By Andrew de Souza

One Arrow looks to horses to help community

Jun 10, 2011 | 6:28 AM

Leaders in the One Arrow First Nation south of Prince Albert are hoping that working with horses will help the community’s youth and nip social issues in the bud.

To do that their looking to horses to build team-building and self-confidence programs through what is known as Inspire Direction Equine Assisted Learning (IDEAL).

The program aims to get young people, as well as community members to work with horses and learn valuable lessons from their handling.

The program takes place at the community’s newly built Equestrian Centre.

IDEAL executive director Lawrence Gaudry said the program really helps youth and families in a lot of ways.

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“We can’t believe the change, the level of confidence has increased, the communication skills, kids are coming to school more regularly than in the past,” he said. “We’ve seen a lot of positive results and everything’s going well.”

On Thursday, the program had its official grand opening with a ribbon cutting at the centre and the graduation of the first 70 students.

Over the course of 16 weeks, the participants were involved in a certified program that tested their self-confidence and team work skills.

They have to learn to work with each other and horses. One activity has the horse handler wearing a blindfold. They then have to rely on the horse and the directions of a team member to navigate an obstacle course.

The underlying premise is that working with horses requires a cool head and problem solving skills, since horses react to those around them immediately to the people and animals around them.

For One Arrow Chief Dwayne Paul, the idea to use horses for therapy was to go back to the roots of the Cree people.

He said getting bark those roots would help with many of the problems the community faces.

“Our youths were struggling with drugs, alcohol, school attendance and everything that comes with the many social issues,” he said.

“I believe this program is helping our community pull together and giving our kids confidence to become great leaders for our community, the outside community and be role models to people.”
He said that the results are gratifying since it wasn’t an easy journey to bring the program off of the drawing board and into reality.

“At first we had some community members that didn’t believe in what we were doing,” said Paul. “But a lot of the people now have seen some of their own children in the program and it has changed their kids’ lives”

Gaudry said the first class was such a success that the hope is to expand it to as many as 200 students next year.

The program will be analyzed by Brandon University to determine how it affects those involved. The research will then be used to secure funding for the program into the future.

The program is also open to those outside of One Arrow, including other First Nations, communities and businesses looking to help youth or even doing team-building exercises.

Anyone interested in more information about the program can visit its website.

adesouza@panow.com