School Outreach Program
- The School Outreach Therapeutic Horseback Riding Program for under-served, low-income students with disabilities (including developmental delay, Down Syndrome, ADHD, autism, etc.) from participating Santa Fe schools. NMCTR’s PATH Certified Instructors coordinate with the teachers to develop a lesson plan each week that will incorporate classroom learning. Each class may bring 5-12 children and each lesson consists of 1.5 hrs. Half of the time, half of the children will ride, and the other half will do an activity unmounted. Then the two groups will switch. This is an eight-week program.
- Schools we have served so far: Nino Otero Community School (2 different age group classes), Aspen Magnet Community School (2 different age group classes that are high needs autism), El Dorado Community School, New Mexico School for the Deaf. We currently have a waiting list as we can only serve 4 classes a semester.
- How is success measured: NMCTR measures the heart-brain communication and its relationship to managing stress, which increases coherence and deepens the student’s connection to self and others through one- or five-minute HeartMath measurements of each student’s Heart Rate Variability. Measures are taken before and after each class and as a cumulative measure before and after each session to track participant growth over the course of the program. NMCTR also uses Pyramid assessment tool to assess growth in SEL (social-emotional learning) skills. NMCTR also measures each child’s progress through a 10-item pre- and post-test completed before and after each 8-week session completed by the classroom/special education teacher and the NMCTR riding instructor.
- School Outreach Program is 100% funded by scholarships that are provided by: Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico and City of Santa Fe Children and Youth Commission
