Learning with Animals
This year, Little House Academy got to participate in a weekly trip to Southlands to visit a new friend named Patou. Patou is a gentle giant – a twenty year old thoroughbred who loves kids almost as much as carrots!
The students learned a bit of everything to do with horse care, from brushing and feeding, to telling a horse’s age by their teeth, how to muck out a stall, led a horse, scrub out water buckets, bathe a horse when it’s nice and warm out, and most importantly how to be calm and confident around an animal that can be quite nervous at times. They learned about the responsibility that comes along with caring for animals, and were able to spend time outside smelling sweet hay on the breeze.
We would brush and walk Patou each week and let him snack on grass along the way. The students did a great job and their confidence grew whether in picking out horse’s feet, brushing them, or feeding them treats. Animals truly are one of the best teachers we are lucky to work with. They teach us how to be adaptable and how to communicate in different ways. They remind us to be gentle yet confident in ourselves, and to respect others and ourselves. Hopefully our time with Patou helped the students with all of these lessons and made them feel happy along the way. He will miss all of the love and attention from the wonderful students of Little House.
-Carly 🙂
Little House Tutoring 