Saddle Up!
EFL Program Sample Two – School Funded EFL
This is an EFL School program that runs for 4 weeks. The students come for 2 hours one afternoon a week.
The focus the school wanted to focus on for this group was social & life skills. This curriculum is for students
who had already attended EFL One and so had some base-line skills with the horses. This group included 4
students, grades 5-11. Typically, this school sends groups as follows, 4-5 graders, 6-8th, high school.
NOTE*** Because this program is funded by schools, and some towns who fund specific students, it is very
important to insure that the assessments used provide the funders with the measured results. This is the
bottom line as they all have tight budgets and many have no idea why they should pay for working with
horses.
We as EFL facilitators need to understand the importance of this. This is how we educate the public. This is
how we validate the potential and power of equines to measurably improve the lives of others in so many
areas of need.
In the below lesson plan, I incorporated “Showmanship”. I did this for 2 reasons.
 It allowed me to introduce the concepts of adding a 3rd person to the social situation. How do the
dynamics change? Using showman ship was the perfect curriculum activity because the students need
to focus on the judge and where they need to be when the judge moves to different positions and
attend to the subtle nods that they and the judge use to communicate when each one is ready for the
next step of the judging. The student also has to be very focused on their horse and the subtle cues
they may be giving each other or that the students may need to provide their horse. GREAT STUFF!
 It allowed me to open a door for the students so that they could take the skills they learned and
compete with others. This fall they will be able to compete in the “Showmanship” and “Equine Body
Language and Herd Behavior Knowledge” classes. Great FUN!!!!
BHA EFL - 2
Lesson Three – When Others Join our Group / Showmanship
12:30 Meet Students in Lobby – students and volunteers greet each other and get helmets. Go to “Meeting Place”

Lesson Two Review:
o Recognizing and setting boundaries to respect our own and other’s preferred personal space
o Partnering with horses and people
o Complete any written questions not finished from the previous lesson.

Introduce new lesson:
o What is Showmanship, why is it a part of horse shows?
o What is the Quarter Method?
o What do you need to ask your horse to do in the Showmanship Pattern?

Handouts:
o Showmanship (explanation)
o Showmanship Pattern level 2 and 3
o Showing to the Judge – Quarter Method

Discussions
o What do we need to consider when a person joins:
 You and your horse
 You and another person you are talking, socializing or working with?
o How does the Quarter Method tie in with the above considerations?

Role- Play
o Staff and volunteers will role play two people talking to each other as a third person joins them,
demonstrating scenarios in which:
 The new person is ignored by the original 2 people
 The original 2 people stop talking and don’t seem to know what to do
After both scenarios the students will be encouraged to explain what they see and how the original 2
people can be more respectful of the new person joining their group and enjoy the new social situation.
1:00 Head to arena to begin the Equine Interaction Activities -
Activity One – Partnering with Horses in Showmanship
A. Our guest Showmanship Instructor, Anne Craig, will explain and demonstrate the Showmanship Pattern
including:
 Leading and halting
 Setting the horse up for inspection and then standing toes facing toes of front hooves.
 Subtle head nods (body language) that are used as communication between the handler and the judge
 The Quarter Method
o The horse will have tape on his body to illustrate the 4 quadrants
o Knowing how to properly move from one side of the horse’s head to the other, using 3 steps
o Understanding the where the leader needs to be in relation to where the judge is standing as the
judge circles the horse for the inspection).
B. Role – Playing to explore concepts and practice techniques.
Anne and Susan will help the students as they practice with their volunteers role-playing the horses. The
students will:
1) Review asking their horses to give them (the students) the leadership role by asking the horse to move
his/her feet (back up and move haunches);
2) Review and fine tune their communicate aides with their horse (including providing “pre-cue” for their horse
before each change in speed and direction). The goal is to eventually be able to use light effective cues to
perform the actions required, as they work through the showmanship pattern.
3) Learn how to ask the horse to move specific legs so that the horse stands in the Showmanship stance.
4) At the halt, explore how their movements around their horse affect his/her ability to stand quietly. This will
include:
a. how close they are standing to the horse when they move
b. unintentional pressure on the lead rope
c. where they are looking
d. Are they moving the boundary that they and the horse agreed to?
5) What to do/not do so that the horse understands that he/she is to ignore the judge? How does the judge
use body language and respect of the horse’s personal space to navigate around the horse for the
inspection?
6) By leading their volunteers (role-playing horses) through the course, students will practice being good
partners, communicating with clear intent, respect, and patience. They will identify and respect each other’s
preferred personal space and create the boundary that is effective at both the stand (when student moves
and horse stands) and the walk.
C. Practicing Showmanship with the horses.
Students will work on all of the above partnering with their horses practicing the Showmanship Pattern.
D. Learning Objectives
Through Q & A’s, reflection, group discussions, and observing other students with their horses, the student will
work with their volunteers on the below learning objectives. Note; the “Transfer of Skills’ objectives will be done
later back at “The Meeting Place”.
E. Students teaching the volunteers.
The volunteers, using the information shared by their students in the learning objective answers, will attempt
the showmanship pattern. The student will both act as the judges and provide helpful hints to their volunteers.
Activity One “Partnering with Horses in Showmanship” Learning Objectives:
While working with their horse to accomplish the Showmanship Pattern requirements, the students will:
 Share 2 techniques that helped their horse understand when they needed to respond to the student’s
movements.
 Explain why each techniques worked for their horse.
 Share 2 techniques that helped their horse understand when they were not to respond to the student’s
movements.
 Explain why each techniques worked for the horse.
“Transfer of skills” questions (to be done at “the Meeting Place”)


When socializing or working with 3 or more people, explain 2 things you can use to help another person
know that you are talking specifically to them.
When socializing or working with others explain 1 thing you can do if you don’t want others to respond to
your actions or words.
Activity Two – When Others Join our Group
A. After the students and their horses, have gained some success with both the showmanship pattern and the
Quarter Method, instructors will role play the judges. Two students with their horses will be judged at a time.
The students who are waiting their turn will observe and be prepared to discuss the below questions that will be
asked after each student is judged in their Showmanship Class.
B. Students will reflect on what, if anything, changes when a “real” judge is involved. What changes when two
partners becomes three? Is it difficult to pay attention to your horse when you also need to focus on the judge?
Does it affect them? How and Why? Does it affect the horse? How and Why?
Students will discuss being aware of personal space, boundaries, blocking others, the relationships of
movements and body language of all 3 in the group.
If time allows, we will discuss if there is a difference when the others who join in are:
friends/peers,
adults/teachers/persons of authority,
younger students/siblings/children
C. Students will be challenged to try the course off lead, using only their body language energy and verbal cues to
guide their horse through the pattern.
“When Others Join our Group” Learning Objectives:
 Name one way thing that helped you focus on both your horse and the judge.
 How did you help your horse stand quietly as the judge moved around them?
“Transfer of skills” questions (to be done at “the Meeting Place”).
 When you and a friend/classmate are talking and a third person approaches to join in, share 2 things that you
and your friend do to include them.
1:45 Head back to “Meeting Place”


Transfer of Skills Learned: After putting horses away in their stalls and providing hay we will head back to
the “Meeting Place”.
Note: Why we do “transfer of skills learned”.
It is extremely important to incorporate activities to make sure the students understand how they can
take these new skills that they learned and practiced with the equines, and use them in their daily life.
Students and volunteers take turns role playing and discussing horses and people.
o Students will choose one of the two Equine Interaction Activities. Each student will work with their
volunteer to discuss and expand the answer to the “Transfer of skills” questions for that activity.
o Students will take turns sharing what they learned about using the skills they learned with their
horses to their everyday social situations.
Assessment: In this class the students were answering questions after each activity with their horse. After
the above exercise of sharing what they learned, students will have an extra 5 minutes to add to their
“transfer of skills” answers.
2:15 End with the horses: Student will return to the barn to move the horses from their stalls and turn them out in
their fields.
2:30 Class Ends – see notes on next page
***After the class the volunteers and staff will review the Learning Objective Assessment sheets that they did with their
students and score each question with 0%, 50% or 100%.
We will have a De-briefing on the class in general, including the students, horses, and activities, and suggestions for
changes to the curriculum.