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Ridin’ High Therapeutic Riding Center, with a 30-year history of successfully using equine assisted therapies to help clients with physical, cognitive, and communicative challenges, is excited to continue its horsemanship-based literacy program, “Pony Partners.” The program is funded through a generous donation from First Horizon Foundation.

The Pony Partners Literacy Program uses interaction with ponies as a basis for improving reading and literacy skills. While using ponies to promote reading skills seems novel, it’s a technique that has been used successfully in many school and therapeutic riding centers throughout the country.

Children with learning disabilities are generally more inclined to interact with horses than with humans. This is especially true regarding academic skills, such as reading, which students may find intimidating. In contrast to reading in a traditional classroom, reading to horses can improve both focus and confidence through providing interaction with a non-judgmental animal in a relaxed setting. Horse knowledge can also form the basis for various reading lessons. For example, students can learn the parts of the horse by writing the names on sticky notes and then placing them on a real horse.

“We have some fabulous and very well-educated volunteers who help with this program, including retired teachers as well as college students who are majoring in special education,” Linda Bird, Ridin’ High’s Program Director, said.

“We have been especially grateful for Lisa Rigg, who has spearheaded this program. She has been very creative in her approach to using horses as the basis for literacy curriculum. For example, to learn about the history of the Pony Express, she set up labeled stations for the States through which the Pony Express traveled. Students led real ponies to these stations. To proceed to the next State, the students read a clue or completed a literacy activity.”

The next session of Pony Partners will begin March 13 and will be held every Monday from 4:00-5:00 p.m. through April 17.

The program will focus on children ages 6-9 and the cost is $40 for all six sessions. Children do not need to have a diagnosed special need to participate as the program focuses on improving literacy skills for all children, starting at their current baseline. The program is held at Ridin’ High’s facility. For those who can’t participate in person, Ridin’ High has also developed online videos on their website. (www.ridinhigh.org/pony-partners-2).

Ridin’ High, a nonprofit organization, is able to provide the program for a minimal charge because of generous funding through First Horizon Foundation. First Horizon Foundation supports literacy efforts of local organizations, with a mission to positively impact the local community. First Horizon Foundation is the private charitable arm of First Horizon National Corporation and supports efforts in literacy, the arts, the environment, financial literacy, and health/human services.

“Thanks to First Horizon Foundation, we are able to use ponies to promote reading and literacy skills. We plan to use First Horizon Foundation’s funding to support the Pony Partners Program in multiple ways, including specialized curriculum development and care of the ponies used in the program. The end goal is to provide the best literacy interventions possible and positively impact children’s lives,” Bird said.

If you are interested in participating in the Pony Partners Program as a client or volunteer, please contact Ridin’ High (ridinhighinc@yahoo.com). You can also visit the organization’s Facebook page and website (www.ridinhigh.org) to find out more about Ridin’ High’s various programs.

First Horizon Foundation is the private charitable foundation of First Horizon Corporation. Founded in 1993, our Foundation has donated more than $110 million to meet community needs. Grants from the Foundation support the following impact areas: Arts & Culture, Education & Leadership, Environment, Financial Literacy, and Health & Human Services. More information is available at www.firsthorizonfoundation.com.