Horses Steer Youths Away From Life of Crime

An Alpine wild horse stands against the setting sun at the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group animal sanctuary on Nov. 30, 2022. (Allan Stein/The Epoch Times)

To reduce youth crime in Australia’s Gold Coast, police have been employing the novel approach of using horses to break through to young people and start them on a journey of improving their life trajectory.

Senior constable of the child protection and investigation unit (CPIU) Craig Andrew said while this program doesn’t teach participants to ride horses, it requires them to learn horsemanship skills such as grooming, caring and leading the horses through a series of manoeuvres.

“After completing the course, parents, carers and schools report less conflict at home and improved school attendance and engagement,” he said.

Individual participants are matched to each animal depending on the horse's personality. (Queensland Police Service)

Andrew has been driving the Horses Helping Humans program since Oct. 2021.

“There are plenty of studies showing that animals can be useful for therapy and in some cases can teach important life lessons more effectively than other humans can,” Andrew said.

The personality of each participant is matched with a horse’s temperament and communication style, to best teach them what they as individuals need to learn.

“These horses come from challenging backgrounds, as do many of our participants, and each has developed its own personality quirks in response to that,” he said.

“One has a domineering personality, one is a follower, another is flighty and has trouble maintaining focus.”

“Some of our young people are followers and are following other kids into crime. Some are domineering and engage in bullying behaviour, while others suffer from ADHD and may struggle to maintain focus.”

Horses Teach Life Skills

Since convincing the horses to listen requires an appropriate mix of patience and assertiveness, the teens learn how to deal with anxiety and develop self-control.

“They start each session with breathing exercises to help them focus. They develop empathy and learn to adjust their body language to get the horses to trust them enough to follow their commands,” Andrew said.

(Queensland Police Service)

“We target young people from around the age of 11 who are disengaging with school and coming to the attention of police.”

“These are often children who are in a period of transition from primary school to high school. Their bodies are changing, they are becoming more independent and they are vulnerable to peer pressure, especially if they are mixing with the wrong crowd.”

Lives Turned Around

Andrew said that the right intervention at the right time in a young person’s life can be instrumental in preventing youth crime.

One participant, a 15-year-old girl, was charged with 12 offences over a few months, mostly involving violence toward others. She was not going to school regularly and was on bail for robbery when she was invited to take part in the program.

Since completing three sessions, she has re-engaged with her schooling and has not committed any further offences.

Another 13-year-old girl was involved with other well-known youth offenders and was cautioned for two property offences under peer pressure from older youths. After she completed the program, she is no longer associating with other youth offenders and has not committed any further offences.

“However, it’s never a simple fix. There are usually multiple issues involved, including domestic violence, substance abuse and mental health, and you are never going to address all these problems with one program,” Andrew said.

“It’s a different side of policing. You can arrest people, but there are other ways to work with kids. It’s more holistic but it’s harder to do and I enjoy the challenge.”

“It can be frustrating because you don’t always get support from the parents and it’s also hard to accurately measure success because you are preventing something from happening.”

“The rewards come when you know you have succeeded in turning a young person’s life around. It happens often enough to keep you going.”

Adventures Give Teens Hope for Their Future

Another novel way Queensland has been helping disconnected youth re-engage with their families, communities, and education is through an adventure-based learning and resilience training program.

Kayaking and rafting are part of teaching young people how to take healthy risks. (Photo courtesy of Kfar Blum.)

More than 100 teens recently began the 16-week mentoring program involving a variety of adventurous activities such as abseiling, high ropes obstacle courses, and mountain biking.

State manager of the initiative James Steginga said that the program puts attention on the existing strengths and abilities of the young person instead of focusing on the problem.

“At the start of the course, we often experience challenging behaviours but it’s rewarding to see how much their demeanour changes and self-confidence increases when they graduate,” Steginga said.

“We appreciate the challenges these kids face at home, in their communities or in peer groups.”

“Our desire is to see them reengage in further education or employment and we work with them until that’s their reality.”