Students are scattered out within the playing area (the prairie).
A few students are selected to play the roles of wranglers and are given a lasso (a medium length pool noodle). The rest of the students play the role of wild horses.
On the teacher’s signal, all students begin to gallop around. Wranglers attempt to tag the wild horses while galloping. If a horse is tagged, they must go the the ranch (i.e. a marked-off area in which the teacher is standing) and demonstrate galloping with a mature pattern.
Once the teacher approves of a student’s galloping, that student may return to the prairie.
Build One: Wild Horses
In build one, the teacher sets up the playing area by dividing the playing area into thirds. One third will serve as the ranch (where the rancher lives). The other two thirds will serve as the prairie. Students then get into a scattered formation within the prairie where they will play the role of wild horses.
On the teacher’s signal, the wild horses begin to gallop around in the prairie. As they do so, they attempt to demonstrate their very best galloping.
The rancher will call freeze (or use a cool rancher’s whistle if they are able to). When they do so, the wild horses must all come to a stop. The rancher will then share one of the important keys of galloping. On the rancher’s signal, the wild horses will resume galloping while focusing on the important key that has just been shared.
This will go on until the rancher has successfully introduce all five of the important keys of galloping and the wild horses have had a chance to try each of them out.
Build Two: Life On The Ranch
In build two, the students will get into pairs. One student in the pair will begin as the wrangler, the other student will play the role of a horse. Before beginning playing, the wrangler and horse will have a conversation about the important keys of galloping. The horse will select an important key that they will focus on as they gallop around in the prairie.
The wranglers will stand in the ranch and the horses will scatter out in the prairie. On the rancher’s signal, the horses will begin to gallop. As they do so, their wrangler will observe their galloping. After a few minutes of galloping, the pairs get back together and the wrangler will give the horses feedback on their galloping. The players then exchange roles for the second half of the round.
In between each round, the students should form new pairs so as to receive feedback from multiple people throughout the activity.
Build Three: Rodeo Roundup
For build three, the rancher will create a single track course within the ranch by setting up a line of cones. The students will then get into a scattered formation within the prairie and play the role of horses.
The rancher will select a few students to play the role of wranglers. The wranglers are given a lasso (which is a medium length pool noodle).
On the rancher’s signal, the horses, and wranglers all begin to gallop throughout the plain. As they they gallop, the wranglers attempt to tag the horses with their lasso. If a horse is tagged, they need to make their way to the ranch and gallop around the track. If the rancher sees a horse galloping with a mature pattern, the horse may be set back out into the plain. If the rancher sees a horse (or wrangler) performing anything but galloping while out in the prairie (e.g. if they are running), the rancher can call that person into the ranch so that they can demonstrate mature galloping around the track.
Students should always keep their eyes up and look out for others as they gallop.
Wranglers should use soft tags below the shoulders.
The playing area should be large enough to accommodate a large group of students moving in general space.
