It started as a Halloween activity. Oxbow students don't dress up or trick or treat so Brita North, Equine Director, was looking for something to celebrate in an unusual way.
"I thought about having the boys make banners to decorate the horses," she recalls. Then she decided to give the activity a therapeutic twist. "I started researching how Native Americans painted their horses for hunting and tribal ceremonies."
Brita learned the painted horse became the brave's resume of what he hoped for. "Every symbol meant something different to them," she explains. "Circles around the eye represented better sight, suns for good hunting weather, and arrows on their feet so the horse could run faster. War horses were painted differently than hunting horses."
The more Brita learned about the symbols the more she became convinced Oxbow students could benefit from painting their own ponies.
During the first part of the activity, she taught the boys about Native American symbols and then had them design their own special markings. Each boy was also required to explain his symbols.
The next week she gathered washable poster paints, beads and feathers. Each boy was allowed to paint one side of a horse with the symbols he had created the week before.
The horses were puzzled, but compliant, and the boys had a great time. Brita says, "They liked showing each other their symbols and explaining what they meant. It was team building and friendship building. All the therapists were involved with it."
"You could tell who had been in the program longer based on how deep they went into themselves. I learned a lot about them just seeing what they put on their horses."
"Every time we do a new activity with these boys I learn something new," Brita says, "just how deep they are and how much they feel. You see them as individuals and their hopes and dreams and what they want to become. You see how hard they really are trying for change."
Brita plans to give each boy a photograph of his painted horse to hang beside his bed. She thinks it will help them remember the story they illustrated.
"It started out as just a fun activity but it turned into something educational and therapeutic. That's the whole point of experiential."
Author Resource:-
Oxbow Academy runs residential treatment facility for troubled teens with sexual addictions or problems with sexual misconduct.
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