Equine Therapy

Every autumn for the past 88 years, the National FFA Organization, the largest youth agricultural organization in America, has held its National Convention & Expo, and every year the school sends its agricultural students to compete. Their opponents consist of all over the nation, from Washington State to Florida. This year at the convention in Louisville, Kentucky, senior Leianna Dolce and alumna Kelli Knapp took third in the nation for their work in the Social System category. Their project concerned the effects of equine therapy, a form of therapy that involves interactions between humans and horses.
After observing the calming impacts of therapy dog programs on young children, Dolce and Knapp wondered if the same held true for high-school
They were given the Silver Award for their placement.
Although more testing is required for a definitive answer, for those looking to improve things like their reading or speaking skills, Dolce says to “interact with your animals more, practice at home.” There is no telling how many different kinds of animals have the same effect, and it cannot hurt to try.
This information is also potentially useful to many teachers. According to this study, more accurate results of a student’s scores on reading literacy tests, oral presentations, or even tests in general could be obtained just through an animal presence. Working with the agricultural section of the school, the stress levels associated with these types of assignments could be significantly reduced with small “field trips” to the agriculture section of the building.
Of course, none of this could have been possible without the support of the teachers. Dolce credits Animal Science teacher Amanda Thomson, for “letting us use the horses, and all the Ag teachers for letting us steal the sophomores once a