An instructor at our barn set up the diamond pattern yesterday and this is what I did with it! Lesson Plan for Outside Rein Aid using the Diamond Pattern Arena Setup: 4 cones or poles set in diamond shape Lesson Plan Safety Check Mount Safety Check Warm ups Lower body: ride no stirrups 1 lap … Continue reading
Tagged with Skills …
Teaching The Skill
Just made some new handouts for our instructors in training about skills and wanted to pass along the info! Enjoy! The Skill What is the skill? Riding skill = the purposeful intention of using aids (hand, seat, voice, leg, weight) to communicate with the horse directly. We say “intention” because not all riders may actually … Continue reading
Teach to the Highest Level
Today’s Teaching Tip comes from the Advanced Workshop I attended, regarding teaching to groups with very different functioning levels of riders: Teach to the Highest Level, Then Adapt. (As opposed to teaching to the lowest level of rider ability in group.) The reasoning behind this is that by teaching to the highest level, the lower … Continue reading
Fun Video Friday: How to Use Your Seat to Ride
How to Use Your Seat to Ride **************** 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 in this blog may not be fit for every rider, riding instructor, or riding center depending on their current … Continue reading
The Release: Lesson Plan for Group with Cognitive Disabilities
I am excited to share that the instructors at the Advanced Workshop I attended at Heartland Therapeutic Riding have agreed to let me post their lesson plans! This one is from Sandy Webster of Gaits of Change, our phenomenal workshop instructor, who made this lesson plan and then taught it to riders as an example of an … Continue reading
Leg Stabilizing Exercise: 4x Posting, 4x 2-point
Today I had some riders have trouble with keeping their lower leg stable and finding their balance while posting the trot. So we did this: 4 beats posting, 4 beats 2-point I started out having them practice 2 point at the trot. Once they were stable enough doing that, I had them post for 4 … Continue reading
Hand Position and Stabilizing Exercise
Before you use this exercise, you may want to brush up on your hand position. I recommend this article: The Good Riding Hand And now, to help develop good hand posture and stable riding hands, the: Carry a Crop Exercise Have the rider hold a crop or stick across their hands like this: This picture … Continue reading
Heels Down
I have been researching this for a while now. I hope you find it helpful! HEELS DOWN Why Heels Down? Lengthens leg and calf, which increases contact with the horse’s side, allows better aid communication. Lowers your weight which acts as an anchor for your body, to keep you in the saddle during expected and … Continue reading
Posting
There’s only one way to skin a cat…and a million ways to teach posting. Here are a bunch of ideas from various sources that I’ve somewhat organized for all the what’s, why’s and how’s of posting. Posting Trot What avoid every other bump by rising as the horse steps with one diagonal pair be able to … 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