Horses help with summer reading

Horses walk on a four-beat. Or in the case of Willie the mini horse, maybe closer to a two-beat, as eight-year-old Ayven Lindgren led him around using his steps and the jingle of rhythm bells around his neck to count the number of syllables in a vocab word on Lane 40 between Greybull and Basin Monday. 

“I like horses and I like to read and I’ve been getting more books to read at the library and I like to read with horses,” Lindgren said. A soon-to-be third grader in Basin, this has been her first summer reading with a horse. 

Tess Nelson started True North Trauma Informed Equine Assisted Learning about four years ago. She has spent 34 years teaching, including 13 years of special education in Greybull. After a short retirement, she began helping Burlington schools with their special ed program last year. Nelson is a K-12 reading specialist and a Wilson Dyslexia Practitioner. Her program is based on Horse Powered Reading, which is designed to break through challenges such as ADHD, anxiety and depression by allowing students to interact with horses while they learn.

“The horses are great because they’re not judgemental,” Nelson said. Willie isn’t the only horse on duty; a herd of his full-sized counterparts are also available to help. 

A lot of the kids Nelson works with haven’t spent much time around horses. Lindgren harnessed her own horse for the first time Monday. Another student Nelson worked with listed horses as one of her worst fears. She walked through her assignment with Nelson’s gray mare, the largest of the herd, and conquered that fear. Nelson said she enjoys watching their confidence, with the horses and the words, grow. 

One exercise Nelson uses involves using wet chalk to write vocabulary words on the horses’ sides. She reported that along with the large movement of writing on a large animal, the kinesthetic movement and auditory reminders help words stick. As Lindgren walked Willie, Nelson asked her to remember details of the book they read earlier in the day, which Lindgren did. 

Horses are also thought to help with emotional regulation. Nelson said she once had a student struggling with their reading. The horse helping out that day pulled him in with its neck and let him go once he relaxed. Another student who reportedly could not sit still in class sat and read for 20 minutes with a horse. 

“It gets books in front of kids,” Nelson said. “I see the confidence change in them. I see them reading because they like it, not because they’re being forced.”

Nelson caps her classes at six students. Her friend Kadee Grubbs currently helps her on Thursdays. Nelson hopes to expand her program to spring and fall as she works to build a designated school and tack house, but for now, summers only. In the future, Nelson hopes that businesses will sponsor students, as Big Horn County is one of Wyoming’s hardship counties. Age groups are 6-7, 8-9 and 10-14. For more information, call 307-899-5680.