kids.  She would stand for hours being brushed, flowers in her mane and just being loved on.  Favorite thing to eat was dandelions and little edible flowers.  

I remember when I was younger I couldn't get enough of horses, didn't matter what it was, but I wanted to learn and be around them.  I didn't care if I rode or not, I just wanted to learn about how to look after them, brush them, pick up their poop and know what to do if they were poorly.   So, I am projecting!!  This is my pet project, it is something that enables me to offer what I learned and everything I love about being around horses to young kids.  It doesn't matter if you have any experience, or are even comfortable around horses.  We will learn together.  The program is open to kids from Grade 2 to 7.  

I have run this program for a year or so on Bowen Island.  We had a small group of 6 kids and the week is split into two one hour sessions. The first hour is stable management.  This is where we learn about anything and everything about horses, from grooming, how they live, whether that be in a stable or on pasture or a track system.  We learn about first aid, what to feed our ponies, different breeds.  Even though this is not a riding program, we learn about different disciplines.  On our second hour it is all about the pony, we learn about how to handle the horse, leading, moving the horse around.  We learn about how we affect the horse, using our energy to work with the pony.  This also delves into the equine therapy side of things, how if we settle our body, listen to our senses and how that can affect the horse and ourselves.  We have built some quite amazing obstacle courses and using the skills we have learned work the ponies around the course.

2021 was a busy year for Pony Club, here are some of the things we participated in. We started by learning about how our pony likes to live and made our own stable yards, the group was very creative.  This is what I love about this program, you bring you to the table. I don't care if your stable has a chandelier, awesome!  

We also had Gramma's 30th birthday to celebrate, so we made Gramma a crown, as she deserves it!!  

After Grammas party and our stable building, it was Halloween.  OK, so my ponies are such good sports, we dressed them up for Halloween and of course had a party.  The group all chose different costumes we could dress the minis and Gramma up in and then we voted.  After, we broke into groups and the group all made their own costumes. I was so proud of them all.  They cut, they sew, they stuck.  I just supplied and helped out when needed.  At the party, we did apple bobbing, which I have to say, Clyde excelled at!!  All the ponies got treats.  Clyde was a bumble bee, and was so cute, he bobs his head up and down, so the little antennae bobbed all over the place.  Lightening was a show pony and was great at standing and being plaited up.  He looked just lovely!  Gramma was a sugar plum fairy.  She had a unicorn's horn and wings and a tutu.  Again, totally up to the group and their vision. 

Soooo, after Halloween, we continued on with some stable management.  We unfortunately lost one of the herd (not my horse, but still a member on the property).  We spoke about Odin passing away and how that happened.  We spoke about how the other herd members were handling the loss, especially his daughter.  We did cards for Christine who owned Odin and we visited Odin's grave.  This is a relevant part of learning and I managed this on an age appropriate basis and really held the space for the group to process and give their thoughts on the whole thing.  It was beautiful and enlightening.   

Christmas started to sneak up on us.  We wanted to give the horses stockings and treats.  So that is what we did!  I made the template for the stocking and the group sewed them together and decorated them.  We then found a recipe for treats and had an afternoon of making sticky, gooey yumminess for the horses to go into their stockings.  We hung up the stockings ready for the horses to enjoy later in December.  

We also did a lot of horsemanship through our second hour in the week (yep, all that was the first hour of the week).  We learned about our ponies body language and their energy.  We learned how to safely approach our ponies, understand when they were not happy to be brushed and poked, but also learning how our own energy affects all of this.  We spoke about how if we have a bad day or are upset or tired or super excited, all of this has an affect on our horses.  Some of the kids ride as well (at a different barn), and so we spoke about how that affects our pony when we are riding.  We learned that just by breathing, we can lower that energy, how we can sense into our surrounding area and listen to what is around us, can help regulate us.  The ponies always responded differently to each child in the group and I always give the group the option to participate or not.  Some days, we just don't want to and that is OK.  

We worked a lot in hand, catching and releasing, asking the ponies to walk and trot beside us by increasing our energy.  We learned how to move the pony around just by our energy and also discuss why our ponies sometimes didn't do as we asked.  Is that us or them?  

I give each of the kids journals and encourage them to use them throughout the program.  Whether drawing pictures of what is going on that day or writing how they are feeling, we then have the option to chat about that should they want to.  This can be on a one on basis or in a group.  We also worked a lot of self esteem, inclusivity, self confidence and loving who we are!!!  

We designed and built obstacle courses to work the ponies around.  Before doing any of this, we discussed if our ponies would be happy a four foot fence, or maybe having something they would enjoy would be nicer for them and it would mean they got to enjoy the experience and I pointed out they had to jump it as well next to them!  

We took our ponies out for walks and grass and all took it in turns and worked as a team when it came to our ponies.  

We also put our stable management experience into practice and mucked out their stables and turnouts, brushed them, learned what brushes the ponies liked.  Learned our to halter them and how to lead correctly.  We learned to put their blankets on and feed them.  Each member of the group really stepped up and took turns to do this.  They really worked as a team.  Of course, we brought in the equine therapy side of things, without it being a big thing.  This group became closer to one another and supported each other and were one another's cheer leaders.  I loved it!

Soon after the snow came upon us and we finished Pony Camp for the year.  We started briefly in 2022, however, due to us selling our home on Bowen and making our move to the Sunshine Coast, we have had this camp on hold.  However, I am chomping at the bit to get started again and have lots of plans and ideas for this program for this year and going forward.  I am very excited!  So please come and join us!!! 

So What Happens in a Session?

With the consent of my client, I am allowed to give you a sneak peak into what happens in a session.  Full disclosure, my client has read and approved all materials below!!

One of my younger clients, Tom came to me for his weekly session.  We always start by checking in and see what has been going on in his world for the week.  I like to catch up, see where we are at that moment in time and what has been going on for each of my clients.  When I started working as a life coach, I didn't think that I would be life coaching my kid clients, however, of course I would be!!!!  None of us have all the answers to questions, but we have a habit of solving problems for others.  This is not what a life coach does.  We work together, solve the problems together, I ask questions, but never give solutions.  

So, Tom and I checked in and he explained that he had a friend that didn't have any boundaries and was on top of him the whole time. I asked what that meant, he said that he would grab him, be in his space, in his face, touching him.  I asked him how that make him feel in his body, he said nervous, it over whelmed him and he didn't like it.  I asked him what would happen if he asked him to stop, asked him not to come into his space.  He said he hadn't done that and I asked why.  He said he didn't want to upset him.  OK, so how could we figure something out that both parties would be happy?  How about, we take the minis to the round pen and play with boundaries.  Tom was up for that.  We are going to use Clyde, hmmm, I prefer Lightening said Tom, yep, but Clyde is a better mirror for this.  OK.....

We lead the minis up to the arena and let them have a little run around and roll.  Now they are ready for work.  So when working with any of my horses, we make sure they are happy and ready to work. So we do what they need.  Generally, they like to have a run around and a big roll.  Maybe a little munch of grass.  That is OK, whilst they do that, we do a little breathing and sensing in.  What is that?  We take some breaths into our body, sense into our surroundings, listening to the sounds, smelling the air, feeling the earth beneath our feet and the air on our face.  It allows us to relax, come into our body, be in the present.  Magic happens when we take that breathe.  

Once the minis have had their little run around, we catch them, again through our previous session, there is a complete science behind it.  Looking at their body language, watching them, not running up to them, taking our time and breathing in between.  Once lead ropes are on, we take Clyde into the round pen, whilst Lightening hangs out with Tom's mum.  The exercise is all about boundaries.  How comfortable are we when our pony approaches us, when do we feel safe and can we ask our pony to stop and how does our pony feel about that?  

I asked Tom to stand one end of the round pen and I would walk Clyde to him. Tom had to put his hands up when he wanted Clyde to stop.  As I walked towards Tom with Clyde, I could see Tom's body language changing, but he was not asking Clyde to stop.  We came right up to Tom with Clyde's nose touching Tom's chest.  I asked him if he was comfortable with Clyde right there.  He squeaked yes, I asked, really??  Erm, maybe not.....  OK, lets try that again.  This time, I brought Clyde around and watched Tom's body language, as I could see it changing I stopped Clyde.  I asked him if that was comfortable, he said yes it was.  I then took a step closer and asked if he still felt comfortable.  He did.  I took another step forward and asked again, I could see that Tom's body language was changing again.  I checked in with him, and he squeaked it was OK.  I took a step back with Clyde and asked how that felt.  Oh much better thank you.  So this time, I said I would walk Clyde round and for Tom to ask him to stop.  This time, stand tall, raise our body energy and put our hands up, so we almost had a force field around us and lets see what Clyde would do.  We did the exercise again and Tom did as I suggested and this time he grew and put his hands up and Clyde stopped in his tracks.  Yay, perfect.  Now, as I asked Tom what he thought Clyde felt about being asked to stop.  I asked him to take a look at Clyde's body language and tell me what he thought Clyde was feeling.  He said his ears were forward, so that is good.  He was standing still and looking at him and that was OK.  I asked did he look sad that he has been asked to stop.  He said no, he didn't look too bothered.  Awesome!!  So, I asked Tom, can you do that with you friend this week and come back to me and let me know how that goes.  Yep he replies.

Roll forward next session and Tom comes bouncing in.  I did it, I did it!!  Did what Tom?  He said I did the boundary thing with my friend.  Oh, how did that go.  It was awesome he said.  His friend came running towards him and he put his hands up and grew his energy, just like he did with Clyde and his friend just kind of ran around him, just like he had a force field around him.  Great I responded.  So how did his friend feel about that?  He didn't care he said, he just kept going and didn't even notice.  He wasn't upset then?  No!!!  See, I said, it is boundary magic, we just need to change our body language a little, grew our energy and set our boundaries and our friends do not really notice.  

So with a lot of kids, they get physical, loud, push, shout, get frustrated when someone comes into their space.  They are not being bad, not being rude, they are just needing more time to adjust to someone coming up close and personal.  Figuring out their boundaries, do they even know what a boundary is? However, it can be the other way, where they can burst into tears, allow their friends and family in their personal space and not have the courage to say no.  It is so important we listen to our kids boundaries, not only to validate their personal body space, but give them the choice of saying yes and no to anyone coming into their space.   Equate this to consent.  

Thank you to Tom for allowing me to share and also for being him.  Trusting me and my herd to help him and then actually taking our lessons and using them.