Hi Kathy I agree. Every lesson should have something good, especially if that is the intention of the instructor. I know your heart is in giving the best lessons possible. Unfortunately there are instructors who don’t share a positive outlook. And while we may have multiple lessons to teach each week, our student only remembers one. I’m so thankful there are good instructors like yourself. Barbara

Hi DeDe, Thank you so much for your encouraging comment. It makes me happy to know you are reading The Riding Instructor and that the articles are helpful. Sometimes it’s hard to keep lessons upbeat. Lessons are (should be) big moments in a student’s week and I applaud you for putting a big effort into making them successful.Barbara

Thara, It sounds like you include a lot of variety in your lessons to keep riders focused and engaged. I love the idea of using color with your class. It seems you use good planning and that you are also safety conscious. All ingredients for a good riding program. Kudos to you and keep up the good work! Thank you for your helpful comments. Barbara Ellin Fox

I do agree fully. I used to teach children about dressage skills each week at a riding school in order to help my community. The weekly lesson involved loud music sometimes. Yet far more often in addition to improve attention I used colours instead. For example the letter A was painted blue and so on. I found that this teaching technique really did work wonders with the kids. I typically would call out a letter.

Then I gave a simple order for the whole class to follow. We spent half a hour working on basic dressage terms and rules. They all wore hard hats. That was my number one rule. No pupil could ride without it on. Occasionally as well we went on fun trail rides or hacks together. But much more often we had fun learning the basics. I focused on teaching them about other horse activities and sports too.

I’m glad you read and liked it. Happy to share!

H Keela, I’m happy to remove this photo if you want me to. It came from the internet. Just for curiosity are you on the first palomino or the second? Happy kids on happy horses. Let me know if you want it removed from this site. I can’t do anything about someone else’s site, though. Barbara