North Star EAL

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More from yesterday’s White Lake School District field trip!
06/12/2026

More from yesterday’s White Lake School District field trip!

We had such a fun morning hosting 14 middle school students from White Lake School for an Equine-Assisted Learning exper...
06/12/2026

We had such a fun morning hosting 14 middle school students from White Lake School for an Equine-Assisted Learning experience!

If you’re interested in doing a similar field trip to the barn, here’s how their day went:

- Students arrived and we went over some safety rules with the horses.
- Discussion of our topics for the day — these students wanted to learn about Friendship and Teamwork. We made a list on the white board of what these meant.
- We introduced the horses, then did a grounding exercise (like brushing, noticing things about the horses, and asking questions) to get comfortable around them.
- The kids completed a series of challenges which involved the horses as a part of each team. We asked the kids to think about friendship and teamwork in a new way as they led the horses through obstacles and played a fun game.
- We gathered back at the whiteboard to add more to what we learned about friendship and teamwork.
- Following our EAL session each student also had a short ba****ck ride and enjoyed a picnic lunch at the barn. The whole adventure was about an hour and a half to two hours long.

Interested in setting up something similar? Reach out to [email protected] today! We’d love to welcome you here!

Ever wanted to take a riding lesson with your best friend? It was so fun watching these girls with their horses, Ghost a...
06/09/2026

Ever wanted to take a riding lesson with your best friend? It was so fun watching these girls with their horses, Ghost and Judah, today.

Along with working on their individual riding skills, we also gave them the challenge of working together and staying connected/side-by-side for a good chunk of the lesson.

The girls had to figure out their spacing and speed, pay attention to their horses, communicate and coordinate with each other, and ride at the same time! So much to think about! It made for a fun challenge.

We have more space this summer for group and individual riding lessons and Equine Assisted Learning. Reach out to learn more! www.northstareal.org

This week we’re having so much fun kicking off the first week of summer with the SBR family campers! Each equine-assiste...
06/02/2026

This week we’re having so much fun kicking off the first week of summer with the SBR family campers! Each equine-assisted learning group has been so unique and has brought fun perspectives into our activities with the horses.

Our summer camp theme explores 1 Timothy 4:8 which says, “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.”

The speaker this week is teaching on “Following Jesus”, so during our EAL sessions we’ve talked a lot about these topics and the idea of “training”.

Are horses born knowing how to follow the guidance of a human? While the desire to connect with others is in their design, horses require proper training to learn how to follow and be led. They need someone to show them the way they should go, and they must learn to trust that guidance. This requires practice, patience, perseverance, and a relationship with their leader.

Likewise, people are also born with a desire to connect — to connect with animals, with people, and with God. We know there is more to the world than the things we can see (Ecc. 3:11). We know we have a future ahead of us and are designed for a purpose (Ps. 139). So doesn’t it make sense we would follow our leader (Jesus), spend time with Him, learn to be led by Him, and grow more like Him as we step out in faith and follow His example? Some things to think about today.

There’s still time to join our EAL sessions this summer - reach out to [email protected] for more information!

The face you make when your horse decides to roll mid-EAL session…Sometimes we ask people to do challenging things with ...
05/30/2026

The face you make when your horse decides to roll mid-EAL session…

Sometimes we ask people to do challenging things with the horses. The goal is to push them enough out of their comfort zone that they can try something new and learn from the experience.

So what do you do when you don’t have all the answers, or your initial approach to a challenge isn’t working? What do you do when you don’t know what questions to ask? Where do you turn for help?

During this session, I took away the halters and lead ropes we usually use to lead the horses, and asked the kids to find other ways to direct them around the arena and through the obstacles.

They found a few new ways to guide the horses — using a hula hoop, using a treat, or inviting the horse to follow them at liberty. To end on a good note, I returned their halters/lead ropes and let the kids walk the horses as they were used to. It took some time and perseverance, but the realization that it’s ok to use your creativity, to try even if you’re not sure, and to be confident and make choices shone through.

Want to join us? Reach out at [email protected].

Also if you’re part of the SBR Family Camp this week, we will have opportunities for you to sign up and spend quality time at the barn!

Psalm 121:1-2 “I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth.”

We enjoyed hosting this wonderful group at the barn this morning for some horsey fun!! ❤️
05/28/2026

We enjoyed hosting this wonderful group at the barn this morning for some horsey fun!! ❤️

It is always encouraging to hear stories from parents of the ways their kids are growing through Equine-Assisted Learnin...
05/27/2026

It is always encouraging to hear stories from parents of the ways their kids are growing through Equine-Assisted Learning.

This wonderful student has been working hard on being comfortable with change and new situations, and we had thunderstorms roll through for a few of her recent sessions including this one last night. When thunderstorms happen during our EAL sessions, we switch to indoor groundwork activities and keep an eye on the horses to make sure everyone remains calm and grounded throughout. For the last few weeks, my lesson plans for this student had to shift last-minute due to weather, which gave us some good practice navigating change and adjusting to new plans.

At the barn, I’ve seen increased comfort, communication, and confidence in this student’s interactions with the horses. After talking to her mom last night, I’m proud to hear that she is stepping way out of her comfort zone and trying new and potentially scary things at home too – and not just trying, but conquering those fears and being successful!

Watching this girl with the horses last night, I could see she was in her happy place. She was calm and enjoying her time with the horses even as the thunder and rain beat down on the roof overhead. What a perfect metaphor for the chaotic situations that can happen in life, and the calm confidence we can have in spite of it. We pray that the patterns she learns at the barn set her up for a bright future as well!

We still have space for summer Equine-Assisted Learning and Riding Lessons - contact us today at [email protected] to set up a visit!

With gas prices going up, I hear the joke often of “If the prices get too high I’m going to have to switch to a horse!” ...
05/22/2026

With gas prices going up, I hear the joke often of “If the prices get too high I’m going to have to switch to a horse!” (Nevermind that horses are probably more expensive in the long run). That begs the question, have you ever wondered what it’s like to drive a horse? It takes a different set of equipment, skills, and communication than riding or even leading a horse.

When you work with horses, you have a few “aids” or tools that are always at your disposal. Your voice, body language, your posture, your hands, your energy levels. Since horses don’t speak human language, they rely on the cues they do understand to communicate with us.

Did you also know that around 55% of our communication with other humans is nonverbal? And within spoken communication, more is communicated through tone of voice and rhythm than the actual words used?

Just like people, who all have different communication styles and what makes sense to them, the horses have different training and things that make sense to them. So learning how to ride, drive, and lead horses can be very beneficial to learning how to adapt and partner with different people as well. Once again, horses create a fantastic metaphor for other areas of life.

Here’s one of our students learning to ground drive a horse for the first time (and giving Judah some stretches afterward). Want to learn? Check out www.northstareal.org.

As the school year ends, this EAL session on Monday was the culmination of all the life skills the students learned this...
05/20/2026

As the school year ends, this EAL session on Monday was the culmination of all the life skills the students learned this year. It was a showcase of teamwork, communication, and fun.

After some opening discussion we played a game called, “The Most Important Thing”. The rules are simple:

- There’s an area roped off: this is an island you’re shipwrecked on.
- The “water” around that island is infested with sharks, and you can’t use any part of you that touches the water for the rest of the game.
- The horses are immune to sharks.
- You must gather all the items scattered around onto the island, including the horses.

When I’ve played this game before, everyone tends to get wrapped up in the task: collecting items for the island. What I loved about this group is that they immediately made the horses a huge part of their team. Everyone on this team got so creative that, as the facilitator, I had to shift the rules several times because it was too easy!

Each time a change came, the students (and our lovely volunteer Renae) used creativity and problem-solving skills to think their way through. I saw participation from everyone on the team. Their “we can do it” attitudes, confidence, communication, and energy levels were great, they used their resources well, and they had so much fun in the process!

During the debrief at the end, I asked the students what “The Most Important Thing” was in the game. Our White Lake student turned to his favorite horse Joppa, and hugged him. We unpacked the relational aspects of the game and how those translated into success for each student. We discussed the life skills that they get to take home and practice this summer. I’m so proud of these kids and their growth since the beginning of the school year.

That being said, I still have openings for summer EAL sessions - reach out today and join the fun! [email protected]

During this year’s SBR Mother-Daughter Retreat, we had 44 ladies join us for EAL. When we have larger retreats lined up,...
05/19/2026

During this year’s SBR Mother-Daughter Retreat, we had 44 ladies join us for EAL. When we have larger retreats lined up, I usually have EAL lesson plans prepped far ahead of time. For this retreat, I had ideas but nothing concrete as we got closer.

As I headed to chapel on Friday night to announce EAL sign-ups, I still wasn’t totally sure what we were going to do. So when the chapel speakers started talking about “spiritual drifting” and looking at examples of scriptural figures who stuck close and followed the Lord versus those who drifted away, inspiration for the EAL sessions struck. Sometimes it’s really cool to see the Holy Spirit guiding these sessions.

While I initially wanted to partner our participants with my horse Jezebel for this retreat because she’s a mom herself, her name ended up repeatedly being the topic of conversation. If you know the story of the biblical Jezebel like many of the ladies did, you know it’s not a pleasant story. Talk about a person who lived very far from the Lord and His will.

If you know the horse Jezebel, you know she has a long story of her own and no longer lives up to her namesake…which led to some good conversations: what does it take to bring someone close who has drifted away?

We ended up talking a lot about “connection” and doing several challenges where everyone had to remain “connected” in some way: while braiding our horses mane, while brushing the horse, and while leading her around. We talked about a horse’s natural ability to connect with their herd mates and with people. We did some grounding exercises together, and the girls also spent some quality time learning about and connecting with each other.

At the end of one session after hearing our horse’s story, a mom made the comment, “There is redemption for us all, praise the Lord!”

If that’s what each person took away from their EAL session, I’d say this weekend was time well spent. Thank you to all the moms and their daughters who joined us! I recognized some of you from last year and there were many new friends as well. Hope to see you again next year!

Address

N6120 Sawyer Lake Road
White Lake, WI
54491

Telephone

+17154842742

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