|
 Choosing
a lesson program may be as easy as calling the one person within a hundred
mile radius who gives riding lessons. For Phoenix area residents, though, there are
easily two hundred programs to choose from. This means you must weigh many
factors to select one appropriate for you or your child.
Define Goals
First Clearly Define Your Goals
Before making any calls it helps to make a complete and honest assessment of
your strengths, weaknesses, and goals as a rider, whether you are a
beginner or very experienced. Here are some sample questions to ask
yourself if you are an experienced adult seeking lessons:
- With which riding
and horsemanship skills do you feel comfortable and competent, and in
which skills do you feel yourself lacking?
- What equestrian
activities would you most like to concentrate your educational efforts
pursuing? Do you aspire to ride capably at the annual saddle club
trail ride? The national Quarterhorse show
circuit? Mid-level dressage competitions? The Olympic show jumping
stadium? Are you not interested in competition, but hope to keep a
horse on your own property one day? Do you want to ride well
recreationally, but owning a horse is out of the question? Are you
trying to prepare for a riding vacation in Spain in two months with
friends who want to canter, but you have only been on three trail
rides in your life?
- Also, consider the
relative importance of improving your level of riding proficiency.
Just how much are you willing or able to put into this? Deciding how
much time you are willing to commit to your instruction (both in
lessons and in practice between lessons, if available) and the maximum
distance you are able to travel regularly will help to narrow your
search.
Someone might describe himself thus "I
rode Dressage until two years ago and had been able to practice on a
friend's horse, progressing to First Level. I would like to continue in
Dressage, but also try Western Pleasure, but have no interest in team
events like cutting or penning. I enjoy taking care of the horse before and
after riding. I can ride three times a week if the stable is less than a 45
minute drive each way, but I cannot afford to buy and keep, or lease a
horse. I have tried showing and decided I am not interested." After
narrowing the list of stables to those within his driving limits, this
person will ask about multi-discipline instruction, school horses above
beginner level, lesson packages, horsemanship instruction, and how much
emphasis the stable places on showing.
The non-riding parent of a 10 year old beginner will have other
concerns.
- She may want to know
if the stable requires a parent to remain on the premises, or allows
"drop-off before and pick-up after".
- Also, are
experienced school horses provided for
beginner and intermediate children or is owning a horse necessary?
- If you do not own a
youth sized English or Western saddle with youth sized stirrups, do
you want the stable to provide this equipment for lessons, at least in
the beginning?
- Do you want your
beginner to start in private, semi-private, or group lessons?
- Do you want your
beginner exposed to more than one breed of horse, and to have the
opportunity, as he progresses, to learn more than one style of riding?
- Do you want your
child to learn how to take care of the horse, put on the saddle and
bridle (tack) as well as ride?
- If your child likes
the sport and does well, are you willing to devote more time and money
than one lesson per week?
Where to Look and Ask
Armed with a definition of what you are looking for, it is time to
locate some possible riding instructors. Some instructors advertise in
local newspapers or magazines, the yellow pages of your local telephone
directory, or their own websites. Feed and tack stores often have
instructors' advertisements on their bulletin boards, or employees know the
instructors who shop there. Also, tack and feed stores have copies of free
local horse monthly newspapers that have ads (The Arizona Horse
Connection or Bridle and Bit)
Trainers for advanced specialties, such as polo or dressage often advertise
in association newsletters, available from state, regional or national
offices.
This last source takes the most work and time on your part, but is often
the best information on instructors: the riding students with whom they
have worked. You can meet these riders through saddle clubs, local breed
organizations, area stables, and by attending clinics and horse shows. Ask
people who are successfully doing the kind of riding you want to do, or
riding the breed of horse you like.
Call For Information
When you have a list of some instructors located within your reasonable
driving distance, prepare to interview them. There are many variables to
consider and many questions to be answered. It takes time to ask a few key
questions, but you may be able to determine the suitability or
unsuitability of any given instructor on the telephone, before even
visiting his stable. But before we discuss which issues one should address
first, let's consider those which should be addressed last, or not at all.
Ask These Three Questions Last
Price
At the bottom of your list of questions,
is prices. If the instructor only teaches Dressage to people who own their own
horses, and you want to learn Western to be able to trail ride with your
neighbors, that trainer's lesson prices are irrelevant. Asking his price
first wastes your time and his. If you want to overcome your fear of the
horse, then safety and horsemanship instruction, steady school horses, and
a very experienced instructor who has helped timid and fearful riders and
offers private lessons is what you are seeking. Whether he charges $10 more
or less than another instructor is unimportant.
As a stable offering lessons for adults and children, and providing a
summer horsemanship camp, we find that the first question, and remarkably
sometimes the only question most people ask is
"what do you charge for lessons?" Other stables confirm the same
experience. True, the cost of lessons for any sport is a factor in whether
most people can participate. But as the complexity and risk associated with
the sport increases, value is far more important. If I am considering
flying or skydiving lessons, I know it will be very expensive before I call
any flying or skydiving school. I do not expect such a sport to be
subsidized by the local parks and recreation taxes, or to pay $20 for a
lesson. I will shun the least experienced instructor with the rickety plane
in a cornfield! The greater the risk, the more concerned about safety,
professionalism, and quality I am going to be. So when selecting the
instructor for working with a 1,000 pound animal with a mind of its own,
price is only an issue when choosing between two equally qualified stables
that both meet all of your requirements.
Shopping for the cheapest rates will by no means guarantee equal value,
or even acceptable instruction. There is no required national certification
for riding instructors in the United States. Indeed, anyone
who has access to a horse and believes him or herself capable of teaching
someone else to ride can hang up a shingle as a riding instructor. The old
adage, "you get what you pay for," holds as true for riding
instruction as it does for anything else. Conversely, the most expensive
lessons are not necessarily a reflection of the greatest safety and best
teaching. Sometimes the extra $20 per lesson is paying for landscaping, the
10-horse trailer for transporting horses to shows, and the indoor heated
arena. A more luxurious physical plant is expensive to build, furnish and
maintain. So that cost will be reflected in all of the stable's prices,
including the lessons. A beautiful stable doesn't necessarily mean the
lessons are better than those given by a dedicated teacher a few blocks
away on an older, weathered, but well-maintained farm with one little
flower pot by the door. Of course you must determine an instructor's rates,
but it should be neither your most important consideration, nor your first
question.
Insurance
The other question that belongs at the bottom of your
list is insurance. Every real business should have insurance. That
goes without saying. If you are worried that you cannot pay the
medical bills should you or your child get hurt while riding, get your own
insurance first. The cost of regular injuries that occur in most
sports, including horseback riding, are usually borne by the participant.
If your child is too young to understand and respond to the directions the
instructor gives, maybe waiting another year is wiser. To reduce the
risks to people and horses, many established lesson programs and trail ride operations
set higher, more realistic
minimum ages for youth riders, and tighten height-to-weight ratio maximums
for children and adults. Many stables require you to provide proof of health
insurance before lessons begin, as well as disclose any relevant health
issues like allergies, medication you may be taking, old injuries that limit
your physical abilities, or if your child has learning disabilities. This is
not to pry into your personal affairs, but to help your instructor teach, or
to help paramedics provide proper first aid in an emergency or to give to
health care professionals if necessary.
In our litigation-obsessed society, the issue of
personal liability must be clearly defined and understood in any situation
involving the potential for significant physical risk. Horseback riding is
one such situation. Despite the best possible efforts of any riding
instructor, the fact is that not all conditions can be controlled, and
safety cannot be unconditionally guaranteed when a human being sits atop an
animal possessing both free will and a body mass equal to at least eight
times that of the rider.
Horsepeople like to describe a very mellow,
steady horse as "bombproof." This language is not meant to be
taken literally by novices. No matter how trained, old, even-tempered, and
accustomed to his environment a horse or pony is, he will be a horse every minute of his life. He can still be
startled by an unexpected noise or object or movement, and react by moving
away from the disturbance in a manner the rider does not expect and may not
be able to control. When a parent presses us to guarantee the safety of
their child, we do not merely refuse, giving the explanation above, we go
so far as to tell them that no other reputable, marginally experienced
professional would do so either, and that if the parent insists on such a
guarantee, they should consider enrolling the child in a different sport.
Perhaps the football or gymnastics coach can guarantee they will never fall
down or hurt themselves? Horse people can't. This sport involves animals weighing on
average half a ton.
Most professional instructors will require you to sign a comprehensive
liability release before lessons begin, acknowledging that you are
undertaking these risks. Each state has specific laws
limiting the liability of the horse professional, and the
Arizona law is one that clearly expects
you to realize that you can be hurt or even killed, and thus ride or handle
horses at your own risk. You can inquire about a stable's or instructor's business insurance, but carry
appropriate life, health, and possibly disability insurance of your own. As
a responsible student willing to assume the risks of your equestrian
activities, you should have proper coverage. Professional stables do carry
business insurance to protect their assets from fire, theft, wind and so on, and liability insurance.
How Many
Lessons
Lastly, if you are a beginner, don't ask how many
lessons it will take for you or your child to learn to ride, or learn to
jump, etc. It's okay
to say "I'm a beginner, and I only have two weeks before I go on a
dude ranch vacation in Wyoming."
But until the instructor begins working with you personally, and can assess
what you already know and do correctly - what balance, rhythm, timing,
posture, motor skills, flexibility, confidence, relaxation, and
"feel" for the horse you have - he has no idea how long it will
take you to learn any specific skill. Usually, this attempt to pin the
instructor down to finite results in a given timeframe comes from people
who really should say, "I only want to pay for five lessons. What can
we achieve, typically, with a motivated, reasonably fit student, in that
number of sessions?" If you only want five lessons, say so.
Now let's discuss questions you DO want to ask
Teaching Qualifications
For every fifty potential students who
call and ask about our rates and insurance, there may be one who
questions our teaching qualifications. You must question an instructor's
equestrian-related background and knowledge. Instruction from a
well-meaning yet unskilled horseman can lead to the acquisition of
inappropriate, or perhaps even blatantly cruel, riding techniques, or
unsafe horse handling habits. Many people have told us that they felt
awkward asking such questions of a professional-looking trainer at a busy,
successful-looking stable. There are diplomatic ways to ask the question,
over the telephone or in person. At a large, busy stable, the owner/head
trainer who handles the sales inquiry may not be the instructor who will
teach your beginner ten year old child the basics. So you can ask about the
training and experience teaching beginners, and specifically children, that
the actual instructor possesses.
Trainer or Stable Specialty
Whether it is a large stable with
several trainers, or a small stable with one trainer/instructor, ask what
is his specialty. If it is breaking and selling colts, and that represents
ninety-five percent of his business, teaching beginners how to ride is not
the focus of his attention. If however, you are an advanced rider and
specifically want to learn how to break colts yourself, he may be just the
right trainer for you. Instruction taken from a highly trained and
experienced professional may not be productive if you are not concentrating
in the area of his or her specialty. You are not likely to learn the fine
points of running barrels from a Dressage instructor.
Nor are you going to learn to compete successfully at the upper levels
of your discipline from an instructor whose forté
lies in working with rank beginners. If you aspire to consistent wins in
the show ring, inquire about the instructor's students' competitive
achievements. It is not enough that the instructor rides many client horses
to show ring wins, or trains green horses to excel in the show ring. He
must be able to train the amateur owners to ride their own horses to wins
as well. Many Olympic quality athletes are naturals in their sport, and can
achieve great successes for themselves with relentless dedication, but are
completely unable to teach other people. In the world of horses, many
talented trainers are wonderful with the animals, but terrible when it
comes to working with people. This is where observing actual lessons and
talking with current and past students can be very helpful.
Instructors are frequently faced with students whose claims of riding
mastery are embarrassingly overstated. If when asked to pick up a right
lead lope, the best you can manage is a blank facial expression, do not
expect an instructor to immediately introduce you to reining patterns. If
you think posting the correct diagonal refers to putting up signs in kitty
corners of the arena, plan on a slow, progressive education in the basics
before attempting anything more difficult. Often it is not the student who
overstates his experience, but a proud non-riding parent who has already
paid for riding lessons who says "my daughter has had two lessons and
been on three trail rides this summer, so she is not a beginner." Oh
yes she is.
If you or your child is a beginner, the instructor should have formal
training in teaching techniques, not just riding. The communication skills
and patience these riding instructors need is actually greater than for
those working with experienced riders. This instructor needs to have good
experience working with horses and people to
promptly and calmly handle common situations which the beginner rider is
completely unaware are developing during the lesson. The instructor of an
"intermediate" or "advanced" rider could reasonably expect
the student to have experienced the problem before, been taught how to deal
with it, feel or see it coming, and begin to correct for it himself.
Teaching Style
It is not only important to note the instructor's
training and specialty; the individual's teaching style affects the
success or failure of any student/teacher relationship. Not all riders who
excel at their sport have the disposition or technical understanding to
teach effectively. Some instructors teach primarily by explanation and repetition.
Others use demonstration. Some instructors relate easily to children, but
poorly to adults. Others lack the necessary patience to deal with very
young riders, but appreciate the more intellectual approach taken by their
adult students. So the instructor's teaching strengths should match the
student's learning style. Certain students require a tender touch. Others
require strong motivation. Some need constant reassurances and feedback.
Others work best with minimal guidance. Predominantly visual learners
benefit from demonstration more than doers who must feel a position or
movement. Beginners make numerous mistakes simultaneously, so instructors
who work with beginners must prioritize and follow a curriculum that builds
strong basic skills first. Instructors who succeed with children have ways
to cope with short attention spans and make the basics interesting.
The most reliable means for evaluating an instructor's ability to relate
to students is to observe one or more age-appropriate lessons in person. It
also helps to obtain and contact student references. Request the names of
current students of as similar an age, level, and riding interest to your
own as possible. Be candid about your instructional expectations in your
conversations with these individuals, and encourage them to be as candid in
their evaluations of their instructor. To impose on them as little as
possible, the instructor may only give a few references after you have
visited the stable and are in the final stages of making a decision.
Teacher to Student Ratio
The instructor/student ratio is a
key factor in making progress when you take riding lessons. Private
instruction is the most expensive, but the benefits usually make it the best
choice. The constant, personalized attention of the
one-to-one situation maximizes the rider's and instructor's time together
in the ring.
Group instruction offers substantial savings
over private lessons, but a good instructor must design a group lesson plan
to target the average student, not the
best or the one in need of the most help. If the instructor isn't able to
put together a group that is very similar in skills, he may be forced to pay
all his attention to the rider who is having the most difficulty, for
safety's sake. But then, the advanced student doesn't get to learn
something new, the average student doesn't get to practice what he needs to
work on, and the student getting all the attention may be discouraged. Even a group of four greatly
reduces the ability of the best teacher to address riders' individual
needs. So group instruction is seldom a safe or appropriate
choice for beginner riders of any age, especially if they are shy, timid,
apprehensive, or have learning or physical issues. Group lessons tend to be
most fulfilling as a social activity, especially when they incorporate games
they are more fun for all age groups. For riders who have the basics
down, it often helps to practice together what they have been taught in
private lessons.
If you can fit two lessons a week into your schedule, the ideal mix for
most people, youth and adults, seems to be: one private lesson, to work on
ground skills and to concentrate on the areas you need the most help, or to
introduce a new skill, and one small group of similar ages and abilities, to
enjoy the social activity and get to practice together. It is
encouraging then, to see that others are working through the same issues.
If you can only manage one lesson a week, semi-private instruction
offers a middle ground. An instructor working with two students who are
fairly equally skilled can better manage to progress through a logical plan
than with a group. This also gives each rider some focused attention
and a cost savings over private lessons. A word of caution about
couples taking lessons together: do so only if you can resist "helping" the
instructor teach your spouse!
How Often and How Long
The frequency and length of lessons varies
from instructor to instructor. Beginning students, particularly if very
young and/or without access to a horse on which to practice between
lessons, tend to benefit more from two or three half hour (private) to
forty-five minute (semi-private) lessons per week over an extended period
of time. When you add grooming and tacking time, about one and a half to
two hours are spent with the horse. It is unrealistic to expect very young
children (under 10) and beginners who make many mistakes to stay focused or
possess the stamina for longer lessons. Also, the horses have short
attention spans and lose interest in the whole affair after twenty to
thirty minutes if they are not being ridden well, or a given exercise is
repeated many times.
Keep in Mind These Truths About Riding and Lessons
Learning a New Skill
Riding properly requires learning of skills
on several conscious and subconscious levels. A good vocabulary and
concentration enables the rider to take in the steps of a procedure as the
teacher gives it. Good reflexes and memory enable the rider to translate
the steps into actions. However, the objective is the development of muscle
memory, in which the body learns to do things without you having to
consciously think through each step. This requires hundreds or thousands of
correct repetitions. Incorrect repetitions in early stages ingrain bad
habits that may never be broken in subsequent training. Correct repetitions
depend on suppleness, timing, and feel for the horse's movement, and a
little physical strength. Progressive learning can take place only when
students have lessons frequently enough so as not to forget that which they
have already been taught. It stands to reason, then, that instructors
working with beginners of any age must follow a curriculum in which they
build basic skills and advance the rider to new skills when a solid
foundation of position, balance, control, and timing, is demonstrated.
Keeping Skills Sharp
Students riding at a more advanced
level, however, may need only occasional coaching with an instructor to
keep their skills sharp. This requires them to ride purposefully,
regularly, and correctly in between lessons. Instructors teaching advanced
skills still need to be able to break down complex moves, such as side
passes, rollbacks, or even rein backs into steps and explain how or why to
students who need more than just what to do.
Freelance Instructors
Each instructor's equestrian offerings vary
with his or her situation. Independent instructors have no permanent
facilities at which to teach. Nor do they necessarily have access to horses
for their students to ride. These instructors teach either through
established boarding stables as contractors, with the boarding stable
funneling its clientele to them for a commission, or by traveling to the
student's barn or home after being located by the student directly. If you
board with a professional trainer, he is unlikely to allow an outside
instructor to come onto his ranch to teach without being consulted. His
ranch is not a public park, and he needs various business concerns ironed
out, such as not scheduling lessons to interrupt his business, and
liability releases, so he is not responsible for workers' compensation if
the freelance instructor is hurt on his premises.
The availability of an instructor at one's home may be the only possible
solution for students with no ready transportation to or from commercial
stables. This tends to be the most expensive option of all. Most really
successful trainers cannot afford to take an afternoon or morning off from
their barn full of horses and riders to drive to your house for one or even
two lessons. Expect to pay many times their regular, in-barn lesson price
if they agree. Often, their business insurance requires them to conduct
lessons either in their own arenas, where they have more control, or at
sanctioned horse shows, where professionally built and maintained arenas
usually exist. Talented trainers who are just
establishing themselves locally, with a small clientele, are more likely to
consider a short-term stint driving to your house. Students contemplating
having an independent instructor furnish lessons at their own home need to
consider the available riding environment. No instructor can reasonably be
expected to teach a ten-year-old novice how to ride a green-broke,
herd-bound filly in the middle of an expansive, unfenced hayfield with the
filly's herdmates nearby. On the other hand, if
you have a fabulous farm, a nice guest house, and four or more horses, you
may want to hire a full-time trainer to live there and teach you and your
horses daily for a handsome salary.
Either way, plan your time so horses are not being fed during the
lesson, stalls or pens are already mucked, and the riding area is
dragged. Your riding area should be
large enough for the lessons, with level ground with good footing.
Proper
Lesson Environment
Not all riding stables share equally
adequate riding facilities, either. Arenas (either indoor or outdoor) should
be sturdily constructed, fully enclosed, fairly level, with adequate soft
footing, and neither rocky, mud-filled nor chokingly dusty. You may find an
indoor arena or well shaded outdoor arena to be mandatory if you want to
ride year-round but do not cope well with the oppressive heat of
Phoenix summers. No
arena should suffer from overwhelming fly populations, though ones with
cows or poorly cleaned stabling really close by often do. Again, visiting
the stable when lessons are in progress will reveal these situations better
than a lengthy telephone grilling of the stable owner. A professional with
a squeaky clean, state-of-the-art reining or jumping arena may be offended
if a stranger on the phone asks about flies, potholes, dust, rusty broken down fences, weeds, trash, and rickety
jury-rigged sprinklers! In short, the riding arena must be the right size
for the kinds of lessons being given, professionally designed and built,
and reasonably well-maintained for the safety of the people and horses.
Lush perimeter landscaping, and an air-conditioned
spectator booth are not necessary. But an utter lack of shade for the
horses and people, and a distracting or unsafe teaching environment are not
acceptable.
Lesson Equipment
Suitable and well maintained tack must be
available to meet the needs of all students. Aside from the obvious English
tack for English riding and western tack for western riding, all saddles
need to correctly fit student riders in order to facilitate proper riding
technique. Children should not be required to ride in adult saddles and
adults should not have to cram their seats and feet into child-sized tack.
Like the saddles, the bridles, girths, and supplemental equipment must be
kept in good repair for safety's sake and fit the horses properly. In
addition, if the instruction you seek requires specialized equipment or
facilities, be certain the stable has it. You will not be able to cut
cattle or jump cross country fences if there are none.
School Horses
For the large population of non-horse-owning riding
students, it is essential that the chosen instructor have adequately
trained horses available for lessons. While many fine instructors work from
small stables with limited equine resources, you must be assured that any
animals used for instruction are both rider's
skill level and activity-appropriate. Horses used for lower level riders
are typically older, well settled mounts with a phenomenal tolerance of
rider errors. Horses who offer more vigor and challenge should be reserved
for the more skillful and experienced students. Of course, no responsible
instructor will expose students to horses with known dangerous behaviors. When
you visit a stable you are considering, observe the horses that are used
for lessons in three scenarios if you can: resting in their stalls, being
groomed and tacked by students, and being ridden in lessons. You do not
need to know anything about horses to make certain observations. In the
stalls, do the school horses appear curious and friendly when people
approach, or do they turn their backs? Do the school horses appear calm and
well-mannered as they are groomed and tacked or untacked,
or do they appear restless, and seem to need a lot of correction or
coaxing? During the lesson, does the horse look reasonably healthy,
well-fed, and used to his surroundings? Do the students handle the horses
kindly, and appear to like them?
Common sense tells you that if the teaching horses appear depressed,
cranky, under-fed, overworked or ill-mannered, pestered by flies, and their
surroundings appear offensively dirty, broken-down, or disorganized, a
critical 50% of the teaching "team" is not up to good
horsemanship standards. One could argue that a riding instructor's most
important asset is his teaching "string" and if he neglects the
animals' health, safety, and mental well-being, other aspects of his
horsemanship program may be below par as well.
Safety
You should notice whether the barn rules and emergency
contact numbers are posted clearly. These may not be in the aisle, but
inside a tack room or lounge. If you were told helmets are required, or
there is a sign on the arena requiring helmets, do you see people riding
without them? If so, what other rules are actually guidelines or designed to
absolve staff of leadership and authority responsibilities? There should
not be a "double standard" of what is required of
"beginners" but not of "horse owners" or "show
riders". Plus, if you have ever boarded or taken training where a few
unruly clients spoiled the atmosphere and safety for everyone else, you
will care that your instructor has real rules and enforces them fairly and
consistently. Check whether fire and first aid equipment is present,
whether the lesson tack room is tidy, and whether the yard is full of old
rusting trash, equipment parts, and weeds or well-maintained. You can even
politely ask if anyone on the staff is first aid certified, and how far it
is to the nearest emergency room. Anyone (staff, students, vendors,
visitors) can get a cut or bruise or bug bite on a farm of any kind, and
fire is one of the number one concerns of stables. A well-run barn will be
prepared for first aid and have a plan for coping with anything more
serious. The instructor should not consider your question unreasonable, or
"chicken", simply prudent. This is different from an excessive
fear of falling off the horse and being hurt. You can expect someone in
business to teach any sport or operate a ranch of any kind to know basic
first aid and have basic first aid supplies readily available. If none of
these observations are positive: barn rules, general maintenance, fire and
first aid preparedness, then there is a general ignorance or low priority
of safety for both people and horses that is below professional standard.
Don't let anyone make excuses that safety is not the "real cowboy
way" or other such rationalizations.
Other
Costs to Consider
In addition to the outlay for the lessons themselves, there are other
potential expenses involved in your equestrian activity. Depending on
your riding discipline, specialized attire may be required.
Appropriate
boots can be expensive, but are well worth the investment. Most professional teaching programs require
safe footwear, which does not include tennis shoes. Just once, have a 1,000
pound horse move his foot and place it on yours, then shift all his weight
onto that leg, and you will be glad you're wearing boots, not sandals or
running shoes. Also, shoes without a heel are unsafe in stirrups.
A safety helmet will be required by many instructors and
will also add to the overall cost, but again, it is an important investment.
Of the injuries that occur for all kinds of riding, from racing around a
track to ambling down a trail, 75% are head injuries, and most of those
would have been avoided had the rider been wearing a horseback riding
helmet. Make sure it is ASTM SEI Certified for horseback riding, fits
properly, the chin strap is fastened properly, and it is less than 5 years
old. Bicycle helmets are not safe for horseback riding.
The good news is that riding boots and helmets are available at tack
shops and tack swap meets and online. Children outgrow these quickly
so nearly new ones are always for sale, you don't need to buy new when you
are not sure you will stick with it. Many instructors will loan you these
safety items for the first lesson.
If you choose to trailer your horse to your instructor's stable for
lessons, there are travel expenses.
Visit and Watch
Once you have discussed the most critical issues with your list of
potential riding instructors, arrange to visit each stable and request to
watch a lesson or two. Some riding teachers may even agree to schedule a
trial lesson to give you a taste of their instructional technique. It is
one thing to be told how articulate and patient the instructor is, how
accomplished the students are, how well the horses are trained, how
perfectly the facilities and equipment are maintained; it is something else
to confirm it all for yourself. Be unobtrusive and courteous while making
your observations.
When you visit one of the stables you are seriously considering, notice
how long a private lesson lasts, and what else is
going on in and around the teaching arena. Is the instructor
"schooling" another horse while giving the riding lesson? Does
the instructor check the student's mount, tack, and attire, at the
beginning? Do the student and horse "warm up" before the official
lesson begins? Do onlookers visit with the instructor or rider during the
lesson? Are there distractions like loose dogs, chickens, or toddlers near
the teaching arena?
Policies and Procedures
Always ask a prospective instructor what
he or she expects of a riding student. Some instructors run their schools
in a very casual manner. Some are as rigid as any military drill sergeant.
Most mold their policies to reflect their student base. Virtually all of
them appreciate students who show up consistently for their scheduled
lessons and are ready on time. Many charge for late cancellations and
"no shows." If the stable competes regularly at horse shows, and
you do not plan to compete, ask how lessons for the left-behind students
are handled. Are they canceled, or is there a regular substitute teacher
who knows the horses, barn procedures, and curriculum?
Take time before making your final decision to thoroughly evaluate your
options. Remember that we share a common goal, the instructors and the
students: to foster a greater love and appreciation of the equine animal
through the educated partnership of horse and rider.
TIP For help getting the most out of your beginning
riding lessons, visit our products and services page where there are links
to e-books especially for beginners.
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