Over the past two years, I have had the privilege of teaching over 20 kids basic horse riding and handling. But the group of kids that have come to the farm over the course of this last year have been something truly special.
The fun part of my job? Teaching these amazing, hilarious, unique kids! I get to teach them every aspect of riding to these kids that want to soak it all up like a sponge. Within 3 weeks, they are catching, grooming, picking out the horses feet, riding by themselves, doing lots of silly exercises to improve balance, and they are all trotting by the end of about a month or two.
My motto over the past year has developed into, “We may not be much to look at, but we have the most fun that we can!” And obviously learn as much as we can. So, we do silly exercises and at the pace that they set while ensuring that they know it well. The worst thing that I could do for some of these kids is push them. Whether it is overcoming fears, mastering a vital skill, or even just enjoying something for another lesson before moving to something harder, I move at their pace.
What would happen if I pushed them too hard? They would have a lose of confidence, would not have a solid foundation, and would not understand half of what I was teaching them. I often spend a whole lesson dedicated to just getting the horse to walk in a nice and marching walk. If they cannot use their legs properly and know what they are asking the horse, how are they going to get the horse to trot when not on the lounge line. And it makes such a positive impact. If they know that they can ask the horse for a really fast walk and then ask for a slower walk, then they are do confident with their own ability. It is a huge achievement for an 11 year old and you have to celebrate that with them!
When I was starting lessons, this was a issue that I always struggled with. In my first horse lessons, I always felt like I was being pushed through the program and did not have much time to work through a lot of my problems.
Now, did I learn a lot and really enjoy my time… yes!
But I do wish personalization was a key aspect of my experience. I took a lot of group lessons so I had to learn at the pace of all of the other kids. So, one of my policies is that I do not do more than one at a time so that they have my full attention for an hour. Often more than an hour if I am being honest.
All of the kids liked learning ALL that there was to know about horses. It was really entertaining teaching the kids how to lunge and round-pen the horses. It is such a power to be able to ask the horse to canter and he does it for them! That horse is running in a beautiful circle for them and they love it!
Or teaching them how to ask Winston to smile and paw for them was always a favorite. They were asking the horse to do something that they thought he would never do for them and he did it! Their faces lit up every time!
But my job is not to just teach these kids how to be around horses. I talk to them, ask them about their week, and just listen.
Grooming time is something that I truly leave up to the kids. Some of them love to talk and others would prefer to work in silence. Either way, the kids just relax into that time and it is their time. I love getting to know the kids as the year goes on and seeing them come out of their shells and start to talk to me before I even ask anything.
And they mean so much to me. I always look forward to lessons, especially if I have had a hard day, I know lessons are going to be a fun and relaxing time for me. Of course there are challenges. Days when kids fall off are never fun. There were a few weeks where I thought that every kid that I was teaching was going to fall off. They either did fall off or had a near fall. Truly stressful not only for me but for the kids and the parents. But that was one or two weeks out of almost nine months! The rest was a real treat!
Coming out of the season of Thanksgiving, it was really special to look back on all of my memories and write this blog post because it reminded me of how much I have to be grateful for. I have all of these amazing kids in my life, with their amazing supportive parents! I have the ability to have to horses that have both stolen my heart. I have an amazing family and an amazing church that support me with everything that may happen in my life.
Thank God for this beautiful complete community that He has surrounded me with.
Comm Equestrian 