“Montessori education is an educational method that focuses on children’s natural interests and activities rather than formal teaching. A Montessori classroom emphasizes hands-on learning and the development of real-world skills, such as problem-solving, helping, and teaching each other. It emphasizes independence, and it views children as naturally eager for knowledge and capable of initiating learning in a sufficiently supportive and well-prepared learning environment.” – Wikipedia
At REIN Rescue, we often use a similar Montessori-type philosophy of “training” to help our horses learn about the human world of horses in an exploratory and fun way. These photos are from last Friday when I took my twostepway.com SOS Kit (Sack of Stuff) to REIN and let the ponies and horses explore its contents. We took it to all the pastures and let the horses explore the contents.
I did not use many of the bigger, scarier items for the most recent mustangs, as that would have overwhelmed them. It was fun to watch the horses in the pasture with really mixed experience. The brave ones and more tame ones explored a lot, while the shyer ones watched and gained some confidence to check out a few things on their own. Horses from the other pastures looked on with great interest and curiosity. What I love about this is that they are all learning from the experience and from each other.
In the pony pasture of 2 and 3 year olds who have already had a lot of love and experience with the human world, we had some fun challenging them with taller objects that looked strange and with moving things, like a sack being pulled along the ground and a towel being thrown back and forth in a game of catch that was going right over their heads. All were free to leave, but everyone stayed and played with us.
Playing is the best kind of learning for people and horses. The photos are from the pasture of young ponies. If you are looking for a pony prospect, come adopt one of these beautiful ponies. They have all been raised with care and a lot of love, and it really shows. Once feral and wild, now so happily people-oriented and ready to interact and play.
