I‘ve seen just about every type of riding lesson format known to man. Each riding academy is different, with its own set of rules and procedures.
Riding instructors can develop their own systems for getting their students ready for class or they can borrow ideas from other teachers. If you find something to work, by God, you’d better stick with it.
One of the questions I’m asked quite frequently, however, is whether students should prepare their own horses for riding lessons. Should students be responsible for grooming, tacking up and even warming up before their riding lessons begin.
An Issue of Logistics
For some riding instructors, it is easy to require students to prepare their own horses for riding lessons. For others, however, the logistics don’t quite work out.
Let’s say you’re teaching a riding lesson populated with six-year-olds. Obviously, tykes this tiny are not capable of tacking up their horses themselves, and although they can participate in the activity they require an adult’s supervision.
Or, what if you teach four lessons back-to-back, and you don’t have any “tack-changing” time built in? If even one of those horses is used in two lessons right next to one another, the horse won’t be available for preparation by the student.
Student Involvement is a Good Thing
I recommend to riding instructors that they have their students prepare their own horses for riding lessons. It’s a good idea for kids (and adults) to learn basic horsemanship, and robbing them of that opportunity can severely limit their potential as horse owners, trainers and competitors.
However, you have to set up your riding lesson program to allow students to get their own horses ready for riding lessons. This means giving them the time, tools and knowledge necessary to make it happen.
- Assist the little ones. Young students can’t prepare their horses by themselves. Therefore, they need adults to help them with the task while still keeping them involved. For example, they can hand their adult helper the girth, saddle, bridle and other pieces of tack when asked.
- Time is of the essence. It is a good idea to leave ten or fifteen minutes in between each riding lesson so students have time to prepare horses used the previous hour. This means either teaching 45- to 50-minute riding lessons or staggering the times for hour-long lessons (e.g. First lesson at 5:00 p.m.; Second lesson at 6:15 p.m.)
- Provide assistance. Riding instructors don’t always have time to help their students prepare for riding lessons, so you might need to hire an assistant or find volunteers. Older students who spend time at the barn might be willing to assist the younger kids, but remember that you can’t always count on their presence or their involvement.
- Teaching before expecting. As much as you might wish it were true, students don’t start riding lessons with an ingrained knowledge of tacking, grooming and other horsemanship tasks. You must first show them how to do it—sometimes several times over—before they can do it themselves.
If you want your students to prepare their own horses for riding lessons, give them every opportunity to fulfill your expectations. Show them how it’s done, give them assistance when necessary and provide sufficient time in which to accomplish the task.
And, in case you were wondering, advanced students who own their own horses should always prepare their own horses for riding lessons. Advanced riders can even warm themselves up before lessons so that when you come to the ring, you can get right down to business.
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About the Author: Laura Jane Thompson is the Chief Equestrian Officer of Riding Instructor University and the Feature writer for the horses section at Suite101. She believes that any horse business can succeed provided its owner practices smart strategy.
