IT'S ALL FUN AND GAMES - BUT IS IT? Plus A New "NEIGH"borhood Horse Blogger ANNOUNCEMENT

Hey there Hands and Hearts for Horses fans, it’s me, your friendly “NEIGH”borhood horse blogger. Your one and only source into the goings on at the Hands and Hearts for Horses barn, straight from the horse’s mouth! But which horse am I? I’ll never tell!

I will be dropping hidden clues in each of my weekly blogs coming up, if you think you know which horse I am, shoot us a message or email at stephanie@handsandheartsforhorses.com but don’t ruin the mystery for our other followers! Try not to just guess random horses, wait for some clues and see if you can be a great detective! Once enough people have guessed who I am, I’ll do a big reveal of my identity and then another horse will take over the blog!

GIANT UNO!

“Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning”

Diane Ackerman

Contemporary American author

I have to say I’ve been noticing a LOT of fun and games going on around the barn during lessons! I THOUGHT our riders were supposed to be LEARNING things while they were here but they are too busy laughing and playing UNO or knocking over monster cans! I’m not really sure what is going on with that but I mean to get to the bottom of it! I might just have to go to one of our instructors and ask exactly why they are playing so many games!

Luckily I see Stephanie, one of the certified therapeutic riding instructors here walking by now!!! Let’s see if she will answer some questions:

“NEIGH”borhood Horse Blogger: “HAY Ms. Stephanie! Do you have a minute?”

Ms. Stephanie: “Of course! I always have time for one of my OLDEST friends!

“NEIGH”borhood Horse Blogger: “So, what’s with all the fun and games going on in your and other instructors lessons? Why don’t you get down to some serious business and make these riders work hard?”

Ms. Stephanie: “That’s a great question! It may seem as though we play a lot of games and do all sorts of different activities in a lot of our lessons, instead of just having riders repeat skills over and over to get them riding like pros as fast as possible! What you and a lot of people may not realize is that one of the best ways to learn is through play!! For a lot of our riders, focusing on practicing stopping their horse over and over around the arena is going to make them get really bored, really fast, and then they may tune out, not want to keep riding, or just stop participating in their lesson. While we may be playing games, we always try to make sure the activities we do with our riders help reinforce the skill we are teaching them, often without them even realizing they are still practicing! For instance, a game of giant UNO has riders practicing stopping their horses when it is their turn, when someone uses a skip card they have to practice arena etiquette and saying “Inside” and passing around the person in front of them, when a reverse card is thrown they have to practice direct-rein steering and turn their horse around to change directions. We are also working on number and color recognition with our riders.”

“NEIGH”borhood Horse Blogger: “Wow!! I had no clue they were learning so much during one game! That’s actually so cool! I bet they have no idea they are still practicing so many things while they are having so much fun! And how great that they think of Hands and Hearts for Horses as a fun place to be! I bet that keeps riders wanting to keep coming back every week!”

Ms. Stephanie: “EXACTLY!!! We want Hands and Hearts for Horses to be a fun, safe, learning environment for all of our participants! Our riders work super hard, and we want them to progress as much as they are able, but we want them to enjoy their time with us as well! We think this is what helps us keep so many riders as long as we do!

Puzzles!!

When the fun goes out of play, most often so does the learning. ”

Joanne E. Oppenheim
Author

Well there you have it Hands and Hearts for Horses readers! There are a lot of fun and games going on around the barn, but it’s actually a GOOD thing! I have to say, we horses like to cut loose and have some fun sometimes too! We are also great at feeling the emotions of those around us, and I’d rather pick up on our riders’s joy than their boredom! So keep up the good work, or should I say play, instructors!!

Well that’s all for this week readers! Tune in next week for another clue to my secret identity and to catch up on other goings on at the barn!