After an eventful time, we are now starting to give training and present to folks who have heard about Horse Boy and Farm de Lek and are now hungry for more.
Spark Center in Bangkok offers family consulting services, alternative therapy like play therapy and Movement Method. The first training was for Movement Method 1 and 2 and powerful experience with many chances to collaborate and learn from so so many case studies and unique experiences with children, students, and learners.
The learning was allowing for multi-sensory experiences and learning. MM moves away from hours without end simply presenting and frontloading to actively involving participants, creating BDNF and oxytocin.
The environment is the key to ideal learning. Human and physical environments lead to learning. While teaching the 8 guidelines, we often choose places outdoors and do hands-on activities to truly understand the meaning of theoretical concepts.
The Spark Center created a lovely environment, even in a small outdoor space, natural materials are visible everywhere and create a welcoming, calming learning environment.
After a challenging realization of the difficulties of self- compassion and valuing our ‘dream whispers’, the participants graduated with their MM 1 and 2 certification, some are on their way to sign up for the evaluation process to become mentors.
A huge honor was awarded to us when we were invited by the Royal Military Guard to present Horse Boy method in a 4-hour demo which was only supposed to have lasted 2 hours- we kind of over-delivered…The Royal Guard is where the princess keeps her Olympic horses and where the Royal Cavalry trains and exercises.
With only very little preparation and horse meeting time, we were ready to present in front of about 40 soldiers, disciplined looking in their uniforms, almost to a point of intimidation. The first part was presented in a lecture room, allowing us to present the science and explain how our horses' training is based on classical dressage training, allowing horses to be trained where they can say ‘yes’, where they can be healthy, strong, and happy.
The practical demo was done with three of their horses. 170 horses moved about two hours away to be ready for a private king's military parade, so the ones we got were the ones that could not go for various reasons. We were excited to show and present some therapeutic moves to allow the horses to stretch, exercise and build the right muscle, and eventually enjoy the job presented to them. As you might imagine, these demos are always very interesting and you meet the most interesting types of horses and riders.
We were pleasantly surprised by the open-mindedness and willingness to learn. In 30 degree Celsius weather with flies trying to find their way into any available open spot to your body, we captivated them with what their horses could do. If we were able to leave some information and ideas with them, we did our job.
This work is so rewarding because we support and help in so many ways. Not only do we allow new perspectives for families and children; we are also able to use the method to allow for more human teaching and instruction for humans and animals. Overall, the goal is to take more and more suffering out of the equation of learning. Seeing some of the faces and hearing some of the participants' new ideas and goals to implement the new knowledge is mind-blowing amazing.