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What you can expect to learn during your first lesson (the pace at which this is taught will
depend on the student's previous experiences with horses and the student's age, therefore, some of the items listed herein
may be saved to be learned in a later lesson):
- How to approach a horse, learning horse body language and safety around horses.
- How to do basic grooming, including cleaning feet.
- How to place blanket, pad and saddle in a safe, balanced position.
- Saddle the horse, learning to do the ladigo knot.
- Watch horse being bridled.
- Learn leading, then mounting the horse.
- Learn to signal the horse to walk, stop and turn, using legs as aids, also.
- Dismounting.
- Unsaddling.
In the remainder of the first month of your lessons, you should
be able to do all of the above unaided, as well as learn how to adjust stirrup length, catch horse in paddock and tie a horse
with a quick-release knot. In riding, you should be starting to learn to ride the trot at least by your third lesson or sooner
(unless you are a small child or have some serious fears we need to help you overcome).
It is very unusual for a student
to advance faster than the above steps, unless they are here as brush-up lessons from many years of previous riding experience.
Unless
a student has their own horse to practice with, we find that the majority of our students usually like to take lessons for
at least a year to become a basic, competent rider. During this time, for an extra fee, you will have the opportunity to take
several trail rides to put to use your new skills. Trail rides are not offered to children under 12 unless the parent is also
a student and wishes to take a ride with the child.
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