Encourage the Gift of an Experience with Horses for Christmas

As riding instructors, we understand the benefits children receive when they have horses in their life, but Christmas, in this new age of giving meaningful experiences rather than gifts, emphasizing these benefits can affect a child’s life more than the gift of a new electronics. For children, horses offer profound emotional, physical, and social benefits that can shape a child’s development in unique and lasting ways.

I’ve chosen 5 of the many benefits provided by an association with horses to equip parents with insight into why horseback riding is so much more than just a sport.

1. Communication and Relationship Building
Horses can be overwhelming.  Imagine learning to communicate with an animal much larger than any pet in the average family, or any person a child will ever meet. Compound this awesomeness with the fact the horse speaks a completely different language and isn’t about to change its method of communication. This alone helps children develop the ability to understand and have a relationship with the world around them. Through working with horses, children develop communication and relationship skills—essential qualities for building trust and understanding with others.

2. Learning with Horses Can Influence the Way a Child Thinks
Learning to think from another being’s viewpoint helps broaden understanding. Becoming adept at controlling an animal through kindness rather than force teaches a child how to overcome obstacles through intelligence rather than strength.

An experience with horses is not without its challenges. Whether it’s managing a spooky horse, learning to post the trot, or recovering from a fall, children learn to approach difficulties with determination and a solution-oriented mindset. Developing critical thinking skills can teach an individual to problem solve.

Children learn to interpret a horse’s nonverbal cues and respond with kindness and clarity, lessons that translate to human interactions.

And horses require that you pay attention to them.

As instructors, we can enhance this by celebrating milestones and ensuring that challenges are both attainable and rewarding. For a child who struggles with self-esteem, hearing “You did it!” after a successful ride can be life-changing.

3. An Experience with Horses Teaches Perseverance
Perseverance is the quality that pushes people forward to success and excellence.  Except for the pure enjoyment of being with horses, nothing about riding horses is easy. Learning to control your own body on a moving animal while learning to control the animal requires practice and patience. Horses provide countless opportunities to experience success, whether it’s the first time the child successfully halters the horse, to achieving the stages of riding, managing a spooky horse, learning to post the trot, or recovering from a fall, children learn to approach difficulties with determination and a solution-oriented mindset. These experiences teach resilience—the ability to bounce back from setbacks—and perseverance as they learn to tackle each challenge with patience and grit.

As instructors, we can guide students through these moments with encouragement and perspective. A fall isn’t just a setback; it’s an opportunity to learn, grow, and try again

4. Encourages Physical Fitness
It’s nearly impossible to be a couch potato on a horse. Horseback riding is an excellent form of exercise. It strengthens core muscles, improves balance, and enhances coordination. But beyond the physical benefits, riding also helps children develop an awareness of their body’s movements and how those movements influence their horse. This physical mindfulness contributes to better posture, motor skills, and overall well-being.

Horses equal movement and movement is a basic requirement for physical health.

5. Stress Relief and Connection to Nature
I love the stress relief horses can provide for kids, especially teens. Yes, certainly there are stresses that come from overcoming the physical aspects of riding or the challenges that come from facing things that are difficult, but horses absorb emotional stresses that come from being different, dealing with people, and just growing up. Trying to understand life and find your place in it are immense responsibilities for teens.

If horses could write books of the stories they share with young people, they would fill the tear-jerker shelves. This is partly because we can be who-we-really-are with a horse. They have an innate ability to determine and respond to human emotion. Horses don’t care what your hair looks like, what you wear, who is in your friend group, or what someone said about you on social media. They don’t notice if your home is dysfunctional, or even what your personal pronoun is. Horses are nonjudgmental and responsive to the rider’s emotions, creating a safe space where teens can process feelings and develop self-awareness. For those struggling with anxiety or social pressures, this bond can be profoundly healing.

Horseback riding offers a unique opportunity for teenagers to disconnect from the pressures of daily life and reconnect with nature. Spending time outdoors in the calming presence of horses provides a therapeutic escape from the stress and peer pressure that can weigh heavily on teen girls. The barn environment often fosters a sense of peace and security, allowing teens to feel grounded and present in the moment.

As instructors, emphasizing the restorative power of time spent with horses can help students appreciate the emotional benefits as much as the physical ones.

Here is How Instructors Can Advocate for the Value of a Horse Experience
As riding instructors, we have the privilege of witnessing these transformations every day. Sharing the benefits of horseback riding with parents and the broader community can help more children experience the life-changing value of horses. Here are some actionable steps:

Develop a No Strings Attached 4 Lesson Horsemanship Course: Use 4 lessons to incorporate a basic riding and horsemanship (under supervision) program that a parent can buy as a gift. Let parents know this is a one-time introduction that will not establish them as a reoccurring student with you.

Offer a One Lesson Try-It Program: One lesson set up with the basics of a larger program you offer. The intent is for the parent to determine if a series of lessons is right for their child.

Offer an Educational Group Program: A Visit the Horses Day or a Stations with the Horse Day. Provide materials on the physical, emotional, and social benefits of horseback riding for children. Have students in your barn help you with the program.

Advertise: Let people know about your programs on your social media sites and on your website. Choose time periods your coupons or certificates will be good for during the following year.

Final Thoughts:
In our teaching programs, it’s easy to get caught up in the need for regular students, the push to showing and horse ownership, or whatever our focus is for our business. Don’t let that interfere with thinking of new ways to attract riders. Take the time to teach people how just being with and around horses will help their kids without them needing to think about further lessons and programs, or competitions.

Merry Christmas!
Barbara Ellin Fox
TheRidingInstructor.net