Equine Activity of the Day

Boundary Challenge


Population

This exercise is well suited to individuals, small groups and families.

Objective

The objective is to enable clients to recognize and protect a boundary. Each group or family will work in several different boundaries with their horse or horses.

Area Needed

This exercise works very well in a large arena.

Set up and execution of the exercise

Place a minimum of nine different boundaries in the arena. Some of the boundaries need to be small only accommodating one horse, some need to be larger so that the boundary will accommodate more than one horse, some of the boundaries need to be well defined and some need to be small and undefined. A variety of objects can be used to define the boundaries, a rope placed on the floor of the arena, hay bales placed in a circle, cones placed in a pattern, tarp placed on the floor of the arena, poles with solid wall structures and other similar objects.

Options

Place some temptations at various places in the arena, such as grain, apples or hay.
Have some people who are designated as resources or negative influences located at various places in the arena.

Basic Rules

Once the horse is comfortable in the boundary then the group or family will step out of the boundary and walk around the horse in every widening circles. After the participants step out of the boundary they may not touch the horse.
Participants have the responsibility to keep themselves and their team member’s safe at all times.
Maintain a safe distance from the other groups and be aware of the others horses, especially when changing boundaries.

Possible Discussion Questions

Did you work as a team to respect and protect your boundaries?
How or when did the horse first start to violate the boundary?
When did you recognize that your boundary was violated?
How did you feel about your boundary being violated and what did you do about it?
What was the horse’s boundary and how did the horse communicate its boundary?
Which boundary did you choose and why?
Who did the horse remind you of?

Things for the team to observe

What type of boundaries did the family or group select?
Was there a pattern to the boundaries they selected such as always a large boundary or always a well defined boundary?
Who were the leaders?
Who were the followers?
Who tried to disengage?
Who was most involved in the discussion after the session?
What did the boundary remind you of?