Dec. 2024 | Vol. 34 Iss. 12
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TWO STUDENTS TAKE THE REINS OF PONY TALES EVENT By Jet Burnham | j.burnham@mycityjournals.com
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outh 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 Ellison Juarez, daughter of Marley Juarez, co-owner of Strides Pediatric Therapy, shows picture books to Hammer and Knecht’s help to inform the com- the horse named Solomon as part of the Pony Tales event on Nov. 9. (Rebecca Olds/City Journals) Continued page 4
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