8/6/2019 4H Pony Partners Article CC Press 2011pdf

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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Creating CommunitiesChester County PressChester County Press

Section

C

By Nancy Johnson

Staff Writer

What do you get when you com-

bine a group of adorable kids with

equally adorable ponies? You get

a lot of fun, some great photos but

in the case of 4-H Pony Partners

you get so much more.

The program, a combined

effort of 4-Hs offshoot Creating

Communities and the Migrant

Education Services, introduces

youth from underserved neigh-

borhoods to ponies beautiful

animals that they have never had

the opportunity to know before.

While they dont ride the ponies,

the elementary school children

learn a great deal about the care

and personalities of Charlie D.

and Jasmine, two rescued Shetland

ponies that reside with David

and Connie Carter in Pocopson

Township.

Plus, there is another learn-

ing component English. The

children are all from Spanish-

speaking families so as they do

the worksheets identifying the

parts of a horse or name the vari-

ous grooming tools they are also

practicing their English language

skills.

This marks the third year that

the Carters have hosted the pro-

gram, which consists of eight

weekly sessions, at their home.

We are so happy to be a part of

this, Connie emphasizes. This

is a great example of taking a

program and adding a community

component to it.

She explains that not only do

the children love coming to learn

about and visit the ponies, but

Jasmine and Charlie D., a mother

and son ages 17 and 7, are always

happy to see the kids and love the

attention they get at their weekly

visits.

Pam Eppinger, CCIU Migrant

Education Program Student

Support Specialist, is critical

to the program. According to

Connie she rounded up appropri-

ate participants by going door to

door and asking families if their

young children would be inter-

ested in it. Then, with the help

of her assistant Kourtney Phillips,

she picks the children up at school

and delivers each of them home

after the hour and a half pro-

gram. Pam picks up the group

from Greenwood Elementary in

the Kennett Consolidated School

District while Kourtney is respon-

sible for transporting the group

from the Unionville School

District.

On this beautiful Monday

afternoon Amy OGrady, a life-

long horsewoman who has been

involved with 4-H since 1983,

greets the children as they arrive

with Kourtney and Pam. The

ponies, who have been conspicu-

ously aloof, prick up their ears

and make a beeline over to the

fence where the children have

gathered. Jasmine offers a nicker

in welcome.

Connies stepdaughter Becky

notes with a smile, Jasmine

knows that teaching these kids is

her job. She is in her glory.

Amy and her assistant Katie

Poppiti call the group to the pic-

nic benches where they begin

by repeating the 4-H pledge in

English and Spanish! Then

they jumped right into a rather

challenging task writing the

corresponding part of the horse

on a drawing. Again, both the

English and Spanish words were

used. In addition, Amy related

many of the parts of the horse to

where it would be on a humans

body. This is the forelock, she

says indicating it as she holds up

a book with a large picture of a

horse. The forelock is like bangs.

Does anyone have bangs?

One little girl reached her hand

up and pulled on her bangs.

Thats right, Amy encourages.

You have bangs where a horse

would have a forelock.

After the children completed

their charts, Amy gets out her

Pony Partners its not all playgrooming box and reviews all

the brushes and other grooming

tools with them. Her 10-year-

old daughter, Suzanna Angstadt,

assists her.

Connie explains, In each

session Amy does something

involving writing and language

skills. And then they usually

break up into two groups and do

a hands-on.

Mondays hands-on was a

grooming session especially

enjoyed by the ponies as they are

still shedding their winter coats.

Having just reviewed the groom-

ing tools, the children put the

knowledge to use, choosing the

proper brushes, curry combs, hoof

pick, and Show Sheen for every

task. The result was two beauti-

fully groomed ponies!

With a huge smile Pam claims,

Im learning quite a lot about

horses and the kids are doing a

lot of reading and writing. Plus,

we keep all their worksheets and

put them together with photos in

a book. Theyll have a finished

product at the end.

To learn more about Pony

Partners or other 4-H Creating

Communities programs, contact

Laurie Szoke at 610-696-3500 or

see http://chester.extension.psu.

edu.

Katie created this chart comparing a ponysemotions to those of a human.

Pams Spanish skills are especially handy as she helps the children translateterms.

All photos by Nancy Johnson

The children take the lessons very seriously.

A completed worksheet showsmajor points of the horse inboth English and Spanish.

This young girl likes the design on thesoft brush.

Kourtney encourages a youngstudent.

A team of girls works on Jasmine.

Amy demonstrates the stretch-ing and sticking qualities ofVet Wrap.

Charlie D. is quite sure there is something more interesting in the bucket thanbrushes.

A young boy proudly displays a worksheet in which he colored ponies bay andgray appropriately.

Charlie D. waits patiently forthe children to finish theirlesson.