This is a tough time for riding instructors, especially those for whom teaching is their major source of income. Trying to figure out what to do and what to believe can be difficult. The American Horse Council has a good resource page for horsemen. This Wall Street Journal article is a state by state guide […]
We horse lovers are a gregarious sort and social distancing sure crimps our style. Take heart. With all the options for education and interaction, students and instructors need not worry about staying connected. Today I’ll share some of my favorite places to visit. Forums Forums and discussion boards are great places to make friends and […]
In my book, anytime we teach horsemanship it’s a good way. In this post I talk about 4 different ways to include horsemanship in your teaching program. All are effective and have their pros and cons. Some programs focus on riding and require students know the minimum to manage the horse. Others teach everything a person […]
The annual ritual, No Stirrup November, is almost upon us. Say you YAY! Or Nay? As an instructor I love this opportunity to be creative and to help students achieve basic goals. I’ve included downloads at the end of this post to help make No Stirrup November rewarding for you and your students. Be sure […]
Scheduling and collecting payment for lessons can be a headache for riding instructors. When you’re busy handling horses and more than one student at a time, it can be easy to forget who prepaid for a class and who pays per lesson. And if you have a heavy client load, it can be difficult to […]
Summer is the best time to get intense horsemanship instruction into kid’s, and since I love getting new riders started I was excited when a reader asked for tips for a one week, 1-2 hour a day class for beginners. I’ve included lots of links to other helpful blog posts at The Riding Instructor, including this […]
Respect her time One of the complaints I hear most frequently is that students don’t respect the instructor’s time. Let your instructor know you value that she/he has set a specific time period aside for your lesson. Do this by being on time. Be there. Sometimes, students cancel lessons at the last minute and then […]
Have you ever wondered why parents support kids so strongly in sports like volleyball, yet are willing to cancel their weekly riding lesson? Volleyball at Lower Grades Volleyball, like other team sports such as soccer, is introduced on the community level, often Parks and Rec, at a young age. Sometimes the kids don’t even know […]
A reader had an interesting situation to discuss this week involving a client with two horses in training and a plan for their daughter to show. Normally this would be ideal, except the parents enroll the daughter in after school activities that cause them to cancel lessons—a lot. The horses are in regular training and […]
