PINCHER CREEK, Alta. — David Mosby’s recent eviction notice wasn’t the worst news the young father has ever received, but it wasn’t the best, either.
However, it didn’t stop him from bringing his children to the Horseshoe Pavilion in Pincher Creek, Alta., for a session with Ty Provost, who runs a therapeutic horsemanship course called Horse Spirit.
Mosby, a father of four, said the kids wouldn’t have allowed him to cancel because they look forward to the classes and choose them over spending time with their friends.
Horse Spirit, based on an equine program called the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA), works with individuals and families who face social challenges.
Provost’s program is associated with the Napi Friendship Centre in Pincher Creek, Alta.
On this day, Mosby and his children were saddling horses and riding inside the arena, as they’ve been doing weekly. However, the lessons include more than horsemanship.
“They were kind of struggling financially and they were struggling to keep their family together,” Provost said about the Mosbys.
“I’ve seen dramatic improvement with the relationship of the father toward his kids. He’s not so frustrated and high strung as he was when we first started, and the kids are a lot more relaxed and not so much bickering with each other.”
Provost, 25, is himself the father of three children, so he knows some of the challenges. He grew up around horses, rodeo and parades and has Level 1 certification through the EAGALA program.
“Most of my training is just through life lessons, trial and error,” said Provost as he prepared tack for the day’s session.
Horses and their training have been a constant in his life.
“Growing up, it really helped me with life decisions. It taught me work ethic. Work with horses sometimes gets challenging. Either you give up or you find a way to push through it. Translating that to school and sports, I really took that as my motto. My horsemanship skills, what they taught me … they made things a lot easier.”
Mosby said Provost’s course has shown him some of that experience and helped his parenting.
“When they’re together here, it brings them into one unit,” he said of his children: J.P., Mckenzie, David Jr. and Daxson.
“Here they help each other a lot more and do things together a lot more than if they were just at home.”
Provost takes a quiet and laid back approach to his class. The children are asked to choose a horse and a halter, put them on the animals and then saddle them.
If assistance is requested, he provides it. Otherwise, calm activity prevails.
“As human beings, we have a lot of similarities to horses, so getting the clients to understand that, when they first start the program, really helps … with their horsemanship and riding skills,” said Provost.
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“One horse has to be handled a little differently from another horse. It’s the same as human beings, when you’re in a relationship or a friendship.”
Provost said he wants those in his classes to learn that it is OK to make mistakes and important to learn from them. A halter put on backward or a cinch that is too loose is no cause for criticism or alarm.
Calling on his Blackfoot heritage, Provost said the spiritual aspects of his culture and its relationship with horses are part of his philosophy and teaching.
“The spiritual helps ground you. When you feel grounded and you feel really humble, your horse can pick up on that and you’ll feel your horse be more calm and relaxed and want to walk up to you and just stand around for no reason,” he said.
“You need spirituality in your life. You need love in your life. You need family. You need relationships that make you happy, and once you accomplish that, then your horse will start picking up on that as well.”
David Mosby Jr. brushes his horse before saddling up during a Horse Spirit class. | Barb Glen photo
Provost allows time during each class for clients to share their thoughts and feelings. The word “good” is not an accepted adjective. More specific descriptions are desired.
That said, Provost said he is not a therapist so he offers no analysis. He feels self-expression is an important step in itself.
He has 10 horses for Horse Spirit. All are gentle enough for novices. Clients are asked to choose their own horse for each session and the results are surprising.
“Nine times out of 10, the horse that they pick is the one I was going to give them anyway,” he said.
“I try to match the horse with the person. For a kid that’s really sad or maybe has a really low spirit, not really much life … I will put them on a little bit more hyper horse. It makes them be aware of their riding.”
One of his key messages is that people have bad days and so do horses, but each has to keep moving forward anyway.
Mosby said that has been a good lesson.
“It’s an awesome program. I’ve never heard of anything like it before, but I’m glad we did it. It’s a lot more than just riding horses.”
barb.glen@producer.com
