Tagged with Exercises

Eric Carle Animal Warm Ups

Here is an idea to make warm ups for therapeutic horseback riding lessons more interesting, and to incorporate some visual and reading aspects. Use pages from a children’s book! We just acquired this book for bedtime stories and I thought it would be perfect for warm ups and wanted to share! Eric Carle Animal Warm … Continue reading

Change of Bend Exercise

I had a riding lesson today (for the first time in a long time…hello continued education deadline) and we did a good little exercise I want to share. I told my instructor that because both my mare and I are out of shape, I want to start with a review of the basics (change of … Continue reading

5-5-5 Repetitions

This is a really handy activity I learned from one of my mentors, called “5-5-5.” 5-5-5 Do 5 steps or counts of one thing, 5 of another, and 5 of another. Repeat. You can ask for one repetition per wall, up it to two, or go for whole laps. The benefits are: it breaks practicing … Continue reading

Activity Ideas

I just came across this handout from a PATH Intl conference, “Tying Your Lesson Together: Threading The Components Of Your Lesson Together To Achieve Skill Progression” presented By Anthony Busacca, Amy Sheets and Joelle Devlin. It has some great exercise and activity ideas in it. Enjoy! http://www.pathintl.org/images/pdf/conferences/national/presentations%20for%20web/Tying-Your-Lesson-Together.pdf **************** Note: This is not professional advice, this is a blog. I am not liable … Continue reading

Fun Video Friday: Exercises for Balance

This is a super cute video. Like all videos, take it with a grain of salt. And talk like them for the rest of the day! **************** Note: This is not professional advice, this is a blog. I am not liable for what you do with or how you use this information. The activities explained … Continue reading

Clips for Exercises and Steering

Clips,   clothespins, and barrettes – oh my! Clips, clothespins, and barrettes are great tools to use in lessons! For exercises you can have the rider put them on their horse’s mane or on the saddle pad, then take them back off. Here is a picture of clips in a mini’s mane (imagine it on … Continue reading

Up Up Down

This is a handy little exercise: Up Up Down. When posting at the trot, the rider should go “up down up down” to the beat of the trot. After they have warmed up a few laps of this, ask the rider to go “up up down” – that is, stand for two beats and sit for … Continue reading

Annie’s Warm Ups and Exercises

Recently a coworker lent me her master’s project from a few years ago, a binder full of Therapeutic Riding Exercises and Activities and Equine Facilitated Learning Activities, to use as a resource for this blog! First I want to share her warm ups and stretching exercises, which include the “how” and the “why” for each one. … Continue reading