Attn: English trainers!?

Question

I'm fairly new to training and have a lesson this weekend. She's a new student of mine, shes been riding western for the past 7 years and decided that she wants to ride english. She's jumped a little in the past (nothing larger then an 18" x-rail). I want to make her lesson fun but educational. I've seen her ride a few times but her old trainer was, in my opinion not too good. she never gave her a full 1 hour lesson. she would let her cut the corners, canter on the wrong lead, she doesn't know what a diagonal is, along with other basic things that should be down pat after 7 years.. anyway to the point of this.. lol.

do any of you have some lesson ideas that i could try? We have a goal to have her ready to do short stirrup in a show in late september..

all ideas are appreciated!!

thanks in advance!

Answer 1

okay im kind of going to go against the grain here..  i think the goal is a good idea.  keep in mind that some goals arent always accomplished.  but after all thats why its called a goal.   Make sure that your student is aware of that before she gets her hopes up of going to that show. And with that said, even if shes not 100% ready to show come september.. going to the show to watch is a great idea.  This way she can see what is going to be expected of her.  

As far as lessons go i would work on the basics as well as adding in new elements.  Make sure that she grasps the concept of diagonals, leads, jumping position etc.  then maybe have her do a cross rail here and there.  and work your way up to doing lines and small courses.   Youre lucky in the aspect that you dont have to start from scratch, but going back and reviewing the basics is always a good idea.  

also some grid work and game would be fun.  like pony club style... fun with a purpose.

i hope this helps you.. and good luck with everything!!!

Answer 2

The first thing I'd do is throw out the goal...she hasn't even had the first lesson with you, so why are you setting a goal to enter her in competition?  Shoudn't that determination be made after you work with her awhile?  She sounds like a re-train from scratch....no way would she be in short stirrups by September if I were teaching her.

And if she has been riding western, why would she have diagonals down pat?  You don't post in western riding.

Answer 3

there's that theory out there, and in my years of training, i've found it to be true: If you ride english, you can ride western, but if you ride western you can't ride english.

she's going to need to start from scratch- but since she's been riding for so long, she should pick up on things easy. But as far as her leg position, and leg usage, she's not going to have the strength to jump by september.

and as far as a western rider not knowing what a diagonal is- that's because they aren't trained to post. there's a lot of lingo you're going to have to teach her.

a good transformation lesson would be having her ride bareback. it's difficult, but she'll learn how to grip with the right part of her legs, and not her knees.

Answer 4

she needs to be retrained, I wouldnt put her in a show till I knew she was ready to handle a horse on the right leads and saddle. I was trained wrong myself the first few years and my new trainer before I became a trainer retrained me to how she thought I should look. Make it fun by teaching her the actual right stuff. I wouldnt let her learn a new saddle till she knows the western saddle first. I was trained bareback for form and balance then I passed through western flying colors and I am still really training in english as I want to learn how to jump in a much better form. She sounds like she needs a real trainer to show her the right way and I think you can do it!

Answer 5

I would start with walk/trot. The first lesson, focus on correcting her possition from a western seat to a chair seat. Also, I would focus on her posture. Knowing western people, she probably cant hold herself upright and keep her back straight. After a few lessons of her position being corrected, I would introduce diagonals. Wait until she has mastered diagonals to start the canter, because she probably dosent know what leads are, how to change them, ect. After all the flat work is finished and she is able to do it, then start her out jumping crossrails. Start out small. I learned this the hard way. Start her out going over trot rails and then eventually raising up the jump to make the horse hop over it. Also, I would start her out jumping at the trot first, then at the canter. Soon enough she should be ready to enter in the short stirrup class at the show!

I really hope this helped, and remember, do not push her to do something she does not want to do. It only causes her to be unhappy and therefore the horse to be unhappy.

Answer 6

i don't know if this would be a possibility for you, but i know at helped me on my first english lesson.

after you can tell she feels comfortable, go hop on your own mount to demonstrate the correct way to do some of the different english methods such as; posting on the correct diagonal, recognizing the right leads and the correct way to get your horse to pick them up, etc.

it is much easier to do something once you have seen it rather than once you've had it only explained to you.

if she's been riding already for 7 years then she might not need a 'start from scratch' sort of lesson, but make sure she recognizes the differences and perhaps even have her point out what she sees you doing differently when you're demo-ing.

you could even show her the WRONG way to do something and what she should avoid. it could help with some of her bad habits.

Answer 7

Your first lesson will be an evaluation-type lesson.  You did say you've seen her ride a few times.  If her balance and seat are already pretty good, I'd put her in  and English saddle and start with leg position.  If she needs work on balance, start bareback.  Is she confident, or has she become dependant on the deep seat and saddle horn?  Bareback riding will help her get back to depending on balance alone.  This can be a fun lesson.  You did say she jumped - in an English saddle or western?  

It sounds like her old instructor was not very thorough, so she was probably not taught to use two reins (direct rein, western calls it "plow rein" sometimes).  If that's the case, you'll have to start from square one here, too.  A good western rider with natural ability will pick up English riding quickly

I agree that you need to wait before setting a bunch of goals, at least setting them with a short timeline.  .

If she is pretty confident, has a good natural seat and hands, your first lesson could include ground rails or small crossrails to make it more interesting.  It will all really depend on your assessment of her ability.  I've had people come out to ride who told me they'd been riding for years (10, 15 etc. ) and once I saw them on a horse - eeeeeshhhh.  Don't know what they were riding all those years, or if they were riding once a month for all those years, but we had to start at the very beginning.  Sooooo  see what you find when you watch her ride and go from there.

Answer 8

After riding 7 years I presume she is of an age to see some text/graphics to learn some theory. From age of 12 they are quite receptive.

Do you have a pony club manual, this is the type of book she requires exposure to. Showing foot falls at each pace etc.

I'll give an example of what I do. Have your theory ready in this case pictures of horses foot falls at canter and photos showing horses leading correctly at canter. Discuss when is a good time to ask for canter, and the aids. Then in the dressage part of training we'd practise what we've learned in theory. Then incorporate it in a game, in this case it may be beat the clock - in your own time you have 3 minutes to execute a correct canter lead in each dirrection "You tell me if you think you're on the correct lead and I'll correct you if necessary". If they complete the task they get a lolly for the rider and carrot for the horse etc.

Lesson plan:

5 minutes theory

10 minutes warm up horse and work on rider exercises

5 minutes review theory from last time - lots of rider input

5 minutes rider position

15 minutes flat work - establish forward movement, frame, corners, bending circles etc. Following week, repeat basics and add one new element as the rider is competent

10 minutes pole work, approach jumps learning lines spacing etc moving onto xc jumping in due course

5 minute game

5 minute cool down and question time.

That's what I try and achieve. It requires the instructor to be well set up before hand, but is achievable. Good luck, take a few minutes to jot down notes immediately afterwards, as a week down the track it can be hard to remember. Take note of the things that aren't going smoothly - look unprepared and work on a plan for improving that area in the next lesson.