Emerald M Therapeutic Riding Center

Horse Powered Reading®

Horse Powered Reading®

What is Horse Powered Reading®?

Horse Powered Reading® Instruction was created in 2012 by Michele Pickel, Ph.D., as an equine-assisted strategy to aid learners who are experiencing reading difficulties. As a result of creating metaphors for the skills involved in reading, Horse Powered Reading® offers hope to struggling readers by integrating social-emotional learning with academics, which allows the learner to experience reading with their mind, body, and emotions.

Research conducted by Dr. Pickel determined that it only takes a few key reading skills combined with motivation, confidence, and persistence, all of which are taught by the horses, to create exponential growth in learning.

Through Horse Powered Reading®, learners interact with horses while on the ground, using toys and props to identify obstacles, which symbolize the learner’s restrictions. The skills addressed with Horse Powered Reading® are:

Decoding - building phonics skills and sight word recognition.
Vocabulary enhancement.
Fluency development - reading quickly, accurately and with expression.
Overcome barriers blocking comprehension.
Practice study skills.
Comprehend textbooks.
Learn new, unfamiliar, and multi-syllable words.
Achieve higher order thinking.
Use critical and creative thinking.

The United States is experiencing a reading crisis with 60% of all students reading below grade level. Parents and caregivers are sometimes at a loss on how to help learners who may be struggling. Since we all learn differently, exploring different learning methods is paramount to learning success. Unfortunately, this is not practical in traditional educational settings. Emerald M Therapeutic Riding Center is proud to be one of only seven Horse Powered Reading® (HPR) Certified Programs in the state of Florida. Our HPR program is effective for children at any level, regardless of their unique abilities.