This is a worksheet exercise for Instructor In Training to practice selecting a horse for a rider. We just started up our Instructor Training Program for the year and I’m trying to make our classroom sessions more interactive instead of just lecture, and this is a result of it. To give you some back ground, Week … Continue reading
Filed under Teaching Tips …
Intentionally Compliment Your Students
Here is a great article about a teacher who every morning compliments the students in his special ed class one by one. He talks about the difference it’s made in their lives, this little act. “The Brilliant Way This Special Ed Teacher Starts Class Every Day” at TheMighty.com It reminds me of an instructor I … Continue reading
Clips for Good Behavior
Here is a simple way to encourage good behavior while riding. My friend Carrie Capes of Horsepower TR explains she created these smiley clips that her riders earn by doing good work. When they earn 5, they get to choose their activity – “free choice!” She says it’s very effective with kids with lots of behaviors … Continue reading
Teaching Tips II
Here are some random tips and quips I’ve collected that don’t fit into a whole blog post but want to share! I attended some of a clinic by Lou Denizard at our barn today and he had some neat ways of explaining things I liked that could be applied to therapeutic riding: He encouraged a rider with heels up tight knees to “Drop … Continue reading
The Practice Horse
Last year the barn I work received a fake horse, or “practice horse,” from a wonderful volunteer to help us with rider assessments. I have been thinking about fake horses ever since and slowly compiling information until I had enough to share about practice horses, their uses, and what other barns are doing! If you … Continue reading
Hit the Dirt Trophy
It has been said, “The hardest part of riding is the ground.” When her riders fall off, Carrie Capes of HorsePower TR gives her riders a Hit the Dirt Trophy. She takes a Dixie cup, fills it with dirt from the arena, writes “Hit the Dirt Trophy” on the side, and sends it home with them … Continue reading
Colored Arena Letters
Here is something neat one of our instructors made – colored arena letters. She printed them on colored paper then laminated them. This way we can tell riders to “Go toward K” if they know their letters, or “Go toward the blue K” if they are better with colors than letters, or “Go toward the blue … Continue reading
Addressing Volunteers
Once an Instructor in Training gets the basics of teaching a lesson, you need to start incorporating more active volunteer management. This means making sure your volunteers are supporting the rider correctly, being safe, and helping the lesson run smoothly. To do this you must communicate with the volunteers by giving them praise and correction, just like … Continue reading
Turn ’em Loose
Sometimes you just have to trust your horses. One of the biggest things that struck me when I started helping with therapeutic riding was how extremely protected and helped the riders were. On one hand this safety aspect was enlightening, and I became appalled at how unsafe some of the things were we had done at the … Continue reading
Q&A: Refusal to Mount
I got an interesting question from a reader I’d like to open up to everyone… Refusal to Mount Hello, Do you have any articles or references related to getting a highly anxious ASD rider to mount the horse? We have a 15 year old who refuses to mount but stays close to the horse and … Continue reading