By meadowlakeNOW

Flying Dust students learn life skills with horse program

Oct 17, 2017 | 5:36 PM

Students from Kopahawakenum School on Flying Dust First Nation are learning more about large animals with a program incorporating life skills.

The informal program was started by teacher Jon Mirasty last year. On Tuesdays and Thursdays throughout the fall, a number of students from Grades 1 to 4 accompany him to his family farm to learn everything from cleaning and upkeep, to building a relationship with the animals and eventually learning to lead and ride them.

Mirasty said the program instills positive values like leadership, responsibility and respect. 

“Overall it helps give them confidence in all aspects of life to be successful,” he said. “I’ll talk to them about different things in life. They all look forward to it. It’s nice to see the growth in their personalities.”

He said one long time student was so nervous at first he wouldn’t approach the horses, but now has taken on a bit more a mentorship role with his fellow classmates.

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“It’s not just about riding horses,” he said. “It’s building self-esteem, respecting themselves, and gaining the self-confidence to be able to grab a horse, walk it and not be terrified.”

Mirasty said he’s pursuing certification for equine therapy and hopes to expand the program to other First Nations in the region and other schools in Meadow Lake.

Carmine Gopher, Aaliyah Gladue and Brett Corrigal said they learned a great deal from their teacher.

“We learned about feeding them, walking them, and riding on them,” Gladue said.

“I like coming out because the horses are nice,” Corrigal said.

“We get to clean and learn cool things,” Gopher added.

kathy.gallant@jpbg.ca  

On Twitter @ReporterKath