Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
A unique policing programme in Central Otago is producing positive results for children at risk of offending.
Grab the Reins, dreamed up by Senior Constable Paddy Henderson, utilises what he calls equine therapy to get challenging kids back on the straight and narrow.
For the past 18 months, Henderson has been working with 12- to 15-year-olds in Cromwell with behavioural issues in the programme.
Using his own background in horse riding, he teaches the children how to ride, but also builds up their life skills, confidence and empathy.
To the untrained eye it might appear to be an unusual method of policing to take kids - the first to admit they are struggling with the discipline of school life - and pair them up with a half-tonne mammal. But Henderson says the confidence they get from that bond is exactly what they need.
"One-on-one you could not get better kids but in a group, they just… they've got a bit of spunk and it's just about curbing it in the right direction."
The programme was all about the kids putting their hands up, taking responsibility and taking a chance.
"That's why we named it Grab the Reins - they're in charge of their own lives, so grab the reins and choose the direction you want to go in," Henderson said.
"Forget about the peer pressures out there - wwe did this because he did thisw - just cut all that and make a name for yourself and do what you want to do."
Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
There had been plenty of talk in recent years about youth offending, but he said there had not been much in the way of meaningful solutions which would turn lives around. Henderson said changing minds and lives was what the programme was all about.
"We work with from 11 to 15 [year-olds] because 15 is a hard age to turn around. But when they're 12, 13 and 14, it's a good age to get the kids and mould them to a better lifestyle.
"I think they really enjoy it. They enjoy the space and they enjoy something completely different."
The current group had spent the past six weeks in the programme. They definitely enjoyed it, saying it was the highlight of their week.
Once a week, they would trade a school day for a chance to spend time with Henderson, Constable Sophie McSkimming and other volunteers on the programme. But in exchange they had to behave during the rest of the week.
Chase told RNZ that was good motivation.
"You have to be good to come. There's heaps of other kids that want to come, so if you're bad they can swap you out for someone else."
Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Cooper loved the chance to get out of the classroom to bond with the horses.
"His name's Otto," Cooper said, about the horse he had been riding for the past two weeks.
"He can be stubborn. He's a good horse, in all. He was in two Lord of the Rings movies and he did an ad for central bank, I think."
Cooper said he saw some of himself in Otto, and that was why he was such a special horse.
"To me he is," the 13-year-old said.
McSkimming, who had responsibility for the youth policing portfolio in Cromwell, said the kids changed around the horses.
"They are so much more confident in here. I feel like they have a persona to uphold with their pals and in front of their friends and family that they're this bad guy, but here there's just none of that," she said.
"They're friendly and empathetic here with the horses. Just a completely different side."
The programme could not run without the support of volunteers like Lynne Warden, who brought a couple of horses along each week. But she said the real unsung heroes were the horses themselves.
"They are the best teachers, I believe," Warden said. "They'll react to how [the children] are - if they're up high and excitable then the horse will be the same. So they've got to learn to calm down, and the horses are good. They're good with them."
