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MARK McIntosh smiles to himself as he watches the slight youth with the serious expression calmly lead a young horse around the yard.
Mr McIntosh has been running a program called Equine Facilitated Learning (EFL) and his student David O'Meara, who has Asperger's syndrome, is proving to him that it works.
The method, which uses groundwork rather than riding, helps participants with confidence, self-esteem and communication. It has been used in the US and throughout Europe for many years and is catching on here, taught at several centres throughout Victoria.
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Instructor Mark McIntosh and Ronnie Layton with Shimmer.
Instructor Mark McIntosh and Ronnie Layton with Shimmer. Photo: Anne Crawford
Mr McIntosh and his wife Dianne have run the program at their South Gippsland property for several months with private clients and a group from Yooralla. For Dianne, EFL is a natural fit: she's an integration aide working with children with disabilities and learning difficulties at a local school, and a rider since the age of four.
For her husband, who's also ridden from a young age, it's a new lease on life. "I was a paramedic for 35 years and a bit of a hard old bastard — you had to be to survive — but watching this just blows me away," he says.
Mr McIntosh takes the Yooralla group on Thursday mornings, coaching them one at a time in the walled round-yard as the others watch from a viewing platform. It's baby steps, he says. Progress can be incremental and is very individual.
For some time, 21-year-old Craig Webster, for example, was reluctant to do anything.
"At first, all I could get him to do was touch his little finger on the horse's nose," says Mr McIntosh. Now, he'll lead a pony in some sessions; on other days he'll stand stroking a strand of mane Mr McIntosh has cut for him.
Ronnie Layton, 29, on the other hand, was keen from the outset. His father's family owned horses and he says he'd like to work with them one day. He radiates confidence as he guides a big chestnut horse around the yard.
"Calm him down. Call him in," instructs Mr McIntosh. Ronnie holds up an arm in front of the animal, then beckons it in. The horse stops instantly, turns, and heads towards him. "You're a champion," says Mr McIntosh. "I'm a natural," says Ronnie.
Leonie MaCallister, too, looks comfortable as she urges a bay pony around the circumference of the yard. But it wasn't always so, says Tracy Roylance, a disability support worker from Yooralla.
"When Leonie started, she was quite frightened. She wasn't really using her voice. Mark encouraged her to talk to the horse and she could see its ears pricking up when she did. Now she's getting results — she's using a nice clear voice and you can see how pleased she looks."
Ms Roylance has watched the group of five grow in confidence over the weeks. "They're getting a lot out of it," she says. "They really feel good about themselves and it spills over into their everyday lives as well."
Participants learn the value of trust and clear communication by watching themselves mirrored in the horse's actions, says Mr McIntosh. Horses pick up on anger, aggression and anxiety, and respond instantly. They are sensitive herd animals that look for a leader to follow who makes them feel safe — no matter who it is, he says. Body language, gestures, breathing and voice are important.
"I think it's quite magical, the bond between the horses and these people. I don't want to sound too airy-fairy about it but there's something about the way the horses read them. The horses are asked to do simple tasks and they just do it," he says. "Once the participants understand how to ask for and receive co-operation from a 500-kilogram horse, their confidence and self-esteem goes sky-high."
EFL is being used increasingly with people with autism, bipolar disorder and anger management issues, along with children with attention deficit disorder, bullies, and victims of bullying, trauma and abuse.
It's good for concentration, Mr McIntosh says, citing the example of a five-year-old autistic boy, who has visited twice.
"He was a handful at first, wandering off, with a short attention span," he says. "In the first week I didn't get much out of him but the next week Dianne encouraged him to lead a pony over a pole on the ground. He yelled out 'jump' when it got near, then did it again. That's a big step forward. He concentrated, he followed a task and he vocalised a command."
Mr McIntosh was particularly pleased when David persuaded their big chestnut to lie down — quite an achievement as a horse is at its most vulnerable then. "They have to really trust you. These aren't trick ponies.
"David just said 'oh yeah' afterwards, but it was huge for me, and bigger for his mother."
Heather O'Meara, watching outside the ring, was in tears. She told Mr McIntosh later that her son talked about it for weeks.
The couple run the EFL courses as part of their down-to-earth property, the Horse Workshop, in Bass, where they teach riding and train horses. They studied the technique early this year under Franklin Levinson, a veteran American "horse whisperer", who conducts clinics around the world.
The theories of horse behaviour and gentle handling behind it aren't new, says Mr McIntosh. They date back centuries. Horse therapies have been around for a long time, too, and other high-profile handlers have imparted similar versions. Mr McIntosh says contemporary clinical research has shown that proximity to horses changes human brain chemistry in a positive way.
"I don't know how EFL works exactly. I just know that it does."
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/yard-work-has-students-riding-high-20110807-1ihfg.html#ixzz1VC6rGqGb
