Equine-Assisted Learning recognizes the difference between facilitating and teaching
Equine-Assisted Learning is a learner based educational experience with horses. More specifically, EAL is an effective approach to human development through horsemanship. Participants engage in team emphasized exercises and find themselves learning valuable skills in a fun and exciting atmosphere while working through the dynamics of horses. EAL has proven to be effective, powerful, interesting, exciting, therapeutic, positive, educational, and creative.
Experiential Learning refers to learning practices addressing the needs and wants of the learner with the qualities of experiential learning as personal involvement, self-initiated, evaluated by learner, and pervasive effects on learner.
Columbia University theologist Carl Ransom Rogers, defines experiential learning as being equivalent to personal change and growth. Rogers felt that all human beings have a natural propensity to learn and that the role of the teacher is to facilitate such learning.
The oldest form of teaching is learning through experience, also known as learning by doing. Learning through experience is considered to be a powerful form of education while it integrates the participant as an active player into the curriculum. Additional value is provided to the participant’s experience when those who assist with the learning process (facilitators) encourage participants to actively engage in the group.
It is important to understand what it means to encourage one to actively become engaged in an exercise. Engaging is more than just participating in given exercise. Engaging is actively being involved, it is being engrossed or absorbed in the process, it is immersing oneself in the activity. Anyone of these clearly describes the level of participation in order to be engaged in the learning process.
This style of teaching leans on the value of personal and independent reflection from which new insights emerge while being interacting in a group. Experiential learning begins with the learning experience, followed by an opportunity to reflect and communicate ideas, that draw a conclusion then follow up by applying the principles.
Some of the greatest aspects of EAL come from providing participants not only with an experiential learning opportunity but with a change of scenery with an abundance of visual stimulus. Each independently work as additional motivators for learning opportunities and creative thinking to take place. This is what education experts consider to be a positive learning environment. Therefore it is easy to understand how one can claim EAL is indeed a powerful journey of learning when participants are brought into such stimulating surroundings, and encouraged to fully engage in experiential learning.
EAL success does not focus on the act of “completion”. Such as the task of – finishing the race or completing an exercise. What EAL recognizes, is the individual’s journey of learning even if a group does not carry out an assignment to the end. Therefore, it is normal and expected that teams will experience chaos and disorder, sometimes in great amounts. Encouragement and support is always a part of the facilitator’s goal, in so much that they are steadily working to make changes to find success as they pursue the completion of a given task (completing the task is a bonus).
Working through exercises in a “safe” and controlled environment is where natural consequences can be individually experienced with a positive outlook. This is a prime opportunity to identify “TEACHABLE MOMENTS”. Teams will struggle to make spontaneous changes as they work through a given task. Natural leaders, free thinking, problem solving, and creative experimentation all emerge as they develop sometimes, unique strategies. The important thing to remember is to let them work it through to the end.
One of the roles facilitators play is to work as a stimulus. We encourage participants to think outside the box, take risks or try on a rew role. This is their opportunity to not be afraid to make mistakes. Human behavioral researchers have proven that when one person steps outside of their comfort zone it pushes others toward trying something new and different, this stimulates a fun atmosphere of creative interaction.
EAL’S PROGRAM BENEFITS: Some of the program’s benefits to participants are: developing communication skills; learning team building skills; developing healthy relationships; learning problem solving skills; finding success over obstacles; learning an appreciation for other team members; building individual confidence & self esteem; developing personal work ethics, responsibility & appropriate assertiveness; overcoming fear & developing confidence; observing the nature of the horse and realizing it's importance to social success; learning the importance of hierarchy and appreciating the value of community; learning the importance of having distinct personalities, attitudes & moods; learning the value of work and still having fun; learning to process feelings and behavior patterns; learning the "right way" is not always the easy way; learning to engage in discussion & activity to learn more about the horse & themselves; character development; self discovery; the value of developing a partnership and recognizing that the horse plays a significant role. Horses consistently model appropriate assertiveness and teach us “how to dance equus” while using effective communication skills. Horses are tough and steadfast dance partners and if we are willing to listen, they can assist us with guiding groups to becoming better individuals. Some of the joys to working with horses are – they don’t judge, but they don’t forget either. They don’t let you cheat and their feed back is honest and instant. Learning to listen to what horses have to say is powerful and can sometimes spur the answer to individual change.
By including horses in specially designed educational experiences, equine-assisted specialists have greatly multiplied the participant’s rate of success to self discovery. How? Horses can magnify an individual’s problem immediately, and provide the skilled facilitator with an opportunity to identify an individual’s character. Horses can’t over think a participant’s motive and horses can’t manipulate their behavior. But by their intuitive nature and innate sensitivity, horses can provide facilitators with a window into the participant’s personality. As facilitators listen to a horse’s non-verbal communication, together they have the ability to walk participants through to finding life-altering change.