Teaching a Beginner on my mare any advice?

Question

I am teaching this gril who will lease my horse. So I hope people can give me advice. She can WT

Answer 1

Don't hammer her with details, especially when she is just learning.  I absolutely hated it when my mom (who taught me to ride) was telling me to keep my hands up when I was just struggling to stay on the horse.

Work on her balance, have her do serpentine and circles and stuff with the horse.  English or Western, i think you should teach her to post.  It is one of the best things you can do for balance (I am a western rider).  It might be a good idea to have her ride bareback some, once she has some confidence in the saddle.  I believe it is very important for beginners to learn to have an independent seat, they should not hang on the horses mouth and they should not grip with their lower leg.  Both confuse and irritate the horse, not something you want.  

When she is comfortable at the trot, put the horse on a longe line and ask it to canter.  Tell the girl to hang on to the front and back of the saddle, it really does help.  Once she is comfortable with hanging onto the saddle, let her help cue the horse to canter.  Eventually, she should be doing all the cueing and you should be just standing in the middle.  Then let her off the longe line and tell her to do serpentines, turns, and circles.

Good luck!

Answer 2

now alot of riding is to do with balance. the best way ive found to teach people this is lunging, if your mare is good at lunging its a fantastic way of enabling the rider to focus on there riding rather than the horse.

its all about experience and alsong as your mare is patient with her she'll have time.

Answer 3

do not lunge your horse to teach her balance  with the girl not holding the reins the horse might do something stupid and she could fall off

if u want to teach her balance the best way is to put her on bareback you will learn it faster and easier

hope this helps

Answer 4

Start from the ground up...make sure that she's comfortable with brushing/ saddling/ bridling/ picking hooves, first. Then, teach her how to lunge. If she's uncomfortable with horses, then that would be a good way for her to make friends with your horse before she even gets on.

As far as the actual riding part, have her start off doing figure eights and reversing at the walk. (I don't know if your horse is English or Western.) But, have her learn to post at the walk and trot, regardless. Next, get her to walk and trot over some ground poles/cavelleties. Teach her to back up early on.

Make sure that she can make your mare move out as well as collect. Have the girl do sitting and posting trot. Once she is comfortable with that stuff, let her walk without stirrups.

(If you ride English) I would let her jump little cross rails, or put 2 or 3 ground poles next to each other to hop over. (but of course she would have to learn 2-point before this, so I don't know how that's going to work if your horse canters when you're in the position)

As far as cantering, I'd wait until she wants to. Let her see you ride the mare at a canter. Teach her that it's not something to be afraid of. First, try cantering on the lunge line. Teach her to slow down  the canter and bring her down to a trot and walk, safely.

Hope this helps. =)

Answer 5

One thing that I do with my students is set up obstacle courses for them. They can include anything from weaving in and out of cones, to walking over poles, halting, backing, trotting from point A to point B, walk to C, etc. I also make patterns out of poles on the ground that they have to steer their way through. Hope that helps:)

Answer 6

The first time the girl wants to ride I would get her fimiliar about the horse and how the horse acts. Maybe you could ride her and have the girl watch the first time.

The first time the girl wants to ride I would say putting your horse on a lunge line (if she behaves well) and unclip the reins. As you said your horse doesn't like tight reins, and if the rider gets unbalanced and grabs for the them it may not be a pretty site.

The neck strap does sound like a good idea for a little while, but make sure she doesn't become dependent on it. I like to teach new kids bareback first. It may sound harsh but it helps a lot with balance and confidence.

After she's used to your horse on the line then you could do some fun things with her to build her confidence even more. Like simple horseback games done at a walk, or even trot if she's feeling ready for it.

Just make sure you don't rush her or the horse. Make the lessons fun for the horse and the rider and you're sure to see results (:

Answer 7

If shes comfortable with trotting, and has fairly good balance, have her drop her stirrups, teach her not to rely on them

Answer 8

Your horse is not suitable for a beginning rider....a horse that responds to excess rein pressure the way yours does is too dangerous to put a beginning rider on.  Please don't go forward with this.

I don't know the laws in your area, but in Illinois, an adult cannot waive the rights of a child, and a child cannot enter into a contract.  You should consult an attorney to be sure you have the liability issues covered before entering into an agreement with anyone.

Answer 9

After Walking and Trotting the next step is usually a canter. However, if you still consider her a beginner than I think my best advice would be to get her more used to walking and trotting comfortably. She should be able to post and ride jockey position in both the walk and the trot. Once she gets very comfortable doing these give her challenges. Set up cones for her to move around and get her used to guiding the horse in figure eights and other things around the ring. Once she has gotten used to the ring, bring her on a trail ride. A person should be able to canter and jump if they own a horse because the horse should have its exercise. So next teach her to canter. Take it slow and make sure she is comfortable steering the horse at that pace. Then, teach her to jump. Make sure she is really comfortable before she takes on the responsibility of leasing a horse. If she could gallop, that would be good too, but many people who lease horses cannot so it isn't one hundred percent necessary. Another thing I would say is that you should coach her in the proper hygeine of a horse and make sure she knows how to feed and groom it.  

Answer 10

Make it fun.  Do some games or trail obstacles.  Even something as simple as picking up a toy from the top of a fence post, crossing the ring, and depositing it on another post can provide a change of pace to make things interesting for the rider while also teaching them control, balance, and confidence.

Don't try to fix everything at once.  Work on a single problem at a time, so you're not yelling "heels down!  head up!  leg!"  all the time.  That's overwhelming, intimidating, and worst of all CONFUSING to a beginner.  One main issue at a time, worked on for most of a lesson, is far more productive.

Watch the horse.  If she's fried, give her something more relaxing to do.  The rider can learn even at the walk.  

Watch the rider.  If she's tired, don't push too hard.  She's using muscles she didn't know she had.

Have you looked into liability issues?  Have the girl's parents sign a liability waiver.  You don't want to get sued; even if you live in a state with good equine liability laws they can sue, and you'll have to have a lawyer and defend yourself in court.  Look into insurance, as well.