What are your favorite unmounted winter lessons?

[eponacowgirl]

I have three “groups” I’m trying to keep busy. I have a long list but I’m always interested in what everyone else is doing!

Newbie kids. 8-11, from w/t to jumping cross rails. They’re pretty easy- colors, breeds, part of horse/tack, markings

Older kids- solid BN/N girls, 12-16, who have been in my program several years. They’re pretty knowledgeable, they’re probably my toughest group to come up with things to teach. They show regularly, can walk distances, know the parts of tack, can come up with uses for basic bits etc.

New adults/adult reriders. They’re all 2’-BN types. I can run through some basics with them but they’re not going to tape the horse parts to the pony or anything like that. They need something a little more cerebral.

[CHT]

For the more advanced, what about having them design their own jumper courses (on paper) and then you can use their courses in future lessons. Give them ideals/tools to understand the basics of course design for their level.

An equine first aid course would be good for any of those groups.

[Sticky_Situation]

For the older kids and adults, how about bandaging, or braiding manes?

[eponacowgirl]

[QUOTE=CHT;7296198]
For the more advanced, what about having them design their own jumper courses (on paper) and then you can use their courses in future lessons. Give them ideals/tools to understand the basics of course design for their level.

An equine first aid course would be good for any of those groups.[/QUOTE]

First aid is a good idea. I sometimes have the kids set up courses in the summer for camp, but I usually tweak it. The courses on paper would be a good idea and help them really understand the whys and wherefores.

@Sticky Situation;7296209

For the older kids and adults, how about bandaging, or braiding manes?

Older kids are quite proficient at both things! Adults would benefit, though. Anything show related would be good for the adults.

Thanks! Keep them coming!

[arlosmine]

Everyone can participate in a “how to take a horse’s vital signs” clinic:

Heart rate, resp, temp, skin pinch, gumb color, gut sounds
I team them up three or four per horse so they can help each other.

[Winding_Down]

I’d love to get a group together and work on training schedules and goals for the upcoming season.

also, yoga and core strength building exercise sessions.

[retreadeventer]

You absolutely must discuss conformation among all riders. Having recently gone to a Dr. Deb Bennett conformation presentation – the way we ride must be better in order to help our horses. They fight their conformation to do what we want – an understanding of the clear way the horses’ body works is really essential to learning to ride better.

All ages can learn this stuff; the suspension bridge of the topline, the differences between angles and sets of legs, hocks, knees, and feet; have them grade and score a few horses; pay particular attention to the phenomenon of “lifting the base of the neck”, which is very very important, the whole of dressage (not flexing the poll or giving to the bridle). Discuss uphill balance and where the rider and saddle fit on the back, and how the rider’s weight is influences the balance. And lastly discuss the bit and the mouth and importance of riding back to front – all from the conformation discussion.

Some good handouts on conformation are available at US Pony Club and a few other places, I’ll see if I can also find some links to the ones we used at the USEA YEH/FEH seminar. It was a fantastic lesson in equitation, actually, to have an intensive discussion of conformation – you learn what you can do to make it easier for the horse. I went home and stop pulling on one horse immediately and it has made a huge difference.

[McGurk]

Critique videos and analyze photos and videos of the gaits, way of going and jumping form. Do the same for rider position.

[Divine_Comedy]

One of my favorite winter lessons as a kid was when we had relay races to put together tacks. Our instructors gave us piles of tack, which were a bridle and breastplate completely taken apart, and we had races to put them together correctly. When you were finished, they would check the bridle and breastplate over, and if any parts were wrong they would just tell us not right and we’d have to figure out what was wrong. We did different types of bridles and different types of breastplates so we got to learn how to put it all together.

[vineyridge]

School For Young Riders by Jane Marshall Dillon has tests at the end of each chapter. You might be able to do something like that.

[event_ryder]

Conformation! JW equine also has good articles

Goal setting for season

How to create a yearly training plan/conditioning to meet goals

Rider fitness/nutrition/mental training at home and shows

How to properly clean/condition tack and FIT it.

How to correctly lunge a horse

How to balance a horses ration

Farrier care. Types of studs/corks etc

How to body clip/show clip

Trailering, considerations for long distance hauling and care

So much out there to work on!! The Canadian and US Pony Club sites have free downloadable work books you can frame a program on even without being members. The Equine Canada site has lots of information on Long Term Athlete Development- even has an eventing specific Athlete Handbook.

Can you take them out to have them volunteer at shows/therapeutic barns to learn as well?

[Grey623]

How ambitious are you? Have them organize and put on a little barn show just for themselves. There’s something for everyone of every age and ability to do – frame the classes, design and distribute a prize list and entry form, find a judge, a secretary, TD; handle entries, scheduling, organize volunteers, line up prizes (hand made ribbons would be cool!), design games, jump courses or obstacle classes, get a caterer or coordinate pot luck food for after-party; older kids can learn about coaching younger kids, etc. Give everyone an appreciation for what goes into putting on a show. Plus plenty of opportunities to talk about things that you might not encounter for a barn show, like footing and stabling issues, planning for port-a-potties, parking, insurance, bad weather, under/over subscribed, no-show volunteers, and so on. Make it a benefit for some charity – entries could be canned food for the local food bank, or $5 per class assuming you’re not paying out for anything, proceeds to go to the animal shelter. Could be a lot of fun.

Grey

[beowulf]

[QUOTE=CHT;7296198]
For the more advanced, what about having them design their own jumper courses (on paper) and then you can use their courses in future lessons. Give them ideals/tools to understand the basics of course design for their level.

An equine first aid course would be good for any of those groups.[/QUOTE]

^ I love course design - it is a lot of fun - what would make it better is if you did it a PC appropriate theme (or even, a level appropriate theme like BN or T). Really teaches what is appropriate at what level and helps you think critically.

[Robin]

An exercise for older kids and/or adults to improve their
hands. Sit each rider on an exercise ball (those big squishy
balls used for balance and other exercises) and have them
hold a set of reins attached to a rein board (ask any good
driver how to make one of these). Have riders practice
posting on the ball while keeping the reins still. have a
partner critique. Then have partner move reins from the
other end to simulate the head nod at canter and have
student move arms correctly and also move body in the
canter motion.

[mugsgame]

You can build a human sized dressage arena and get them to run through tests shouting out what they are thinking in relation to riding the movements. Great for arena craft and thinking ahead rather than just riding each movement as you get to it. You can also practice perfect 10m circles etc and other shapes so they are really using the arena and hitting the markers.

Show prep and judge them on it? Give a list of what they need I.e plaits, quarter marks, sharks teeth etc

Mini lectures each week they have to research a topic and discuss as a group? Such as boots, bits, rugs etc

Creating the perfect eventer using magazine pictures and sticking it together into a big collage.

Rider of the week using You Tube videos

Xc theory

[Corky]

Distances for poles and jumps, then free lunge a horse through to see the footfalls. Start w a quiet school horse and do trot poles, canter poles, low gymnastics. Since the horse can rest between passes they don’t have to actually do much and the kids learn then see what the placement of the poles does. Advanced kids can build a gymnastic and explain for a specific horse why each component will help that horse.

[RiderInTheRain]

• braiding tails - a very useful skill and not taught as commonly as manes (at least in barns I’ve been at)

• along w/ the conformation discussion you could have the students “shop” for a horse for a specific discipline at various price ranges if you have internet access. The goal would be for each student to explain why the they though their pick would be appropriate for the selected discipline.

• a saddle fitting demo, including teaching them how to do wither tracings

• maybe have the farrier do a basic lecture on hoof trimming and/or shoeing if he or she would be interested in doing that?

• learn about different disciplines and how they differ from eventing (especially great if you have a local friend or contact who can come and provide a first person perspective on competing in hunters or jumpers, dressage, someone who does endurance riding or is a fox hunter, etc.)

[Ready_To_Riot]

How about lameness/ health evaluations? Unless you have a lot of lame/sick horses laying around, it would have to be a classroom on paper type deal. Give symptoms and see if they can figure out what’s wrongs. And what they should check. Give them tricky things that could present as one thing, but one small detail will prove it to not be that and it be something else.

I think this is really important for anyone who wants to own a horse. As someone who has never had a lame horse in 26 years, I have my first and the struggle is real!!

Along the same lines, maybe saddle fitting lesson?

[Halfpasser11]

Anything with nutrition! Why you should weigh feed, how to read a feed tag, based on a particular horse what grain would you give and why? I normally give a selection on feed tags to choose from and cut off the name of the grain so they are just looking at numbers.

Lots of really good suggestions here but I find most owners find nutrition onerous / overwhelming so it might be good to start small. What makes a good hay? How much hay should I feed? Things like that.

BCS and aging horses by their teeth are good ones too.

[Groom_amp_Taxi]

For your adult group, combine unmounted lessons with wine or other alcoholic beverage for maximum attendance.