The Teens Buddy Up for Wellness Program at Peaceful Acres
Horses is designed to give teens the opportunity to learn Natural
Horsemanship training and experience in equine rescue and
rehabilitation. Participants will learn about the health and wellness
of horses and also about their own health and wellness.
www.peacefulacreshorses.com
518-887-3178
On a daily basis the teens will be exposed to various barn chores, team-building activities, and
ground-work activities with the horses, equine training and equine health and care topics. It is
this combination of human wellness and equine wellness that proves to be especially effective
because the teens will be able to see the comparisons between their buddy horse’s well-being
and their own.
Participants will also participate in nature walks, yoga, meditation and nutritional classes daily
that assist in physical, emotional and psychological wellness, balance and growth.
Teens Buddy Up for Wellness builds physical and emotional strength, reinforces healthy living
habits, provides positive peer interaction and more—it is a program unlike any other.
Contact for additional information and registration:
518-887-3178
 Nanci Beyerl, MSW, Founder & Executive Director Nanci@peacefulacreshorses.com
 Amy Provencher – Operations Manager Peacefulacreshorsesamy@gmail.com
 Rebecca Smalley – Stable Manager and Teen Buddy Up Facilitator Peacefulacresrebecca@gmail.com
Teens Summer Program Daily Schedule:
8 day program over Two weeks
Mon-Thurs; 9-3
Yoga 2x week
Nutrition class 1x week
Nature walk/meditation daily
Basic Schedule:
9-10; Help in the barn
10-11:30; Group/team building activity, learning about equine care/health/nutrition topics
11:30-12; Nature Walk/Meditation
12:15-1; Lunch Break
1-3; Equine training/lungeing/free lungeing/desensitizing/etc., hands-on with the horses
Daily Activities (activities that will be performed every day): barn work, un-mounted activity/equine learning
topic, nature walk/meditation, lunch, equine training
Other Activities (activities that are once/twice a week or as needed): team building exercises, yoga, nutrition
Week One:
Day 1:
9-10; Introductions, tour, introduce the horses, help in barn if time
10-11; Group drawing activity with horse(s) in arena, haltering/leading demonstration, ‘hello’ exercise,
grooming demonstration/grooming if time
11-11:30; Nutrition class
11:30-12:15; Nature walk to Sanctuary Field, meditate in field
12:15-1; Lunch break
1-3; Discussion of equine training, types of training we will be doing, work on leading skills (i.e. halting,
walking, circling, backing, trotting, etc.) Set up obstacle course to lead through; first lead through with lead
rope/halters, then lead through without touching horses
Day 2:
9-9:45; Help in barn (stalls, sweeping, stacking hay, watering arena, filling feed buckets, etc.)
9:45-10:30; Yoga
10:30-11:30; Equine nutrition; introduce feed room, discuss how horses are designed to eat, discuss different
feeds/why we feed them, discuss hay quality/what bad hay does to horses, discuss our feeding schedule, etc.
11:30-12:15; Nature walk up to the Draft horse summer pasture pasture, possibly with horses, meditate in tree
cluster in field
12:15-1; Lunch break
1-3: Lungeing demonstration/discuss reasons to lunge/discuss tack that is or
can be used to lunge, practice lungeing
Day 3:
9-10; Help in barn as needed (help with turning out horses)
10-11:30; Team building hula hoop exercise, horses can be loose in arena.
Practice approaching/haltering horses in indoor, then move to practicing in pastures, horse observation/compare
horse behavior to ours
11:30-12:15; Nature walk around pastures 1 and 2, with horses; meditation in yurt
12:15-1; Lunch break
1-3; Free-lungeing demonstration/discuss why we would free lunge/discuss equipment needed/practice free
lungeing
Day 4:
9-9:45; Help in barn as needed (scrub water buckets)
9:45-10:30; Yoga
10:30-11:30; Broken Squares Activity, choose horses to ‘buddy up’ with, participants may already know or
may need to visit a few pastures to decide
11:30-12:15; Nature Trail Walk, meditate while on walk
12:15-1; Lunch Break
1-3; Go to pasture and bring in buddy horses if needed, groom/halter/lead buddy horses, discuss each horse’s
level of training. Desensitization demonstration/discussion of why desensitizing is necessary (i.e. tossing saddle
pad over back, rubbing lead rope/lunge line all over body, rubbing lunge whip all over body, making scary
noises, etc.)
Week 2:
Day 5:
9-10; Help in barn as needed (wash/fill feed buckets)
10-11; ‘Blob’ activity; TPR demonstration/discuss why it is important to know/what is normal/practice TPR
11-11:30; Nutrition class
11:30-12:15; Nature walk to pond, meditate at pond
12:15-1; Lunch break
1-3; Bring in buddy horses, discuss using a training journal, groom, choose
appropriate activity to do with buddy from what we have learned (i.e. lungeing,
free lungeing, going for a walk, desensitizing, etc.), discuss with group why
this activity was chosen, write in training journal
Day 6:
9-9:45; Help in barn as needed
9:45-10:30; Yoga
10:30-11:30; Equine first aid/medical treatment; wrapping, bandaging (different body parts), basic medicines,
colic, etc.
11:30-12:15; Nature walk to HighPoint with horses, meditate at the HighPoint
12:15-1; Lunch break
1-3; Team building ground activity; Discussion of other training methods (clicker training, flooding,
progressive desensitization, etc.) Work with buddy horses, discuss trouble/problems, write in training journal
Day 7:
9-10; Help in barn as needed
10-11:30; Participants can choose what topic they would like to discuss
11:30-12:15; Nature Trail, meditate on walk
12:15-1; Lunch break
1-3; Work with buddy horses, discuss how to determine when a horse is ready to move on to a new or more
difficult activity, write in training journal
Day 8:
9-10; Help in barn as needed
10-10:30; Yoga
10:30-11:30; Clue game or other team building activity; participants can choose topic to be discussed or ask
questions about past topics/thing they are interested in knowing
11:30-12; Allow participants to choose nature walk and meditation location
12-12:15; Help with noon snack
12:15-1; Lunch break
1-3; Work with buddy horses, do small write up on how they as trainer would continue their buddy’s training,
what should/could be done next, etc.
Materials for the Program:
 Folder for each participant
 Notebook/paper for each participant
 Printed information for equine care topics or equine training topics
 Copies of training journal
 Photo of each participants buddy
Additional Equine Care Topics:
 Parts of the horse
 Age/Teeth/Height
 Hoof trimming (natural vs. shod)
 Colors/markings
 Confirmation
Elaboration of Un-mounted/Ground Activities:
 Drawing Activity: Each participant chooses a drawing utensil of their choice (supply markers, crayons,
colored pencils, etc.) All of the participants will be creating a picture on the same piece of paper.
Someone will be asked to go first and draw something on the paper, the next person may choose to
connect to the last person’s drawing or not, and so on until everyone has drawn something. After he
picture is complete, show it to everyone and discuss why everyone chose to do what they did. This can
also be done by instructing everyone not to touch lines or instructing that they have to touch the last
person’s drawing in some way. The outcome of the drawing often shows group dynamic.
 Hula Hoop Exercise: Participants stand in a circle holding hands. Two participants will hold hands
through a hula hoop. The goal is to get the hula hoop all the way around the circle without letting go of
anyone’s hand. Participants are encouraged to problem solve among their group and offer support to
each other. This a great exercise for communication and team building. To increase the challenge, you
could set a rule that only the person across from the hula hoop in the group is allowed to speak. This will
make sure that each person in the group has a change to offer suggestions and help.
 Broken Squares Activity: For this activity, there are five envelopes labeled A, B, C, D, and E that
contain a variety of shapes. When put together properly, the shapes will produce five squares of the
same size; however, the shapes are mismatched in the envelopes. Each participant is given an envelope
(there may be teams based on the number of participants) and then sit in a circle. The rules can then be
discussed: no one is allowed to speak or communicate in any way, you may give your pieces to someone
else but may not take pieces from anyone, you may not throw your pieces into the middle for others to
take (they must be given directly), you may give away all of your pieces even if you have already made
a square. This exercise allows observers to learn many things about the group: who was willing to give,
who finished their puzzle and had trouble working with the rest of the group, who struggled but was
unwilling to give any pieces away, who were engaged in the activity, who seemed especially frustrated,
etc.
 Clue Game: This is a form of scavenger hunt using a horse as the final prize. Clue cards are made up for
each horse with categories such as breed, color/markings, food, pasture, etc. The clues are meant to be
made so that they could lead to a number of horses. Only by answering all of the clues will the
participants be able to narrow down and figure out which horse their clues are leading them to. This
exercise can be done in teams or as an individual. As a team challenge it can help to foster working as a
group and communication and as an individual challenge it can help build self-esteem by allowing the
participant to be self-sufficient. This exercise would be especially interesting to do after each participant
has gotten to know their buddy horses and see if they can figure out their buddies with difficult clues.
For additional information and registration, please contact:
518-887-3178
www.peacefulacreshorses.com
 Nanci Beyerl, MSW, Founder & Executive Director
Nanci@peacefulacreshorses.com
 Amy Provencher – Operations Manager
Peacefulacreshorsesamy@gmail.com
 Rebecca Smalley – Stable Manager and Teen Buddy Up Facilitator
Peacefulacresrebecca@gmail.com