School Outreach Program

The School Outreach Therapeutic Horseback Riding Program is an eight-week program that serves students with disabilities (including developmental delay, Down Syndrome, ADHD, autism, etc.) from participating schools.  NMCTR’s PATH Intl. Certified Instructors coordinate with the teachers to develop a lesson plan each week that will incorporate classroom learning with both mounted and unmounted activities with the horses. 

Schools we have served so far include Nino Otero Community School, Aspen Magnet Community School, Eldorado Community School, Capital High School, New Mexico School for the Deaf, Santa Fe Indian School. 

How success is measured 
NMCTR uses three objective measures of progress:  HeartMath, a Miller assessment pyramid, and a 10-item pre- and post-test.   

HeartMath measures the heart-brain communication and its relationship to managing stress, which increases coherence and deepens the student’s connection to self and others. Using the HeartMath technique, the instructor takes a quick one- or five-minute measurement of each student’s Heart Rate Variability at the beginning and end of each session.  Measures are recorded to track participant growth over the course of the program. 

NMCTR uses the Miller pyramid assessment tool, a framework for measuring skills, to assess growth in social-emotional learning (SEL) skills.  At the lowest level of the pyramid is knowledge (knows), followed by competence (knows how), performance (shows how), and action (does).

NMCTR also measures each student’s progress through a 10-item pre- and post-test completed before and after each 8-week session.  These tests are completed by the classroom/special education teacher and the NMCTR riding instructor.

Funding

The School Outreach Program is 100% funded by scholarships that are provided by Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Mexico and  the City of Santa Fe Children and Youth Commission.