Youth of all ages experienced the academic and therapeutic benefits of reading to a horse at Strides Pediatric Therapy’s Pony Tales event, planned by Mountain Ridge High School business students Eden Knecht and Izzy Hammer.

“Some felt silly at first, but as they started going, it was fun for them, and it was good, and they felt more confident,” Knecht said. “One mom said that her daughter protested less about having to sound out the words and take her time. She was just more open with it and actually gave it a chance instead of pushing back.”

Hammer and Knecht organized the event for a DECA business club project at the request of Marley Juarez, co-owner of Strides Pediatric Therapy. The project was the perfect intersection of their interests in horses and in helping others. With the skills they learned in marketing and business classes, they took over the clinic’s social media accounts and networked with Herriman City, community members and their high school student body.

They held two book drives, collecting a selection of over 200 books for kids to choose from when reading to a horse. Participants also had a choice of 10 horses. Once the book and horse were chosen, the youth sat outside the horse’s pen and read aloud to them. They went home with the book and a bookmark picture of them and their equine reading pal.

Juarez, whose clinic offers various types of therapy including some involving horses, got the idea for Pony Tales from reading about the benefits of the Reading Education Assistance Dogs program through Intermountain Therapy Animals.

 “They have done a ton of research on reading aloud to dogs and improving literacy and self-confidence and mental health, and the numbers and the research is just staggering,” Juarez said. “I read the research on the READ program and thought that we could kind of adapt it and use those benefits for kiddos with horses as well.”

She said the biggest benefits are self-confidence, self-esteem and problem solving skills.

The Pony Tales event, which also included yard games and food, raised $2,500.

“A big part of what we were doing was a fundraiser to put in a new building,” Juarez said. “We are at capacity with our current space, and we still have kids on a wait list, waiting for therapy services.”

Juarez believes being around horses improves mental health and was grateful for Hammer and Knecht’s help to inform the community about equine therapy opportunities her clinic offers.

“I had had this idea for a while, but hadn't quite had the time to put it together and do things like the book drive and all those small pieces that they did, so they were able to kind of take the idea and actually get it off the ground,” Juarez said. 

Because of the success of the event and the community connections that were made, Juarez plans to hold 3 or 4 of these events each year.

“It was fabulous—it was honestly better than we were expecting,” Juarez said. “I was super excited to see that kids didn't feel ‘too cool’ for reading out loud to horses. Even some of our older teenage kids that came participated and really seemed to enjoy it. And the horses really enjoyed it, so, yeah, I was very happy with how it went.”

Knecht and Hammer were pleased with the community support for the book drive and the Pony Tales event. A local Salvadorian food truck donated food and Monarch Family Counseling (a competitor of Strides) donated raffle prizes for the city book drive.

Hammer said it was great to see the community come together.

“I think the biggest thing that surprised me is just people's willingness, and with mental health being such a priority in our community and the world, it's just starting to be a bigger thing that people are willing to combat it,” Hammer said.

Knecht and Hammer will present the work they did on this project at the DECA business club state competition in February.