Teaching Young Riders

For the past year and a half I have been helping out as a part-time instructor for the local Pony Club.  Kind of amazing there's a Pony Club up here, but there ya go!  This past weekend we had our latest riding lessons and it's always an interesting experience.  We have three main riders that are always at lessons and these three have had the worst luck possible in horses.  One girl had a horse that would have random spook episodes and freak outs over walking over poles... plus it would kind of dose off then wake up suddenly with a start which was not an appropriate mount for a young girl!  The other young girl had an older mount whom they retired, so she got a new horse!  Seemed to be going ok, a bit slow and pokey, but that's fine... later on in the year it was found out that he had equine anemia.  Our oldest girl (15) has been trying to learn how to jump on a horse that absolutely detests jumping.  Now, all three girls are on appropriate mounts that appear to work well in the lesson group!  There's some fitness work needed for a couple, but that's a lot easier to handle than big training issues.

Riding lesson day is always interesting since I don't actually teach entire lessons, but only the tail end of lessons, focusing on two-point position and how to ride single fences or a mini course of fences.  Sometimes the girls are still on and listening, and other days they've checked out.  As for teaching styles, I feel that I tend to push the girls a bit more in terms of technique and detail.  It's such a reward to see these riders improving after all the mismatches and heart break of the previous year.  Another thing that is rather rewarding is having the riders actually start ask for help from you, that they've started to see you as someone who you can turn to for help.  That is one thing I truly value in whatever I do.  To have others be comfortable enough with me to ask my opinion and help is one of the best compliments you can pay.

I know this blog isn't that exciting, but right now we're all slowly getting ready to hibernate for the next few weeks or months depending on how cold it actually will be this winter.  Koda's getting his 6 week break starting this week and won't be put back into work until the new year.  I love giving Koda this time to just chill-out and when I come out to have that relaxing bonding time on foot.  I may attempt to teach him to bow or something, but again it all depends on how cold it gets and how cold I want to get!

In any case, sorry for the slightly disjointed post!  Hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving down in the States and have their eye on a good deal for over the weekend :)

P.S. if anyone knows of a great deal on Back on Track or Rambo blankets (heavy), please let me know!