Ideas wanted: "Teaching" the older rider (cross posted)

[Showbizz]

Background information:

I am a middle-aged trainer/riding instructor who has a couple of competition teams and has specialized as such.

My parents have recently retired from horses due to physical limitations in riding and caring for them. I have seen the toll it has taken on them to leave the horse world and those like them.

I have been fortunate with my health and physical condition. Unfortunately, recently I suffered a herniated disc in my back. One week out of work, one week of teaching- only and I feel I am looking at several more weeks of teaching only. I am struggling physically, and thus mentally, with being a patient. It has been SO GOOD for me in building compassion with those who are not as healthy as I was.

I have a small group of older riders, some more physically able than others, who have no competitive desires. I have recently put them together into a group lesson hoping the social aspect will be beneficial for them. They are decent riders and own horses (although some lesson on lesson horses due to a myriad of reasons that their horse is no longer suitable). Prior to my injury, I was attempting to build on their riding theory and physical riding ability. My injury has changed my view on this group. I feel in many ways this lesson should incorporate some therapy of sorts, though fully admitting I have no training is this area. I feel these riders are using their love for horses to work on balance, bilateral strength and flexibility, as well as the emotional therapy we all get from horses.

Since I am not trained, my ideas to run this class are limited. I do not want or intend to make this formal PT, but aren’t there things I can do to help them in that area? Things like leg yield to work on balance and equal leg strength, circles to work on balance and core strength, etc are things I’m looking for here. Are there other ideas, from those of you who are trained or who are the age sector I speak of, that could benefit this group?

[S1969]

How old is “older?” Do you think they want this kind of “therapy” in their lessons?

Just thinking that if I was paying for a riding lesson and was going in slow circles trying to touch my toes at the walk, I’d be kind of annoyed.

Riding correctly is incredibly beneficial PT, by itself. I would incorporate leg yielding into your lessons because it’s important when riding, but I wouldn’t do it for the purpose of PT unless your clients are asking for it. If so, I’d probably consider giving them PT to do on the days they are not in your lesson.

[Foxglove]

@S1969 is on the right track. Before u decide what to teach ur adult riders. Spend time with each individual to discuss goals and aspirations. As a teacher of 40 plus years, I began every year with a discussion about what each student wanted out of the class. For most it was “a good grade,” a few wanted “to learn,” and some were specific-- improve my writing or speaking skills. With that information I could tailor my lessons. Around me, most 50 plus year olds in horses are taking lessons to socialize. I take two lessons a month to improve my Mounted Archery. My classmates age is 10 to 18, all good. But we share the same goal.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

In terms of teaching balance, as long as you’re realistic about the physical limitations of the class, the exercises for riding aren’t all that different, regardless of age group. Spiraling the horse in and out of a circle, posting without stirrups, then posting with just one stirrup and swapping from leg to leg every few strides. Incorporating sitting and rising trot.

Sally Swift’s Centered Riding is probably your best resource, as it does combine rider’s anatomy with suggested exercises. However, if you don’t have a background in PT, I’d be wary of specifically trying to diagnose physical problems.

I have to say, though, I am horseless and just left a barn because I couldn’t stand this type of lesson–a group setup with middle-aged riders (admittedly with lesson horses). I felt I spent most of the ride riding very defensively around riders who struggled to control their horses, and sometimes the levels of ability can be even wider than in kids of the same age group. The instructor was very interested in rider anatomy/PT and tended just to focus on the riders who she felt illustrated the point she was trying to make in class. It’s really hard to teach a group class and focus on anatomy, because every rider has such different physical needs, especially after a certain age.

I also sometimes felt a bit gaslit–I mean, yes, fitness and control over the body is paramount when riding, but sometimes instead of going on and on about relaxing hips and soft eyes, a rider needs to shorten the reins and use more leg. I’m not saying all of the minute tensions and physical fixes aren’t important, but sometimes I felt that was all the instructor was focusing on, when many of the students didn’t have a responsive horse. Often the horses just got disregarded during the lesson, because the instructor was so focused on rider anatomy and psychology. It’s a partnership, after all.

As a middle-aged rider, I also have to say that I kind of feel that when you’re riding, the fitness and horse has to be the No. 1 priority, and then you do the work on yourself off the horse. Riding is definitely great for honing balance, endurance, and mental health, but especially after a certain age (and especially if you’re only riding one horse and/or not riding every day), you need some kind of other activity.

[Pennywell_Bay]

This sounds more like a one time “Clinic” type of thing and gauge the interest. Or talk to them.
I am an older rider, and no- I would not want every lesson to be PT (or any lesson unless I specifically signed up for it).

Adults have “goals” they want from their riding, even if that goal is low level having fun in a lesson. If they didn’t sign up for “PT”- you need to talk to them.

Also- what makes you think they need it? Your back issue? I’m just trying to get a feel of what spurned this?

[frugalannie]

As a rider of a certain age (70 my next birthday) and some pretty significant physical issues I take individual lessons when I lesson. I feel I need to focus 100% on riding my horse as best I can without lots of traffic in the ring. I have done a paired lesson and that was fine, but my first choice is alone with more intensity for a shorter period.

IMHO rather than think PT, perhaps think body awareness. Can they feel their seat bones and is the pressure even? Can they swing their legs and open up their hips all the way? Please don’t ask posting without stirrups. Older knees can’t take it. And that brings me to my next point: I know what’s painful for my body and what it’s limitations are. I’m willing to challenge those limits but not willing to cripple myself. I have some truly great coaches who spend a little time in my lessons resetting my position and my perception of it then working on me and my horse

Good for you for thinking about all this!

[Showbizz]

There is good feedback here - thank you all!

This group is 70-80+, so a wide range, which I am aware I need to take into consideration. The 70 year old is more physically able (although she does have physical issues), but I’m learning does not care to be pushed very hard on riding theory. The oldest in the group is in her 80s, and at one time was a very able rider. She took a year off for shoulder surgery and it very much shows. A few steps of posting trot is extremely taxing. Her body wants to take on a defensive posture, and though rightly so (my body is doing the same thing post-injury), I’m hoping some horseback therapy can help her be aware of that tension in her day to day life.

Teaching riding comes naturally to me since that I what I do day in and day out, but I do feel some PT sort of stuff, intermixed, can benefit each one of them. I will definitely feel them out this week to try to determine the appropriate balance, which will likely be different for each of them. Keep the feedback coming - both positive and negative!

[Showbizz]

As in the OP, a few things encouraged me to think about my older riders more. One, my injury - I have never had physical issues that prevented me from doing what I want to do. It made me more compassionate for these riders who no longer feel that they can ride at the level they once were. Two, my parents. My Mom still longs for the days where she had horses and rode. She is depressed. How can I keep that from happening to others in this age group? Keep them going without over taxing them? As the coach of the competition teams, I am a pusher. I push people past where they think they can go. My injury and this group made me want to step back and re-evaluate whether I need to adjust my normal style for this group. My “push” style doesn’t seem to work well with this group and I feel I’m missing the mark.

I don’t feel it has to be a one (Horsemanship) or the other (PT) situation. I’d like to find a good balance. I know that will take some trial and error but I feel these ladies are up for helping me learn what that is.

[OverandOnward]

Why does your thread title have “teaching” in quotes? It looks as if you don’t think it is really teaching … or this is something you are ambivalent about.

I agree with the idea of packaging your new knowledge into a clinic that is clearly described as offering what you are interested in working on in lessons. That will attract people who really do want to work with you on those issues. You can learn from them more about what they want and need.

I agree with the posters above who encourage you to communicate with your students - whoever they are - before adopting a new program for them.

Nothing annoys me more than an instructor who makes assumptions about me based on my demographic profile - age, gender, type of horse I am riding, what have you. The assumptions are almost always wrong and often don’t even apply to me. Also it shows me that the instructor has no real interest in getting to know what they can actually do for me, which means that I am wasting my time and money on this lesson or clinic. Frustrating to the max if I don’t feel I can politely just end the lesson now.

I have no doubt that there are riders who would very much like to follow the path that you are considering. It will be about reaching and attracting those riders.

[joiedevie99]

IMHO, most riders would benefit from focusing on themselves for a few minutes of warm-up at the beginning of each lesson. This doesn’t have to be a grand change in method.

I learned this technique in one of the upper level Pony Club teaching clinics, and it really clicks for some. Here’s a super abbreviated example:

“I’d like everyone to put their reins in the right hand as we warm-up at the walk and make forward arm circles with their left arm. Now make backward arm circles. Switch the reins to your left hand and repeat. Who feels looser on the left side? The right? Even?”

Sometimes this teaching method where you ask the rider to do something, then assess how it went, before you add your own opinions/instructions, helps riders develop feel and a ‘training’ mindset. Have the rider trot a figure 8 and ask the rider which circle felt better, and why.

[Showbizz]

I used “teaching” as, at least with one of the riders, horsemanship-wise I’m not really teaching her anything new. She was an accomplished rider, and is not able to even trot more than a few steps at a time in her current state. So while we are working on balance, strength on both sides, and stamina, those are not increasing her riding knowledge or prior ability.

I’m not looking to grow this group of riders (as in, I’m not looking to add more riders of this sector to my calendar). They are current students that are just different from the other students I have (I teach a lot of beginners, both kids and young adults, plus have two show teams). I want to do right by them and change my teaching style to best accommodate them and help them. I don’t want them to get discouraged that they aren’t what they used to be. This is clearly an important part of their week.

[Jackie_Cochran]

I am 70. I have MS. 50+ years ago I was a bold rider, hacking out, galloping, jumping, and training from weanling up. I could ride for hours, then commute, the work 8 hrs. at a job so I could pay for my horses.

Now I own no horses. I can only ride 30 minutes at a time, mostly at the walk, some trot. The last time I went out on a “trail” was maybe 3 years ago, maybe longer. I get exhausted really easily, my balance is very bad, my coordination of the aids is a work in progress, and I have been riding with my patient riding teacher for over a decade. I find it VERY hard to ride in a group, so I cheerfully pay for private lessons (my riding teacher charges me a reasonable rate.)

I told her I NEEDED a “position Nazi” since I have no proprioceptive sense and I easily lose track of my arms, legs, and the inclination of my body. She has made my position so much better! I promised her I would not take it personally, I know my problems and I am pathetically grateful to have found such a good riding teacher in my old age.

To avoid total boredom my riding teacher and I have good discussions about theory and how to apply the theory. I read equitation books frequently (I have a vast library of them), pick out the stuff that I think she can use in her lesson program, discuss it with her and defend my position, and to the best of my ability I try to illustrate what I think the writer is saying.

She uses me, I told her to. She puts me up on relatively “safe” abandoned horses, often older, with abysmal previous training who basically flunk out as lesson horses. I take the horse, I tell her what I am feeling, I tell her my suspicions as to why the horse is highly imperfect, as I work with the horse I tell her what I am going to do, HOW I am going to do it (aids and timing), the hoped for result, and my improvement goal for that particular movement.

I am not bored. I love training horses, my teacher enjoys seeing someone else come up with training solutions, and this way we stay intellectually challenged by the art of riding.

Hope this helps.

[Showbizz]

Absolutely it does! Thank you!

[Jackie_Cochran]

If you have not gotten this book you will find a lot of stuff in it as far as human and equine physical therapy, and the best discussion I have ever read about how horses actually use their brains (which is different from how we use our brains.)

“Horse Brain, Human Brain” by Janet L. Jones, PhD. EVERY horseman should read this book. It teaches us mere mortals how not to abuse our horses.

[aregard]

I am nearing 70, and I much prefer riding in a group lesson than a private, because around here, a group lesson is 40-60 minutes long and a private lesson is only 25-30 minutes long. I’m in the saddle for exercise, so I want the longer period of time.

I would probably fit into the category of riders you are talking about – a decent rider for many years, now on the downside of real fitness. However, I ABHOR lessons that are ‘social’ where the riders will do an exercise twice, then dive into the middle of the area to kibitz. I don’t go back those.

Other instructors have kindly included me in the classes with more fit riders, and I do the same exercises as they, and she just said, “If you need to stop (doing X) for a bit, go ahead. Then try again.” So I haven’t done No-stirrup November in a couple years. But I do balance exercises and leg isolation exercises and/or whatever else the instructor has cooked up for that day. They’ll jump a course of 10 fences, and I’ll only do 8. That sort of thing.

We also have talked about individual goals, as well as off-horse exercises appropriate to our individual needs. The kids are far more fit, yes. Many of them haven’t incorporated the theory yet, so it kind of comes out in the wash.

[TheDBYC]

@Showbizz

I feel these riders are using their love for horses to work on balance, bilateral strength and flexibility, as well as the emotional therapy we all get from horses.

Since I am not trained, my ideas to run this class are limited. I do not want or intend to make this formal PT, but aren’t there things I can do to help them in that area? Things like leg yield to work on balance and equal leg strength, circles to work on balance and core strength, etc are things I’m looking for here. Are there other ideas, from those of you who are trained or who are the age sector I speak of, that could benefit this group?

I’m a RYT 500 with a layman’s background yoga anatomy and human athletic biomechanics. Your heart is in the right place, but I would caution against making it “about” PT. For one thing, this potentially approaches the blurry line of being seen as offering medical advice, which you absolutely do not want to do. Secondly, it is easy to fall into the trap of one-size-fits- all. Each person in the group will have very disparate physical needs to address. Even with something as simple as leg yielding to even out leg strength, well, which leg needs strengthened? And by trying to work on an isolated area, are you going set off a chain reaction that inadvertently causes issues elsewhere? I’ve taken lessons and observed numerous more being taught by an instructor who had no doubt been told that fixing an anterior pelvic tilt was necessary for correct dressage posture. (Which is true. But only one part of the equation.) The issue was that not all of the students actually rode with an anterior pelvic tilt in the first place. Still, she insisted that everyone tuck their sitz bones under. More!" Well…a posterior pelvic tilt isn’t desirable, either, and potentially more injurious to rider and horse.

Finally, as you very astutely observe, riding is already a form of therapy for them. Your real job with the group is simply to show up in service to the students as they are on that day. (And that will change from day to day or even hour to hour.) It’s very obvious that you care a lot about your students. The group is lucky to have you!

ETA: Helping them achieve longevity in the saddle is a fine goal. Just keep in mind that goal will look different to different individuals. Your mom may be unhappy, but it is impossible to know if she really would have felt the desire to keep going past a point. They may well be happy with where they are and what they’re capable of. They may be content eventually retiring altogether from riding and taking up driving or finding some other way to enjoy horses. The results will vary dramatically depending on the individual’s unique history of injury, illness, and general fitness level in their younger years. Some people unfortunately just won’t be able to keep riding past a certain point. And that you cannot provide everything they need to stay in the saddle. Maintaining physical condition as we age is dependent on maintaining strength and mobility. That requires a holistic approach – weight lifting, mobility work, etc.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

@TheDBYC you just said very eloquently why I had such an issue with the group classes I took that were supposed to focus on rider anatomy and posture. The instructor would work on something like pelvic tilt one lesson, and it would just end up with riders either overcorrecting something they weren’t even doing, or the rider focusing on this one physical thing to “fix” a very complex physical/behavioral issue the rider was having with the horse.

[findthedistance]

@Showbizz

As the coach of the competition teams, I am a pusher. I push people past where they think they can go. My injury and this group made me want to step back and re-evaluate whether I need to adjust my normal style for this group. My “push” style doesn’t seem to work well with this group and I feel I’m missing the mark.

Are you the only game in town? The only safe instructor with safe and cared-for school horses willing to teach people without competitive goals?

I ask because you say you are a pusher. And you say you don’t think that’s a match for this group. But they haven’t left you. Any chance they’re riding with you because you’re a pusher? Maybe they want someone who will hold them to the highest standard their body can produce?

[walktrot]

@Impractical_Horsewoman

Sally Swift’s Centered Riding is probably your best resource, as it does combine rider’s anatomy with suggested exercises. However, if you don’t have a background in PT, I’d be wary of specifically trying to diagnose physical problems.

I got into horses in 2000 when I volunteered at a therapeutic riding program across the road from my condo complex. I started in 1959 at the age of 11 when a group of Girl Scouts did our horsewomanship badge. I did some casual riding on my days off from my summer job.

The first book my BO told me to read was Centered Riding. Second book was Tom Dorrance’s True Unity. We had many clinics over the 20+ years, mostly Centered Riding. I bought my horse in 2001. I had the teacher/student relationship but what helped the most was an instructor who figured out solutions to little problems. For example, my horse had a tough time with the stop part of whoa. One instructor changed my hand position and it worked.

It wasn’t so much working with a teacher. It was a teacher/trainer/consultant who found the little problems and came up with fixes. The other thing about my Centered Riding techniques was using images such as steering with my belly button. A couple of people makes a good group. Instructor works with one person while the other thinks and practices what they are working on . The older we get the more we need lessons tailored for our individual foibles.