Posts about teaching, teaching helps, lesson ideas for instructors
Do I recommend certification to student instructors? Would I tell prospective riders to look for only instructors who have certification? It all depends, because those are two questions that don’t have black and white answers. Because The United States doesn’t have a standardized certification program like the British Horse Society in England or The German […]
Why Rate the Gait? Before your students learn lengthenings, rebalancing, corner adustments or even takes a ride in the pasture they need to learn to rate the gait. It doesn’t matter whether you teach dressage, hunt seat, saddle seat, or western riding, the need is the same and this exercise will help. The need to […]
A Reader Requested: I would like you to present an article about the trainer instructors that keep riders “hostage” by: limiting opportunities to show at their convenience, refusing to allow independent riding, scoffing at going to clinics. The limiting factor for many kids is the horse trailer. You can’t go unless your trainer wants you to go…. […]
THE PROBLEM: Lesson cancellations can become a big problem for instructors if they are not handled well. Lesson cancellations leave holes in your income and also in the student’s progress. Plus canceling students adds stress and worry to your life, and sometimes doubt about the commitment students have to good instruction. The sister to cancellation, […]
Before they are concerned about whether a student is the next olympic superstar, a potential champion in the show ring or even a future horse owner, there are 5 basic things that riding instructors expect. These expectations are fairly universal. #1. Respect My Time Respecting an instructor’s time starts with being ready to ride when […]
How important is riding without stirrups? Whenever I ask a class of new riders “What keeps you on the horse” one person will answer “the stirrups”. Rider’s receive security from their stirrups and become dependent upon them, so it’s important to also teach them riding without stirrups. After all we want don’t want our student’s […]
When I think about a horse who drops his inside shoulder a certain tone of voice sort of screeches through my mind. It’s the voice of a frustrated rider who believes they’ve done everything to correct the problem—without any luck. What is it? Dropping the inside shoulder is when the horse counter-bends or just tips […]
There are a number of reason why instructors teach riding but a majority of the time, if we think about it long enough, we can boil things down to one main reason we started. And it can be different from one instructor to the next. I’m going to talk about five common reasons people teach […]
What is it? Teaching outside the box begins with thinking outside the box. Merriam-Webster defines outside the box: to explore ideas that are creative and unusual and that are not limited or controlled by rules or tradition. Cambridge Dictionary defines outside the box as: to think imaginatively using new ideas instead of traditional or expected […]
Games are an important teaching tool because they engage students and keep them interested. However there is a right time and a wrong time to use them in lessons. When Not To Teach Games: Games are not normally used to teach a new skill. A new skill requires concentration and thought. It’s much easier for […]
