Keystone SMILES Students Learn Teamwork, Horsemanship at Heavenly Gaits

| May 28, 2015

smiles teamKNOX, Pa. (EYT) – A group of Keystone SMILES Crossroads Alternative Education students recently completed a community service project at Heavenly Gaits Therapeutic Riding Center, Inc. to help AmeriCorps member Angela McIntyre with her service learning project.

After a short presentation by Executive Director Monique Nellis, the students broke up into groups for pasture improvements. To protect the equines from cuts and punctures, some groups removed rocks, sawed thorn bushes, and dug out multiflora rose bushes. Other groups worked to improve the quality of the pasture by collecting manure, scattering hay from winter feeding areas, and sowing pasture seed.

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After a lunch served by directors and volunteers from Heavenly Gaits, the students groomed the horses and rewarded them with treats. It was in this moment when Heavenly Gait’s team was able to talk one on one with the youth and answer more specific questions about horse care. There were many opportunities before the team for teaching and learning to occur – from a discussion on manure management to seed growth and equine behaviors.

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Heavenly Gait’s team watched as their winter sacrifice area was transformed into a safe and healthy environment for future grazing. With the variety of work to be completed, the students seemed to make the most of it by challenging each other to extracting the biggest rocks and making a splash when hurling them into the crick bed. The winds were pretty rough, but it was fortunate that the work day completed with only a light drizzle.

Heavenly Gaits told exploreClarion.com, “It is opportunities like these that help us to realize another reason that our organization was formed. We may not have offered much instruction in horsemanship, but we provided an opportunity for the community to come together, took advantage of a teachable moment, and grew in friendships.”

DSC_3838 (2)“When you are working to achieve a common goal, differences are set aside and relationships can grow. We are so very proud that AmeriCorps chose us as their project and thankful for their time, effort and creative methods of getting things done. They are welcome to fill our barn with chatter any time.”

Heavenly Gaits is a 501(c)(3) Non-profit organization dedicated to providing meaningful instructions in horsemanship that accommodate and enhance the quality of life of those challenged by physical, cognitive, emotional, and/or social constraints.

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