Perks Family Equine Center

A handful of our GiGi U students got the opportunity to participate in a 7-week-long program at Perks Family Equine Center this summer, and it was simply AMAZING! Each week featured a different topic and lesson: Respect, Trust, Leadership, Confidence, Care, Responsibility, and of course, an end-of-session celebration! Working right alongside ponies and horses, our participants learned about each topic in a way they could truly digest. The hands-on activities were designed to create a foundational and meaningful understanding of abstract topics that are frequently difficult to grasp. The use of innovative curriculums that combine equine therapy concepts with Social Emotional Learning (SEL) principles resulted in a learning environment that our participants not only understood, but fully embraced.

Widely known as some of the most intuitive creatures on the planet, horses are capable of connecting on a level that goes far beyond what most traditional teaching methods can offer or achieve. They pick up on the emotions of the people they interact with in ways that would make the most proficient psychotherapists green with envy. As Doug Perks from the Perks Family Foundation was quoted as saying, “The connection to horses teaches, in a very deep, impactful way, how to listen and respond to others without speaking, how to care and feel without embarrassment, and how to achieve without bullying. Horses are simply one of the greatest human teachers in history.”

We are truly grateful that our participants were afforded this incredibly beneficial experience. We saw growth and positive change in each individual – bar none! Watching them grasp difficult concepts, and seeing their confidence increase while any fears they had diminished, was sincerely a joy to witness. We owe a heartfelt thank you to Perks for allowing us to take part in such a wonderful program and for truly getting to know each participant and their needs – even when things occasionally got a little tough. Whenever fear or emotion got in the way, Kayla and Tracy skillfully redirected everything back to focus on the horse, the participant, and the lesson at hand in the perfect way. THANK YOU to Perks Family Equine Center and the Rockford Park District for making this program possible for our participants!