Reading without pressure: Miniature horses help children practice (The New Mexican excerpt)

Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences and My Little Horse Listener, an equine-centered literacy program, on Wednesday hosted Reading is Magic, an after-school program that uses miniature horses as “listeners” for children who aren’t comfortable or confident reading aloud to others. Miniature horses Thor and Hotdog visited the school to help children overcome their reading insecurities. The after-school program, funded in part by the city, is modeled after a successful summer camp program. The free camp for Santa Fe Public School students takes children who have been referred by their teachers and are an average of one to two years behind in their reading. Organizers say the students gain, on average, a grade level in their reading after participating in the program.

From right, Gabriel Lopez, a Santa Fe School for the Arts & Sciences alumnus, and Alan Martinez, a third-grader at the school, read Nora Gaydos' A Bass Mess to Thor, a miniature horse, as he takes a bite at the book Wednesday during the school's Reading is Magic program. Clyde Mueller/The New Mexican

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