Poem

· Bardstown Elementary School

Third-grade students at Bardstown Elementary School recently made a trip to Sycamore Pond Horse Center in Mt. Washington as a part of their study of living organisms and their habitats. In addition to learning about the horses, dogs and donkey that live on the farm, the students explored the pond habitat learning about the living organisms it includes. An article describing their field trip occurred in several local newspapers. Avery Armstrong wrote a poem about her experience at the farm.

Come to the Pond
by Avery Armstrong, Mrs. Puckett’s 3rd Grade Class
Bardstown Elementary School

Come to the pond, where you will see…
cool water rippling in the breeze
bright green grass swaying on the hilltop, and
white puffy clouds moving slowly across the baby blue sky.

Come to the pond, where you will hear…
baby brown grasshoppers chirping loudly,
light brown leaves crunching, and
the whistling wind through the Sycamore trees.

Come to the pond, where you will feel…
the moist morning grass tickling my skin,
smooth shining silver rocks, and
Bear’s soft, golden fur as I stroke his back.

Come to the pond, where you will smell…
summer sweet honey from the beehive,
fresh, dark horse droppings…Yuck!
and sweet sap from the shady maple tree.

Come to the pond, where you’ll want to go exploring for turtles,
snakes and waterbugs.
Come to the pond, where you’ll want to sing along with the
crickets and robins

It feels perfect here by the pond.

Spring Meadows Children's Home in Mount Washington, KY, (www.kbhc.org/spring_meadows) is a member of Sunrise Children's Services and provides residential care for up to 20 adolescent boys who have been victims of abuse or neglect, and many of which have an attitude of defeat and hopelessness when they arrive. In 2007 and 2008 twenty boys from Spring Meadows Children’s Home participated in five separate nine-week equine assisted therapy classes at Sycamore Pond Horse Center; three more classes are planned for 2009. At the beginning of the class each boy is allowed to pick one of the horses to be 'his' horse for the duration of the class. The topics that are being covered include horse care, health and nutrition, horse behavior, equestrian sports and more. Activities include learning how to safely handle horses, grooming horses, using and caring for tack, cleaning stalls and some riding. It quickly became apparent that the equine assisted learning classes have a very positive effect on the boys. They develop strong bonds to their horses by visiting with them on the pasture and grooming them. By the end of each session the boys expressed how much they would like to stay longer or come more often. The counselors mentioned repeatedly that the horses caused very positive behavioral changes in the boys, i.e., they made more appropriate life choices. The positive impact of the classes on the boys is regularly evaluated using the Likert Anger Scale Test, which measures changes in behaviors such as agreeability, aggression, compliance, self esteem and relationship with peers.

The initial equine assisted therapy classes were funded by the Carol M. White Physical Education Program. More recently in a collaborative effort Spring Meadows Children’s Home and Sycamore Pond Horse Center were able to successfully obtain grants to fund the classes from the V. V. Cooke Foundation and the Brereton and Elizabeth Jones Charitable Family Foundation.