When I started teaching, I was too young to really know, or understand, a lot of the concepts I currently work with – never mind how to really work with someone’s body to help them ride.
Teaching kids or young adults through the basics of horse riding is a fun and fairly easy thing to do. You ask – they may ask a few questions about technique, how to do it, and so on – but they try and practice. Often, they’ll bounce and bop around up there until it works!
Ask an adult – especially an adult woman – to do something and that is a totally different entity, which is probably why I love it so much.
Many of us overthink *everything*. And I do mean everything – we can overthink a glass of water given the opportunity. I honestly believe nature has hardwired us this way. It was how females made sure the family survived before the modern age.
Today, with mortgages, families, bills, we think more and more about things we have zero control over and stress ourselves out about it. Now, add in a risky sport. *snerk*
Teaching gown ups involves a level of concentration and a knowledge base I never knew I possessed.
For example: I have ladies who have physical restrictions – some from car accidents, injuries and/or simple degenerating joints. All these ladies (and it really is more ladies than gents – I coach many men too!) have a drive to learn like you wouldn’t believe and it’s *my job* to make sure they can reach those goals.
Learning how to help these riders find a way to ride any horse (right from the upper level jumper to the upper level dressage horse) is one of the greatest challenges I have ever experienced. Finding the techniques and tweaks to help them use their bodies beyond the restrictions, beyond the mental panic and the uncertainty is incredibly challenging and fun. They keep me on my toes with how to explain, how to find new ways to apply aids, how to teach them to shift their bodies, how to relax their bodies.
The greatest irony: calling across the arena to tell a rider to “Relax!” It’s a running joke among many of my riders now. Half the time I can’t say it without laughing.
I’ve learned to develop stretches while the riders are mounted to try and put their bodies (legs/back/arms) into a balanced position. I’ve learned that correct in the technical sense, is not correct for 90% of adult riders.
BUT!!!
We have always found a way to get these riders doing half-passes, tempis, and jumping courses.
BUT!!!
This also means understanding that there are days when it simply doesn’t happen – between weather, outside stresses, sleeping wrong! Some days are about finding how to get their bodies to simply sit in the saddle and post the trot. Those days can be some of the most rewarding days. The rider learning how to move a hip in a certain way gives me another tool in my toolbox to help the next rider when they are sore, frustrated, or being hard on themselves.
One of my ladies has to canter before she trots, or her back will not loosen and function in any capacity. That discovery changed her lessons – and how much she can do in an hour every time!
One of my other ladies rode at another barn recently (she has a special needs daughter who rides at a fabulous, specialized barn). She hopped on a horse there and came to me the next week beyond upset, convinced she couldn’t ride worth a damn and should quit. She sat on Lake stretching while we chatted through this – she has degenerative hip and knee restrictions. This in the most basic terms means she is not able to apply any strong pressure on the horse’s sides. I’ve been working with her on how to use her seat, apply aids with hips, seat bones and her calves without a lot of pressure. She’s been wildly successful on a few of my horses using these tools. I mean wildly successful – on the days when weather and such don’t affect her movement, she can walk, trot, canter, leg yield and half pass at all three gaits while the horse is fully on the bit. What I discovered as she berated herself is that that horse likes to veer into the middle and needs a lot of leg to get back out, which many riders could struggle with.
These ladies are not bad riders, these are not bad horses; one just has to match up the rider with the specific skills of the horse and also help the rider understand why things are or are not happening. This is another tool in the toolbox!
Teaching adult ladies with specific injuries/restrictions is becoming one of my niches. It makes me think, makes me listen, makes me watch the partnership on a level I hadn’t considered before to help them reach their goals.
As a coach who loves challenges, this is a great skill set to be developing. Not to mention seeing these ladies smile as things work, or the dawning understanding as to why the horse isn’t responding that day and ways to function around that, that works in practise and not just in theory!
