If you’ve decided that your horse business will benefit from the use of riding lesson plans, you might be feeling a bit lost. Those who have never used a tool like this before can find it difficult to change their habits.
Fortunately, using riding lesson plans doesn’t require a change of habit, but rather an accentuation. You aren’t a different riding instructor than you were a week ago; you’ve just stumbled across a tool that will help you teach your students more effectively.
When to Fill Out Riding Lesson Plans
The first thing you need to decide is when you’re going to get the paperwork out of the way. It isn’t as fun as, say, taking a trail ride on a beautiful spring evening, but it does need to get done. The trick is to form a habit for filling out the template, whether it’s right after a lesson concludes or at the start of the week.
You’ll notice on the RIU riding lesson plan template that there is a space for you to write down comments on the next lesson. This is to keep your students’ progress fresh on your mind, which means you don’t have to fill out next week’s lesson plan right then and there.
However, many riding instructors find it easier to fill out riding lesson plans as quickly as possible, such as the evening after the lesson concludes. The lesson is still fresh in the memory, and if you do it every day you won’t have as much paperwork accumulate.
Allocating Time
There is also a column on the RIU riding lesson plan template for the time allocated to each segment of the lesson structure: Warm-up, cool-down, exercises, etc. This is to help you keep on schedule throughout the lesson and will keep you focused.
The time allocated for set-up is perhaps the most important. If you need to set a course, put out barrels or prepare in any other way, writing down the time allocation will ensure you’re prepared for class. You can then assign time limits for the actual riding portion.
Using Short-Term and Long-Term Goals
Riding instructors need to have plans for their students. Long-term goals might be for competition or mastery of a particular skill set, while short-term goals might mean learning a lateral movement or nailing distances before fences.
Riding lesson plans let you map out your short-term and long-term goals, then adjust them as necessary. In the “Objective” portion of each lesson plan, you should write down short-term goals that can be met over a period of one to five lessons. Then, in the “Notes” section at the bottom of the template, you can allude to long-term goals that will serve as an arc over many lessons.
A Word on Homework
I’ve included “Homework” in the RIU riding lesson plan template because many riding instructors work with students who own their own horses. This might not apply to students who come out to the barn weekly and ride school horses.
There are other types of homework, however, that might have nothing to do with riding. You might have your students research a particular equine topic, or you could assign strength-building exercises that will help them progress more quickly in lessons. Whether or not you use this section is entirely up to you.
Got Questions?
If you’re unsure as to how to use riding lesson plans or if you are confused about how they can help, leave your query in the comments section below. You can also contact me if you’d like to set up a consulting session or two to help you develop your goals and riding lesson plans.
About the Author: Laura Jane Thompson is the Editor in Chief of Riding Instructor University and the Feature writer for the horses section at Suite101. Follow her EquiTips on Twitter.
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