High school students in Ontario are now able to take an equine studies course to earn a grade 10 credit. The course, called SAE23 Equine Studies, aims to give learners a deeper understanding of horses and their care, covering topics such as equine anatomy, business and stable management, and equine-assisted learning.
The 10-week course is being run by Above & Beyond Learning Experience, a private school based out of Alliston. Their equine studies course has been approved by the Ministry of Education; upon completion, students will receive a grade-10 level Ontario Secondary School Credit, which they can use toward their Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD).
It’s open to any high school student in Ontario, with no prerequisite courses. Students must pay a fee of $1,550 and the course starts in April.
Michelle “Mikki” White, principal and founder of AB Learning, said they ran the course previously in 2016, but on a more local scale in Alliston. This time around, they wanted to open it up to more students by making use of virtual learning methods.
“A lot of riders live in Caledon, in Essa, in different parts of Ontario,” White said. “I wanted to be able to offer this course across the board to give kids who love horses a chance to use their knowledge for credit.”
The course is delivered in a hybrid model, with students completing a total of 16 hours of online learning and four hours of in-person learning at their local barn.
The equine studies course was developed by White and course instructor Susi Rumney. White has “always loved horses,” and has seen how children can benefit from working with horses through equine-assisted learning programs. Rumney got her first pony when she was seven and has been “in and out” of the equine world for 50 years. She also notes the powerful bond between horses and children. “It’s pretty amazing when you look at it,” Rumney said. “I know most kids would rather spend time at the barn with horses versus doing anything else, if they’ve got [access to] that.”
The course aims to build on that connection and teach students a broad range of skills; in addition to riding, they also want students to gain experience in the husbandry part of horse keeping. “They’re not just there to ride,” said Rumney. “They’ve got to know how to properly take care of them.”
For each lesson, there will be homework or an assignment, “whether it be equine anatomy, designing a barn, figuring out feed, doing research on a parasite – there are different aspects where the kids actually have to apply their knowledge,” said White.
For the in-person portion, students will be learning everything “from the ground up, but most will probably have a background” in horses, Rumney said. “So they’re putting in time fine-tuning what they already know, whether it be proper riding techniques, proper use of tack, saddles, et cetera.”
Students do need to have access to horses during the course. The in-person learning will happen at students’ local barn, and they must have their riding instructor’s supervision while completing the course work there. Instructors get compensated by the school for the four hours of coaching they do, but must first be vetted by Rumney, who will be looking at their experience, skills, and knowledge.
“She’s going to have a questionnaire for them to follow,” White said. “They have to log their hours. They have to produce work that parallels what Susi needs from them.”
Students, meanwhile, will be evaluated throughout the course on their knowledge and application in the barn, as well as through completed assignments.
Getting Ministry approval for the equine studies credit required writing the course, as well as coming up with “different goals, different expectations” for students, White said. They had to “set it up the way they set up their ministry curriculum, so that the specific goals were outlined, and the process was outlined, and the grading … it was quite the process.”
They plan to initially have 10 students in the program. “I don’t think we want to go more than ten kids in the class,” White said, adding, “We don’t have a maximum. We’ll just keep adding days,” to accommodate more students. After this spring session, White said that AB Learning is planning to run the course again in the future.
Since students would be opting to take the course and choosing to study something they’re passionate about, Rumney believes that students will do well in the course.
“The students we’re going to have, I have a feeling will excel because they already have the interest. They want to be there,” Rumney said.
White hopes that the course “accentuates their love for horses,” and gives students exposure to the science and business aspects of owning a horse.
“It’s not just getting on the horse, riding and getting off again,” White said. “There’s a lot of responsibility in owning a horse, or even working with a horse, and to be part of building the relationship between the horse and the student.”
For more info, contact the school here.
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