1. Be A Rail Bird At Horse Shows

Watch classes and sharpen your eye for good points and weaknesses in riders. Watch the “big guys” and pay attention to the detail of how they ride courses, patterns and compete in classes. Watch riders in the schooling area. Pay particular attention to the better competitors and how they school their horses. Listen to coaches.


2. Participate In Course Walks
Ask if you can tag along. Listen to what more experienced coaches and instructors advise their students to do.

3. Attend Clinics, Even If You Go As An Auditor.

Sometimes you gain more from auditing than from riding because you don’t have to worry about a horse. Attend a huge range of clinics from riding to saddle fit. Broaden your knowledge base.

4. Learn All Of The Rules Of Your Sport.

Teach the rules to your students. Make sure they are knowledgeable of rules before they enter a competition. There are few things more frustrating than having a student disqualified because they did not know the rules.


5. Learn To Ride A Discipline That Is Not Your Own.
This has several advantages. Not only does it expand your horizons, it puts you in the position of being a student, closer to a beginner again. This will refresh your mind regarding what students go through. Plus anytime you can ride with a new teacher you will pick up pointers, good or bad, for your own teaching methods.

6. Observe Classes and the Schooling Arena Of A Riding Discipline That Is Not Your Own.
Again this expands your horizons. You might be surprised at what you learn.

7. Volunteer As A Side Walker For A Therapeutic Riding Program.
You will have a fresh view of the effort some people put into learning. You will also get a new perspective of the joy some folks have at just being able to get on a horse.

8. Volunteer.
Offer to help with a 4H show or a Pony Club meeting, Be a jump judge for a local Horse Trials. Offer to be gateman for a local horseshow.


9. Watch DVDs.
We are fortunate to have DVDs on every aspect of horsemanship. Build a library of DVDs for yourself. Also you might be surprised at what you’ll find in your local library


10. Read.

Reading can help you teach better. Read books on learning styles, teaching riding, and read the classics on horsemanship. Read about other riding theories, other disciplines. Read about the history of riding. The more knowledge and understanding that you posses, the more you will be able to give to your students.

Barbara Fox
The Riding Instructor

I was very excited that a 15 year old C1 Pony Clubber was coming to try Jumper. Her DC said she was a strong C1 soon to be C2 needing a reliable jumping horse to take her on to C3.  If Jumper’s anything, he’s a reliable jumping horse.  Just look at his video.

The girl and her dad drove 7 hours to our house and the weather was bad.  I have to say that she really showed fortitude coming to ride in the middle of a blizzard, outdoors, in the mountains.  That was a plus for her.

Jumper has been our horse for 10 years. and we know he’s definitely a relationship guy so we wanted our C1 to catch him herself, groom him, take time messing with him and just interact with him in the barn before she rode. So when she arrived I handed her the halter and told her to catch him, bring him in to groom and get to know him. Jumper was hanging just outside the door and all she had to do was slip the halter on and bring him in.  But she didn’t.  She took the halter and didn’t return.  After a couple of minutes I looked and she’d haltered Jumper but the two of them were just standing in the snow.  I had to tell her to come in.  She did.  Then I had to tell her to groom. She did.  Then I had to tell her to get her saddle.  And then to go get her helmet… I had to tell her to do every step.  She knew how to do each thing but just didn’t do it unless she was specifically told.

At one point her dad was going over Jumper with a fine toothed comb and she was cleaning his hooves.  She had his left foreleg up, cleaning and meanwhile dad picked up the right hind leg.  Jumper had a very perplexed look on his face as he balanced on diagonal legs.  Neither the father nor the girl realized what they had done until I pointed it out. Did I mention that Jumper tries hard to please?

We demoed Jumper for her and explained everything we could about him. We emphasized over and over that Jumper had to be ridden in front of the leg into a soft hand because he depends on the leg to hand support.  He warmed up nicely and she got to see him go well.

Since Jumper’s an ace lunging horse and she needs to lunge for ratings we figured that would be a good place to start.  Wrong.  She had no idea how to lunge a horse so Alisha moved her in to riding.

I know that it is very unnerving for some kids to try out a horse in front of strangers, plus the weather was very bad, so we wanted to give her every opportunity to relax.  And she did alright with the riding portion, except that she couldn’t grasp the concept of having the horse in front of the leg, nor the idea that her hands are not brakes.  Poor Jumper.  If he could have screamed for relief and help, I’m sure he would have.  And apparently her horse at home rushes fences badly because when she went to jump him she grabbed so tightly to his face that he could barely get off the ground and crashed the jump. She improved a little bit on the next couple of jumps.

At this point we were sorely disappointed in a C1 riding ability but we still had hope that a little more time and a little instruction would develop a nice combination.

She dismounted and brought Jumper in. She took his saddle and bridle off and put him in the cross ties.  That was it.  She didn’t brush him, didn’t remove his boots, didn’t even pat him. And she and her dad left. They would be back to ride again tomorrow.

That evening Alisha and I discussed the situation trying to make a recommendation. It disturbed both of us that this girl lacked intitiative and seemed unable to be a self stater. We’d run across the same situation with another Pony Clubber a few years ago. This child was a lower D3 level.  She wanted to event so we took her schooling cross country on our very reliable pony.  But the child could not break away from her embedded routine. As hard as we tried to give her freedom to ride around in the open she  stuck to an arena sized circle. We could not picture turning her loose on a course by herself under the pressure of competition.

In my mind this is the result of too many riding lessons, too much structure, to much goal setting and too little fun on horseback. These children don’t learn the correct critical thinking skills. The child that strives to move to the next level as soon as possible and without error, has no room for imagination.  They do what they’re told because that’s the only way to get ahead, the only way to move up. When everything a child does with a horse is under the control of an instructor, or club head, or parent they don’t learn much more than the mechanics of riding.  They miss out on the opportunity to experiment and try for themselves.  They miss the chance to see if the things their instructor says actually work on their own.  They miss the chance to develop a relationship with the animals and to work out problems between horse and rider. The well trained auto-bot rider might be quite proper and lovely on a horse but give me the child who has ridden bareback at a gallop by the seat of their breeches, and I’ll use that foundation of feel and adventure to develop a rider who one day will ride with their own grand-kids. It’s the difference between learning a skill and living a lifestyle. Technicians may be riders but their riding won’t be a life long passion.

We didn’t give up hope for this horse and rider combination as we talked that evening.  Maybe with time they would become a team, after all she’d only ridden him once.  But something else was wrong. It took some time to figure it out but then it became crystal clear.  We wanted a loving relationship for this remarkable horse.  That we were not giving him enough attention was the reason for starting this quest. And then we knew what it was.  From the minute the girl came to the barn until she left she had not petted him, stroked him, talked to him, or made any sort of a fuss over him.  She’d made no effort to have a relationship at all.  It was as though he was just a means to an end; a prop.  That was proved to us without a shadow of a doubt when the following morning the dad wanted to buy Jumper anyway and if his daughter didn’t like him they would just sell him to someone else in their club. The fact that Jumper would not be loved and fussed over was the single reason that we didn’t sell him. We’ll just keep him here and give him periodic hugs until the child that believes he’s Pegusus comes a long.

But we learned a lot this past weekend.  We learned that when the soul is not connected to the horse, riding just becomes mechanics. We learned that instructors thinking for students instead of teaching students to think produces auto-bots. And we learned that we’re in this business for the long run; for the deep, abiding, healthy relationship that comes from being involved with the horse.  We learned that ratings and levels don’t make horsemen.  They just make certificates. We want to see students gallop through the field, splash through the creek, practice hard,  understand the theory, and live large with our horses. It’s the only long term, satisfying way that I know.

Thanks for Reading The Riding Instructor,

Barbara E. Fox

Spell it out.
Put your lesson plan on paper.  This help you to organize and it gives you a great record of what you’ve taught your student. Allocate time for each activity so that you can be sure to cover all of the material and provide plenty of actual “try it” time. Incorporate a related warm up and a positive finish for your student.

Set up before your class.
Make sure materials are on hand at the arena. Material on hand will prevent you  from last minute searches for jump cups, pins or other tools. Measure distances and set poles so only minor alterations are necessary during the lesson. Students deserve your undivided attention during lessons. Instructing a student to warm up while you set a grid wastes the student’s time .  And time is money for students and for you.   If warm up is part of the lesson,  be involved in the process, using exercises and activities that prepare the student and horse for the entire lesson.

Pre-lesson preparation insures that your lesson has a beginning, middle and end. Any good gym work out has a warm up, intense work period and a cool down. Let’s face it, riding is a work out for both horse and rider and a lesson should incorporate all of the muscle conditioning and precautions included in an athlete’s work out. And pre lesson preparation will help you to save precious time by keeping you on track and on schedule.

Talk Less, encourage more
The less time your student stands still for instructions, the better. Students come to ride.  Keep your stationary explanations short and simple, not more than 10% of your lesson

Teach your student on the move as much as you can. Teach your rider “through the process” and help  produce the momentary success that your student needs in order to experience, not just hear, the lesson.

Know several ways to explain the same thing.
Notice when your explanation  is producing the wrong results or no result at all and change your approach. Be aware of the “Bambi in the headlights” gaze. Different people have different learning styles. Develop several approaches for the same topic.

Make positive comments
Make positive comments whenever you notice  small improvements. Encouragement goes a long way toward empowering your student as she progresses toward her goal.

Fun and Games
Get students into action through games and exercises that build on your lesson plan. Use simple games for all levels of horse and rider, even if students are advanced. For instance, the beginner can practice navigation by riding her pony to the fence to remove a colored cloth.  You can use this same exercise for advanced riders by requiring that the last few steps toward the fence be done in half pass and then requiring the horse stand quietly while the cloth is untied. Call it a game for the 9 year old and an exercise for the 29 year old.

Break it down into small pieces.
Start with the simplest skills possible for the level of your rider and increase the difficulty as your student becomes proficient. Small steps provide more opportunities for your student to achieve success.

Be Flexible
Lessons will not always go the way you planned. Stress effects all ages.  A child is effected by how his school day went, just like adults are effected by the work day or family.  Horses have good and bad days.  So, what will you do if Johnny’s pony won’t go anywhere near the cloth tied to the fence? Have a plan that steps this activity down to smaller challenges, so Johnny and his pony can work as a team and succeed. Review the goal for your lesson and seize difficulties as new opportunities to help your student progress.    Develop multiple ways to reach the same goal.

A Good Ending
Plan to end on a good note. Normally this is accomplished by reviewing something that you know the horse and rider can do well.  Beware of introducing new material toward the end of a lesson.  If the new material is not well received by your student or his horse, you’ll more than likely end on a less than successful note.  Your goal is for the student to have a sense of “gain” or achievement.

A good instructor prepares ahead and lays a foundation to help their student succeed. Successful lessons will bring your students back for more.

May each student and lesson teach you something new.

Barbara Fox
The Riding Instructor

copyright 2009

With the development of indoor riding arenas, all weather footing, water proof tack and insulated riding clothes,  riding, unlike so many of its counterparts,  is not a seasonal activity.

Contrary to the opinion of some instructors, riding is not only for the physically gifted, the thin, or the athletic person either.  It is a sport that has the ability to add to the quality of life to every body type, lifestyle and age group.  Our sport provides opportunity for  exercise, fresh air, individual activity, team activity, companionship, competition, humility, grace and accomplishment to all who participate. Riding is a universal sport.

If more of our youth learned to care for a horse and to ride it correctly, we’d see fewer kids spending time hanging out at the malls.  If more of our adults rode with the confidence that results from good basic instruction, stress levels would drop and health would improve.  Winston Churchill wisely coined, “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”

A good riding instructor has a thorough understanding of the basics of good horsemanship.  The good instructor pays attention to detail and has a strong desire to see his or her student improve. The good instructor has the patience to explain the same principal over again, perhaps in a new way. She helps her student develop goals and runs the race of endurance to help attain them.

Our goals and purpose may change over time but the need for a good basic foundation never changes. Those honed in and owned skills of a secure seat, legs that automatically return to the best spot for maintaining good balance, and sympathetic hands never go out of style. The instinct that causes a rider to automatically use the correct leg in the correct spot at just the right moment isn’t lost because a person switches from competition to riding for pure enjoyment.  Basic skills, once they are imbedded in your body’s memory bank remain, even if a rider takes a break of a few years.

Developing  excellent basic skills does not require that a student compete, although many people like to try their hand at a horse trials or schooling show.  But in a perfect world competition is a test of the rider’s progress and not the end goal. If competition becomes our end goal and winning becomes our only desire, then we resort to short cuts, gimmicks, and tricks.  In the end we are riding only for a prize and not the love of the sport.  In the end we rob ourselves of the pleasure of riding for riding’s sake, and of enjoying riding for a lifetime.

May you enjoy every minute that you spend on the back of  a horse.

Barbara Fox
The Riding Instructor

copyright 2009

Branding is the process of turning something into an easily recognized, cohesive identity.  We recognize the branding a single item like the shape of a Volkswagen Beetle or Budweiser Beer with the Budweiser Clydesdales. The sight of a polo pony and rider with mallet in the air tells us we’re looking at the Ralph Lauren line of products.  A green four leaf clover with an H on each leaf identifies the “4H” member. Branding makes it possible to identify an object, a group, and association, or a member in an instant.

Branding is a powerful tool for your riding club, training barn, camp or lesson program not just because it creates instant recognition, but because people like to be identified with the things they think are great. Adults and children like to be part of the group and identified as an insider.

The most common way to use branding in the horse world is through color and logo.  Logos and colors can be used on countless items, such as;  tack trunks, vehicles, blankets, saddle pads and business cards.  I think one of the best ways to advertise your group is with shirts that have your farm or club logo because these items can go from the grocery store to school.  They are walking identities.

In the past it has been costly and difficult to develop a logo, pay to have it put into a form suitable for application and then to find some one who would put it on shirts for you.  It was even more difficult if you only needed a small number of shirts. The internet has changed all of that.  Now there are countless numbers of online businesses who will help you design your logo and get it on a small number of shirts, sweat shirts, jackets or caps.  And you can choose from screen prints or embroidered logos. And there are prices to suit any budget.

Companies such as Zazzle http://www.zazzle.com/ and Cafe Press http://www.cafepress.com/ will help you open an online store where you can sell sweatshirts, tee shirts, mugs, stickers, bumpers stickers and countless other products with your logo on them.

An online search will produce companies that will digitize your logo and send you a file that you can take to your local shop.  And if you’re not sure what you want for a logo an online search will also produce  help in design.

I know these things because I gritted my teeth and finally decided to have shirts embroidered with my farm’s logo.  I expected the process to be hard and the logo to cost a pretty penny to produce.  Boy was I wrong.

My online research turned up Queensboro Shirts at www.Queensboro.com .  The first thing I noticed about Queensboro is that they explained every step of the logo process on their website.  Their requirements were simple.  You have to order items in sets of 4.  They can be different sizes, different colors and, except for hats, different items.  That was not hard for me because Queensboro has a huge selection of clothing from coats to shirts.  And your first 4 items are deeply discounted, so it’s not so risky to experiment with colors.  As far as the logo itself goes, Queensboro gives you a free evaluation.  The first time my evaluation showed that my logo needed some help but after I followed Queensboro’s directions, my logos were accepted AND digitized for free.

I have to tell you that the people at this company deserve an award for patience.  They went the extra mile to get my logo right and were really patient about all of my mistakes in the order. The part that was the most fun (and the most nerve wracking!) was choosing the colors of the threads in my embroidered logos. Queensboro lets you change the colors according the the color shirt you’re buying.  I played around with several variations.    I was thrilled with my farm polos, denim shirts and ball caps when they arrived.

If you’re teaching or training, running a barn or have a club and have been thinking about starting your branding, I’d encourage you to go for it.  Do a little research and find the company that fits your needs.  I did it, and if I can do it, so can you!

Barbara Fox
The Riding Instructor

copyright 2010