Lesson Plans? and other questions

Question

Ive started giving lessons to people in my area and im working on lesson plans and i want to add diffrent categories to grade them on. I have a very Hands on way of teaching by making them handle the horses like going out to catch them groom them tack them etc... I already have some categories set up such as

Grooming

Handling

Riding- Seat( equitation)

Confidence on the horse

improvments-

if yo ucan think of more things i should be looking at let me know. Im trying to organize it on a spreadsheet. Also i am writing a summary above the categories like

Will work on keeping heels down and leaning to bend the horse on the turns.

just any tips even on off topic stuff ( as long as its not stupid remarks) is welcome.

Answer 1

remember u need to be able to change lesson planes for each rider.. each rider is on a diffrent experience levels...

you have a good plane..

i start lessons at 3 so ages 3-6 they learn basic up down, controle, steiring, whoa, haulting... and before they trot they have to be able to controle the horse indepenently at the walk.... same with my walk troters working up to the canter...  the ages 3-6 only ride for 30-35 min because they are young....  then after lessons we teach all students proper care for the horses, tack cleaning, grooming, wraping, stalls, water buckets, and ground work(handeling horses on the ground) we touch on everything with all ages but the 3-6 yo work mostly on grooming, watering... and during camp they do alot of art activitys to teach them more about horses... as for the older groups work on more hands on horse work.....

good plan... hope what i do helps u a bit.... good luck

Answer 2

How about safety in the seat and on the  ground? (rider/handler movements, clothing ect.)

Soft hands vs/ hard in the mouth under saddle ...

ground work like trail in hand to gain confidence and knowledge on personal space, horse movement on backing and maneuvering over or around obstacles.  

Recognizing different grains and supplements and hay. Nuitrition.

Different saddles/tack and fit on the horse and then rider.

I'm sure you have tons of ideas and will do great with your students!  So much to learn and so much fun to be had!  Take care and hope this helped.

Answer 3

I used to give lessons to kids. I don't know if you're giving lessons to kids or adults...

What i did was made the kids do a showmanship pattern before they were able to ride.

That way they learned how to handle the horse on the ground.

First i would teach kids all about how to control a horse from a walk.

Then once they were past that.. i would lunge the horse with them on the horse. no reins... they had to put their hands out to their sides at a walk, trot, and lope. and once they were able to advance, i would have them play simon says. "put your hands on your knees, put your hands on your helmet, put one hand on your foot." things that were a lot of fun for them, yet helped them become better riders.

Good Luck!

Answer 4

That sounds great!  Teaching someone hands on with the horses is excellent.  I would definetly take lessons with you.  My stables don't allow you to learn all that and the horses are already ready for you.  It's supposed to be easier on the riders but for people like me who really want to learn it's a disadvantage.

Answer 5

Knowledge: health, safety, nutrition, day to day and yearly maintenance

Feet (farrier, etc.)

You may want to contact local pony clubs in the area.  I don't know if you're teaching adults or children but it'd be a great way to get more horse contacts in addition to getting your hands on materials.

Answer 6

1. Horse Care : teach them about feeding and nutrition, wraps and bandages, treating minor health problems (small cuts, sore muscles etc) If a horse goes off you could teach them how to spot lameness (It's amazing how many people can't tell if a horse is lame or not)

2. Ground work and lunging: Pretty straight forward, teach them how to lead well and safely, do ground excercises and patterns. Teach them to lunge.

This is probably under riding, but teach them bareback, it's great for balance and confidence, you can start them out on the lunge.

I think it's kind of rude to say that pony club and 4H are all fat old Quarter Horses.

Answer 7

What about ground work?  

Answer 8

teach them the join-up technique. It'll help them connect with their horse (if they're old enough, obviously)

Answer 9

The CHA handbooks are very good for both rider and trainer-if you get one of these handbooks and just read through it there will be some good riding methods you and/or your students could use.  Even if you don't get a handbook (they're like $15 or something), you should just check out the CHA program.. Level 1 is very beginner, but I'm not sure how advanced your students are.  Level 4 is pretty advanced-going into rollbacks, training, and other such things. (both english and western).

You should also consider teaching them things like parts of the horse, cleaning/taking care of tack, feeding and other basic horse care.  

It sounds like your lessons are going well!

Good luck!

Answer 10

I see you're no fan of Pony Club, but if you go to www.ponyclub.org and find the links to "standards of proficiency" you will find ready made spreadsheets of increasing levels of skill from D1 to A (they might be under the FORMS link).  You can ignore the riding parts if it doesn't suit you, but the horse knowledge and care skills should be the same.

You seem kind of closed minded to both 4-H and Pony Club based on only one or two bad experiences - I hope you're not influencing the opinions of your students too much, let them decide for themselves.