What is Horse Boy Learning?

Horse Boy without Horses?

“OK”, you might think: “it’s all very well you guys doing Horse Boy Method out there in the country with your horses and all your animals, but what good is that for me here in the city?”

There’s an easy answer – a lot of what we do does NOT require horses and lots of green space.

Sure, the horses and the wide open spaces are the ideal, but you can do a lot just by tweaking a regular city or suburban house and yard. Then you can apply the same learning modules we use here at New Trails to teach everything the kid needs to learn.

Rowan still spends a lot of his time on the back of a horse, however he also learns in a variety of other places such as his trampoline, the woods behind his house, a nearby creek etc.

Since his parents took him out of the main stream school system when he was three years old they have discovered a number of different techniques that help him to retain and receive information.

Teach reading, writing, math, physics, etc.

These techniques have allowed him to advance from mastering the basics of reading and writing, to simple math, to much more complex topics such as physics, biology and chemistry.

All that is really necessary in order to do this yourself is knowledge of the child you are working with, their motivations and sense of humor, the right environment and the right people.

6 stage prcoess

Like Horse Boy Method, Horse Boy Learning is a simple six stage process:

Stage 1: Environment
Stage 2: Sensory
Stage 3: Kinetic Learning
Stage 4: Perspective taking & Theory of mind
Stage 5: Academics
Stage 6: Self-advocacy

We start by creating the right environment and addressing sensory issues.

The ideal learning environment should be set-up to increase oxytocin (the feel good hormone) production and reduce cortisol (the stress hormone) production.  

We then allow the child to move. Children with autism are often kinetic learners and learn best through movement and exploration.

If they are allowed to do this in a pressure free environment with the focus being on what they are intrinsically motivated by then they will very quickly advance in terms of their perspective taking, theory of mind andacademics.

Using the same techniques they can then begin to learn self-advocacy which is arguably the most important life skill of all.

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