How can I make lessons fun?

Question

I was asked to teach my 12 yr. old cousin to ride. I am going up to my grandpa's house tonight to begin the lessons. My cousin, Alex, will be riding one of my grandpa's horses. He is a 20-something yr. old gelding who is very laid back and slow. he only walks and barely jogs - no canter/lope. We are starting out in a 60 ft. round pen and only have 4 poles to work with, and maybe some extra junk we find laying around. how can I make the lessons fun and exciting?

Please help.

Answer 1

Teach doing the "Around the worlds", leg swings, The Points (where touch between the ears, tail, right leg, left leg, etc...learning emergency dismounts.... this kind of stuff is fun, while being beneficial to position too.

Answer 2

try teaching your cousing around the world, red light green light to teach your cousin to halt,figuire 8's balance teqniques arms straight out to the side like a T shape at a jog, feet out of the stirrups at a walk

hope i helped  

Answer 3

You could set up a trail course like they do in 4-H shows with the ground poles. You could use a board as a 'bridge' for the horse to walk over. Set up 2 of the poles so that they are parallel so he can back and walk the horse between them. You can also use a shirt or something as a flag and have him bring it from one end to the other. Plus if he continues with riding he will be able to compete in trail classes. ABout the trail ride i dont suggest it.... if he is a beggener ridder he should defintley know the basics before takeing off on a trail ride. If all else fails teach him how to fall correctly, it can always come in handy...

GOOD LUCK

Answer 4

if you have a horse, or another horse to ride, once he gets the hang of it, take him on a trail ride

Answer 5

you can do figure 8's and lots of steering...also if you have trails outside or even an outside ring to work in could make it fun to be outside...also teaching her to tack up the horse and groom him would be fun for her!!!good luck =D

Answer 6

You could play ride the buck. Have the horse trot/jog. then if the boy is coordinated enough have him take his feet out of the stirrups and let go of the reins. You could put a lunge line on the horse. Then you put a dollar in between the boy's legs and the stirrups he has to go like one lap or two without dropping it. You could teach him how to clean a saddle. Groom the horse with him. And there is special paint you can put on horses. Just put it on and wash it off in like a week. My horse had green socks! Kids love getting horses out of the pasture also. Any crafts you could think of. Also, treats you could look recipes up. Or just buy some. These are what we did in camp. Everyone loved them and it keeps kid soo occupied.  H

Hope the boy has fun!!:)

Answer 7

Try playing red light green light. Red=stop Yellow=Walk Green=trot. That's always really fun to do. Or you can have them do a lot of figure eights and trot over some poles.

Answer 8

We used to hang pool diving rings on hooks and have the riders pick them up as they walk/trot different patterns.  Reminiscent of the old carousel ring game.

Answer 9

all you should do is just teach and weather they find it fun is the kids problem some ppl like a challange and some just give up so really all u do is teach and its the kids choice.