Posts for parents of horse lovers; riders, teachers, home schoolers, and significant others
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 […]
If you teach beginners you know the importance of developing a safe riding program. Safety is the number one requirement for beginners, but how can you tell if a program is safe for both students and horses? There are no guarantees, but the following is a basic list of signs that can help determine if […]
I commend The Chronicle of the Horse for the articles in the April 9 & 16, 2018 issue which speak out against sexual abuse in the horse industry. They’ve been doing a terrific job of enlightening us with a number of sensitive subjects in the past year. The brave women that spoke out in the […]
I love the fact that riding horses is a healthy physical outdoor activity, but the life skills learned through supervised horsemanship carry farther than becoming fit. By supervised horsemanship I mean a riding lesson program that encompasses horse care as well as riding. Even better is a good riding lesson program that supports Pony Club […]
Ask any horseman and they will tell you the character building benefits to a child who becomes a horseman over flow the feed bucket. The character building benefits your child will gain partially depends on how you approach their horsemanship education. Approach with the goal of becoming a star and winning blue ribbons and you’ve reduced […]
Teaching beginner riders seems like it should be easy, right? After all, what do you teach? A few safety rules, how to lead a horse, how to mount/dismount, stopping, starting, how to steer – there’s nothing to it, right? I wish it was that easy, but it’s not the way I see it.
What do you do when a student or your child says “I want a horse”? Buying the first horse can feel like jumping into a crater lake when you only know how to dog paddle. Buying one too soon can be a disaster, while buying the right horse at the right time can increase skills and […]
Group riding lessons used to be the most common form of riding instruction, but factors today have developed a private and semi private riding culture. I believe group riding lessons have tremendous value causing beginner and intermediate riders, in particular, to advance more quickly. Here’s why: Social Horse Lovers One of the reasons soccer is […]
Ask- Don’t Assume Before you hand over money to a riding instructor for your child’s first riding lesson find out what their policy is regarding your presence during lessons. Never assume that a riding instructor thinks like you think. Some instructors would like parents to watch every lesson, particularly with small children and beginners. Other […]
It’s a question that most riding instructors have had to answer. There’s a simple, one size fits all answer, but it brings to mind a plethora of questions. And answering a question with a question is purely annoying to the questioner. The basic answer is, “Well, it depends on what you want to do.” And […]
