Reason to Thrive

Reason to Thrive – Equine Assisted Learning Programs

Debb @ Davaar – August 2020

Nearly 2 years ago I had the fortune of meeting the lovely ladies from Reason To Thrive.  Their organisation offers  “… equine Assisted Learning programs for skills development and personal growth.  Equine Assisted Learning is a ‘hands-on’ innovative approach to learning where the participant learns through interaction with a horse.”

A fantastic initiative that supports at-risk children and youth, offers a special needs school program and women’s empowerment for survivors of domestic violence.  Visit their website …   https://www.reasontothrive.org/ 

I was asked to represent Davaar Consultancy at the opening of their Thrift & Thrive Shop at Kenmore.  A great turnout with a local councilman and staff present, cutting the ribbon.  Coffee & beautiful cakes … it was very enjoyable and I felt honoured to be there.   Dr. Wendy, on behalf of Davaar, supports their cause, so when the lovely ladies were thinking about team building workshops we were the first ‘guinea pigs’ to be contacted.

We needed to organise 6 people.  Easy enough.  We were then presented with three options and Dr. Wendy with her wonderful sense of humour and adventure chose ‘Brainiac’ !!  We’re in trouble already.

So, what was Brainiac all about?  We were given our briefing and put in teams of three and allotted a horse per team.  In hindsight, these magnificent creatures were the true ‘brains’ of the team!  And I don’t mean that lightly.  As a team of three, we linked arms.

The person in the middle was the ‘brains’ (obviously me – tongue in cheek); the person on the left was the ‘left arm’ and the person on the right ‘right arm’.  One of those ‘arms’ held the horse’s reigns.  Around the arena, there were ‘tasks’ to achieve.  For example, there was a set of upstanding poles.  ‘Brains’ had to instruct her ‘hands’ to direct them around the poles, or put a halter on our horse.  Oh and did I mention, that only the ‘Brains’ could talk – neither the ‘hands’ NOR the horse were allowed to speak.

There was also a row of logs that the ‘Brains’ had to instruct her team to walk over, and a piece of cloth in a semi-circle.  ‘Brain’s had to instruct her ‘hands’ to gently guide the horse to stand on that cloth.  That one was a doozy – and, thankfully, in our case, our might steed knew exactly WHAT to do.  He was either frustrated with our pathetic attempts or he was getting bored and wanted to get back to some feed as soon as possible.  ‘Enough of this silliness human person! There is some real food to be had over yonder.’

It’s all about teamwork.

We finished by brushing down our exhausted steeds, thanking them for their patience and reassembling for a debrief … not to mention some yummy wraps & cake.

A fabulous day of learning was had by all.