Dear Cassie,

Thank you for your comment and encouragement. I’d suggest that if you start beginners in a group to be sure that you have some “helpers” that could lead students and keep horses and ponies organized until your students have progressed to be in control themselves. A lot of times you can find helpers by offering an extra ride or to ride in another lesson after they’ve helped with so many (number determined by you) lessons.

I think a series/course is a very wise way to teach beginners, especially if you have reliable lesson horses. Since not all students will learn at the same pace you will have to have creative ways to repeat more difficult lessons. So for instance if you have 6 things you want your beginners to learn it may take 12 or 18 actual lessons to accomplish your goals. If you set a series/course perhaps you could allow students to take extra lessons until they catch up with the students that are already started and then let them join the group. There is so much that can be done in group lessons to make learning enjoyable. I’m really glad to read that you are transitioning from privates to groups and semi privates.

Yes I do my best to have separate adult classes from children or youth. You will teach adults and children differently. I find that adults are so much harder on themselves than children are (unless we are dealing with unrealistic expectations). I think it’s easier to learn when we ride with peers that we can identify with. Most of the time adults really enjoy having time with other adults when they ride and they may not be as fearless as children.

The best of luck to you in your teaching
Barbara Fox

I teach mainly private lessons right now, but would like to gradually transition to mainly semi-private and group lessons. I have found that my students who get to ride together tend to have a lot more fun overall and still improve at a steady pace. The only hiccup I’m having is trying to plan for beginner students. I have new students streaming in at what seems like random intervals and I’m not sure how to go about setting up group lessons for them. For beginners, is it best to set up a series/course with a set start date?

And do you try to keep kids and adults in separate lessons/groups?

Any insight would be great. I love your articles and feel like I’m always re-reading them :).

Thanks,
Cassie

I offer the private lunge lessons separately, that way the riders can still continue with the group. You can work out a separate time or right before or after your group. Since lunge lessons are usually a half hour it would make a perfect pre group lesson. Or if you want them only on lunge lessons for a time period just save their group spot for when you have them return.

I agree- learn the foundation on the good old school horse, and then learn to use it.

I could be jealous of you having a graduate of Pinerolo and Tor Di Quinto for a grandfather!!!

Susan
Yup those ponies will go ahead and use their natural herd instinct if their rider can not take charge of them. But if you could put a more skilled rider on those ponies and add them to lessons for a bit of schooling, you might be surprised how good they can become. Good lesson horses are worth their weight in gold but they are developed over a lengthy period of time. They’re an investment and a good one is hard to replace.

People have to learn to ride horses with others and horses need to learn to get along in a group. If your students are going to show they need to be able to ride with other horses. Even if you only show in dressage classes chances are there will be others around during warm up. If your students aren’t going to show they are probably going to pleasure ride- hopefully with other horse friends. And ponies are so good at games…

One of the things that I didn’t mention was that I don’t put tiny children in groups. They need to be at least 8 years old and with very beginners I have helpers. The whole group thing takes a bit of planning but it can be so rewarding.

Thanks for your comment

Dianna,

Thanks for your comments. I promise to expand on the group lesson theme in future blogs. I want to assure you that I don’t advocate group lessons only. I also teach private lessons. Both types have their place, which you have mentioned in your comment. I also don’t advocate mixing skill levels.

What I didn’t mention because I was hoping someone would point it out, (as you did- indirectly) is that the quality of lessons that you receive, group or otherwise – has a direct relationship to the ability of your instructor to instruct. Bad instructors beget bad lessons. Good group lessons are hard to teach and they take skill that goes a step beyond just knowing what to teach. An instructor who teaches groups has to know how to teach and how to teach more than one person at a time. Group lessons require being able to keep a class moving with everyone focusing on the goal of the lesson. Those “sit in the middle” lessons that you mentioned are all too common and they are the biggest reason students don’t want them. Too many times a student walks away from a group lesson feeling ignored, frustrated, and unsuccessful. If instructors teach groups they need to learn how to make classes challenging.

As far as size, I like a group of 4-5 but it’s more important to me that the riders are comparable. And group lessons should last at least an hour.

You brought up another topic that is a gripe of mine, sitting on your horse. (You mentioned sitting in the middle of the arena most of the time) I truly hate to see a horse treated as if it is a sofa. Yes, all horses should stand still with a rider for “time periods” but a horse’s back is not meant to be a chair. It’s one of my gripes about kids at shows but also about round pen/natural horsemanship type clinicians. They sure aren’t hanging around in good posture!

Thanks for you good comments

My grandfather who was a graduate of the Pinerolo and Tor Di Quinto cavalry schools had an old saying that relates to your post:

“You learn to ride on well trained horses that behave well, and where you really learn to ride well is on horses that are not so well mannered.”