Sox isn't your typical reading coach. He's 12 years old, has four legs, and weighs about 800 pounds.
Yet this 15-hand-high chestnut Arabian horse has helped scores of young humans master the art of reading through the Arabian Horse Reading Literacy Project.
Sox is one of the stars of the program, as he's on the cover of one of the books pre-school kids learn to read as part of it, said his owner and program founder Gary Millar, who lives near Sherwood Park and works with students in the Edmonton region.
"(The kids) treat him like a movie star."
About 300 Alberta hippophiles (horse-fans) will be at the Strathcona County Community Centre in Sherwood Park this weekend for the 35th annual Alberta Horse Conference, which promotes new trends in the horse industry.
Millar will be speaking Sunday on equine-assisted learning and how he's spent the last 10 years using horses to help kids learn to read.
Millar said he got the idea for this program after hearing about the American Black Stallion Literacy Project, which used horse-related books and live horses as a way to promote literacy. He had long used horse-riding to teach adults communication skills, and wanted a similar experience for kids.
He said he chose to use Arabian horses as he happened to be breeding them at the time. Arabians also enjoy being around humans, having lived alongside them for thousands of years.
Literate horses
Millar's program has students practice reading to horses as a way to build their skills.
"What we're trying to do is motivate the kids to want to read."
To start, he brings a horse such as Sox to a school and lets students get up close with it.
"When you get a little five- to six-year-old and they're going to walk up to this 800-pound animal, that's a pretty exciting experience for them," he said. Neurological research suggests this excitement affects the plasticity of the brain, allowing new neural pathways to form.
Students hear Millar talk about horses then get horse-themed books they are encouraged to read to a poster of a horse. Six weeks later, they visit his ranch where they run through horse-related lessons and read to horses.
"The kids will turn their back to the horse and hold the book out so the horse can look over their shoulder," he explained.
The horse acts as a patient, non-judgmental listener, which lets the kid read without being pestered by parents or teachers correcting their pronunciation.
"They can relax. They can mispronounce a word and the horse is okay with that."
Nadine Trenchard, who now teaches at J.J. Nearing, said she had her Grade 1 students learn to read with the help of one of Millar's horses, Trifon, during her four years teaching in Morinville.
"Having Trifon made it so that we had something we wanted to learn about and read about," she said. She recalled how one young boy, who normally struggled with reading, was so mesmerized by the horses that he was able to totally focus on his book.
"It was phenomenal."
Teachers generally report that students come out of the program more confident in their reading skills, Millar said. He recalled how one autistic Grade 4 girl who could not read a word was able to pick up a book and read it to one of the horses by the end of the program.
"We get stuff like that happening all the time."
Trenchard said this program was an example of 21st-century learning in that it combined hands-on experience with real world subjects. It also inspired many of her students to take horse-riding lessons.
Educational programs such as this can help draw people to farms and act as a new source of revenue, Millar said.
While horses like Sox don't necessarily understand the books read to them, Millar said they enjoy being around non-threatening people.
"The horse is just glad you're here."
Tickets to the conference are available at the door for $100. Visit albertahorseindustry.ca for details.
