A reader who has been a riding instructor for 10 years asked for my opinion on how to handle a difficult student. She agreed to wait for an answer while I put a post together to share. The student is a thirteen-year-old girl whom the reader has been teaching every other week for a year. […]
TheRidingInstructor
Dealing with people in any field can require compromise. When we set our standards as instructors or barn owners we should have a mental list of things on which we are absolutely steadfast, and others with which we are willing to compromise. Having a list allows you to be flexible while at the same time […]
We all have “go to” sources where we read about horses. It could be a book, website or periodical and each type of riding has it’s own selection. Research I love research, and when I write lesson plans or blog posts about theory or riding basics, I pull out multiple books and read the instructions […]
Good riding is as much the result of conditioning the rider’s thought processes and reflexes, as it is conditioning the body and learning skills. What a rider does or does not put into their mind will have direct bearing on what their body produces while riding. Automatic Reflexes Automatic Reflexes are the moves and reactions […]
A solid and correct base of support is one of the best gifts we can give to students because it’s the foundation of good riding and balance. Definition A quick Internet search for “base of support” produced the following from Physiopedia : The base of support (BOS) refers to the area beneath an object or […]
Writing about two-point was supposed to be easy. After all, two-point is the mainstay position for the hunter-jumper world. Definition I planned to start out with the definition of two-point used by the leading authorities. That seemed simple enough. Start with the definition and build from there. Right? Wrong. I looked through more than a […]
There have been a lot of conversations lately about the direction the horse business has gone, and what needs to be done to keep things from getting out of hand. But the horse industry is like popcorn kernels. Once they all puff up and explode you can’t get it back into the same jar. Rules, […]
As a professional, I’ve always taught Pony Club Clinics and even helped form a club in the 70s, but I didn’t become fully immersed in Pony Club until 2000 when my daughters became members. 2018 One of my adult daughters has been training for a management position. We joked around about how it seemed that […]
The following simple exercise can be used for all levels of independent riders in a variety of settings and seats ranging from a pole on the ground to a jump. This Simple Exercise has Multiple Benefits How often do we teach riders to look at an inanimate object as they ride a line or direction? […]
Even though I enjoy several breeds of horses Thoroughbreds have always been my favorite, so I was happy to see The Chronicle of the Horse devote an issue to Thoroughbreds earlier this month. Most of the many Thoroughbreds I’ve ridden or owned had racing careers before I met them. I’ve purchased horses at the track, from […]
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