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Discussion on Tips for beginner rider
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Member:
maggienm
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Posted on Thursday, May 14, 2009 - 6:20 pm:
I am looking for some ideas to make the lessons for young beginners bit more interesting.
The stage we are at is still learning to hold the reins, making the horse go forward, turn where you want to turn, halt.
This week we tried some trot.
any ideas welcome
thank you.
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Member:
dres
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Posted on Thursday, May 14, 2009 - 6:47 pm:
Lori when i start the young kids out .. i put them on a lunge line first.. so they get the feel of a horse moving under them.. I have them do airplane hands ,I have them post the walk ..alternate hands above their heads.. bend over the withers opposite hand touch the opposite side of the neck ..
All this for balance and feel.. then will try a trot, all on the lunge line still teaching them how to post.. and to do all the hand exercises too..
If you have a real nice teaching horse after the lesson let them explore the arena on their own ..
Have fun.. I LOVE working with the kids..
On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted them spots..
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Member:
hollyw
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Posted on Thursday, May 14, 2009 - 7:25 pm:
Ooooooo! Lori! This I can help with.
What Ann said . . .
ALSO,
You can do Round the World at halt and walk (and I've even had one girl do it at trot, but you have to have a VERY good horse and a good balanced rider)
Have them count the beats of the walk . . .
Set up cones or a trail class (walking poles, barrels, line of cones, poles with flags, mailbox, etc.) and have them ride the pattern at the walk . . .
Play RED LIGHT, GREEN LIGHT.
Do a WALKING RACE (kids have to ride the walk as slowly as possible from one side or end of the arena to the other . . . NO STOPPING ALLOWED . . . and the last person to get there is the winner)
Make up a game in which the kids have to go to different points in the ring and collect numbered cards.
Transitions . . .
Call out different dressage letters in the ring and have the kids ride to the letter and stop a specified distance from the letter and stand.
In all of these exercises, stress "LOOK WHERE YOU ARE GOING and NOT AT YOUR HORSE"
and
BALANCE
and
ALLOW THE HORSE TO MOVE by keeping soft arms
and
NO JERKING for stops and turns.
Have fun.
There are game books available from some of the instructor certification programs (www.cha-ahse.org and The Horsemanship Safety Association) as well as some riding clubs and breed organizations.
Enjoy!
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Member:
maggienm
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Posted on Friday, May 15, 2009 - 12:51 am:
Thanks, I knew you guys would have great ideas.
I will check out that coach link also.
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Member:
jowidner
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Posted on Friday, May 15, 2009 - 12:02 pm:
Holly, can I come ride at your barn? My riding lessons were never that much fun! What great ideas!
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Friday, May 15, 2009 - 6:08 pm:
Another learning/teaching game that I used to do: put clothes pins or small rocks on the top of the fence posts (or give a few to each kid.) Have numbered buckets scattered around the arena. Have the kids DrOp their clothes pins or rocks into the buckets in the right order. You can do this at a walk or jog/trot. To practice "steering" I'd also line a row of buckets up the center of the arena and they had to weave in and out of the buckets without missing any, first using the reins, then without reins - only seat and legs.
The airplane, bending to touch your toes on each side, etc. is in the old US Calvary manual, btw.
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Member:
mleeb
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Posted on Thursday, Jul 16, 2009 - 6:43 am:
My 4H group's favorite is the egg and spoon race. The carry a raw egg on a spoon in one hand, and ride with the other hand. We start at a walk, do stops and turns as called, and then get progressively more challenging, adding trotting and loping. The last kid with an egg wins! 8 girls will play this so many times, that I need 4 dozen eggs.
Also, I have a new girl (age 10) coming to the house later this summer for some lessons. Her's will be a little different, because she's coming to learn confidence building skills, with the bonus of riding when she's ready too. I thought we'd play dress up as one of our early games. I have plenty of horse costumes, ribbons, etc. Two ways to do this are: 1) Complete outfits in a bag, let the child pick and dress up the horse, pose for their picture. 2) Lay out all the items, and have the child fill in the blanks in an unknown story (pick an item, pick a color, pick a brush) with items picked at random. Then read the story back to them with their blanks filled in, and they have to follow the directions. ie "Apple was getting ready for a party, and she wanted to wear a PINK halter. She decided she also wanted SPARKLES and RIBBONS in her TAIL, and a spare HOOF PICK in her makeup bag. She also decided to wear just one BELL BOOT." Taking a picture of that crazy outfit will be a hoot. I'm thinking a small photo album for this little girl at the end of the year might be in order...
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Member:
sodmonst
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Posted on Thursday, Jul 16, 2009 - 9:25 am:
Holly, the WALK race has been a favorite of mine the other way around, no trotting, first one wins. Now I have two ways! Thank you for the web link too.
Lori,
Ride the "GAUNTLET," use a corridor defined by cones, and the rider closes her eyes when she enters the "gauntlet" using the voice of another rider positioned at the end to guide her ride through. Object is to ride a straight line through the cones. Good for developing feel and balance.
"SOUND OFF" call out which hind foot is striking the ground right now (no peeking allowed).
Drill patterns at a walk. Use music its more fun.
SIMON SAYS
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Member:
maggienm
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Posted on Friday, Jul 24, 2009 - 8:51 am:
thanks again,
any ideas of how to encourage a student to keep her hands closed around the reins(I am pretty sure she is thinking barely holding on equates 'soft'hands), and to keep thumbs up.
thumbs up irritates me, check out DT and see how many riders have thumbs parallel. Not much of nan example.
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Friday, Jul 24, 2009 - 9:17 am:
I always remember Sally Swift's example: Like you are holding a bird in your hand. Firm enough so it can't fly away, not so firm that you squeeze it's guts out, lol! Thumb on top of it's wee little head!
O.k., so I am putting it in my own words, but you get the idea!
And at random, see if you can take a rein away from her from the ground.
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Member:
shanson
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Posted on Friday, Jul 24, 2009 - 11:06 am:
Lori, I'm an adult amateur doing beginning dressage. For a long time, I've made the mistake of equating soft hands with barely gripping the reins. Recently, it finally sunk in and I've found that reins with stops help me a lot.
With my instructor's help, we picked appropriate rein stop and I focus on keeping my hands gripped there and softening by moving my hand forward instead of letting the rein slip through my fingers.
Easy to tell when I've lost focus, because hand has shifted out a half or full stop.
What a difference this has made in my riding!
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Member:
terrido
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Posted on Friday, Jul 24, 2009 - 11:57 am:
Lori,
English style saddle? Do you have a bucking strap on??
I ask because one trick I have used that has worked fairly well is to have them hold the reins and hook their little fingers under the strap. Little finger must remain at the bottom of the hand at all times and the reins cannot move from their hands.
Yup it's setting a fixed hand position, but can help them get the idea of holding the reins so the horse doesn't pull them out of their hands, and I keep an eye on where their thumbs are, asking them where their hands are when things begin to tip sideways. haha
Another is the closer to their body they can keep elbows the easier it is to not go to piano hands position.
As to "soft fist" on the reins, well that's something they have to really feel to understand, and that's where a fixed hand may help cause if the horse moves and pulls on the reins....
You can try to help them get the idea of course by being the horse while they hold the rein, one side at a time maybe.
I explain that having loose fingers ends up hurting the horse's mouth. I demonstrate to them what the reins tend to do when 'loose' (snaffle bit of course) Most people don't want to hurt the horse on purpose. And yes they think a light or loose holding of rein is a 'soft hand', until they learn otherwise.
Good luck! It's always kinda fun to figure out what works for each student to get the idea and then of course they have to learn the feel along with it. But when that light bulb goes off, that what makes it rewarding.
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Member:
dove2
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Posted on Friday, Jul 24, 2009 - 3:15 pm:
And of course, there's the "like you're holding an ice cream cone" visual to help keep thumbs up. If thumbs go parallel, you've dumped your ice cream! I'd even get an ice cream cone to illustrate, and then a real ice cream cone at the end of the lesson for those who kept from dumping their ice cream!
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Member:
dres
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Posted on Friday, Jul 24, 2009 - 4:12 pm:
well I a .. imagine a martini glass.. I CAN'T spill that!~
On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted them with spots..
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Member:
canter
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Posted on Saturday, Jul 25, 2009 - 10:32 am:
Lori, I wish I had easy answers for closing the hand around the reins....I still get reminded (about 100x per lesson ) to keep my fingers closed. It's a bad habit that I have to be very aware of during each ride.
As Sharon states, the reins with stops help a lot. I have found them indespensible.
Another idea to help with the hands: Halt the horse and lay a small crop across the tops of your student's correctly positioned hands - carefully balance the crop so it's steady at the halt. Ask your student to walk on without having the crop topple off. It's very hard to do and is a great way to illustrate how unsteady hands can be without the rider being aware of it....if they are unsteady at the walk, think of how unsteady they may be at trot or canter! For younger riders, it's a great exercise that's perceived as being more of a fun game.
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Member:
jowidner
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Posted on Saturday, Jul 25, 2009 - 8:58 pm:
Lori, Here's a fun ground game for kids or adults that teaches listening, following, communication, and support with the hands.
Match each person with another of similar height. Each pair faces one another and stands with the palms of their hands lightly pressed against the palms of their partner's hands.
One person moves their hands and the other follows. Then have them change roles so that each gets to experience following and leading. Have the pairs experiment with light pressure and firmer pressure.
The students will learn that too light is non-supportive, and that too hard blocks communication and throws them off balance.
A more advanced game is to have each person lead with one hand and follow with the other. Another is to experiment by both listening and simply allowing movement to emerge. It can almost become a dance.
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Member:
maggienm
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Posted on Sunday, Jul 26, 2009 - 1:13 am:
Another great idea! thank you
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