riding lesson ideas for kids

[alfielola05]

hiya,

ive started helping at a riding school, teaching the novice kids, most are on lead rein and can walk and are learning rising trot. I find an hour quite difficult to fill sometimes, does anyone have any tips/fun ideas? thank you!

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Try getting them to do exercises like riding with their hands on heads, knees, shoulders etc. You can do it over poles too. Kids like competitive games too, so long as every-one gets a turn to win, so things like egg & spoon races, flag races, picking up an object and putting down in another place, will all help them to develop an independent seat. Bending races will help with steering. Then a short quiz session naming parts of the horse & tack will take a few minutes. You could turn that in to a kind of race too, with e.g. 5 steps forward for every correct answer.

 

[Chottsy]

Grandmothers footsteps?? or what's the time me wolf, by the time they have lines up and you've explained. a good few minutes have gone by. See if they can do heads shoulders knees and toes in halt, then in walk. See if they can steer by just turning their body, and stop by sitting talk and saying stand!! (leaders can subtlety help if pony won't stop)

 

[AprilBlossom]

Ditto what Pearl said but be careful of the type of child at said RS if playing 'name the parts/colours etc'. When I was a kid it was the most interesting fun thing ever, but when I was teaching (some rather uppity 'learning to ride because its the done thing' types) they were completely uninterested, happy to call a horse brown black or white, and didn't give a rats backside about anything else. I lost their attention as soon as 'this brown horse is called a bay' left my lips

 

[Littlelegs]

Simon says, you can include stuff like Simon says heels down, hands on head, trot on at A, etc. Playing tig. If at beginner level, with no reins in walk, good for teaching feel. Anything involving no reins & stirrups. Depending on age, songs with actions. I'm a little teapot, head, shoulders, knees & toes. Age 6+ get the macarina, locomotion etc songs on an ipod/stereo. That superman song is good too. Follow the leader, with you as leader. Musical statues- kid still not pony at beginner level. A memory type game. Eg at A touch right knee, at k touch left foot, over a pole at x, at m hands on head etc. Obviously how hard it is to remember depends on the age range.

 

[ConnieLove]

^^ this.

I remember when I was a kid, my instructor would set up obstacle courses in the menage. Bending poles, making narrow zigzag bridges with poles, trot poles, stopping next to a up turned bucket and being able to dismount and mount back on without falling off... just letting me have a choice of what I wanted to do after she'd done the main teaching of the session. Simple joys and a bit of independence made it really fun some reason.

 

[showpony]

Play Traffic Lights
Weaving in & out of blocks
Round the worlds
Half Scissors
Pick up ball from one side of the arena & drop into bucket at other side of arena - split lesson into 2 teams..
Spot of bare back riding on one of the bombproof ponies

 

[Amigo]

A lot of good stuff as been said! Standing up and sitting down (gently) in walk and trot while... rubbing tummy patting head; head shouldes knees and toes; hands on head, hands out.

If you have very relaxed ponies stand in a line and throw a ball between the riders in the line.

Also flags, picking them up out of a bucket and putting them back somewhere else.

You could also include getting on and off the ponies as part of the gymkhana games.

 

[Georgie-]

I feel your pain, I used to do 6 hours over the weekend of teaching 'diddie boppers' after the first half an hour I felt like I was being repetitve!

Most of the good ones have been mentioned!

As said above depending on what kind of children you have games and competitions are always the best. Some times what kind of parents... Once had a parent complain that I wasn't being paid to let their child stand around in the menage I was being paid to let them 'sit on ponies'. I'd gathered them round the safest (most likely to stand still) pony and was showing the kids how to put a saddle on correctly tighten their own girth and adjust their own stirrups pretty important knowledge I'd say but of course parents know best.

-I also used to play the 2p game (cost me a fortune!) Stick a 2p, receipt anything small under their bum and get them to do sitting trot... really helped glue bums down instead of bouncing around in the saddle.

- step up a zig zag using poles or a box. think of scurry ponies when they have to turn in the little boxes without hitting the cones. ask them to walk between the poles without touching them. If their with a leader really encourage them to try to do it alone in walk with the leader waiting at the end.

-Again with the leader thing encourage them to try to do things alone get the leader to walk I don't know 10 paces and get the child to walk to the leader and stop without knocking them over. (My leaders used theatrics if the pony touched them... drama queens)

-My delightful instructor used to make me stand up in my stirrups, straight up, without leaning forward and then make the ponies trot on. Apparently brilliant for balance an heels down. If we looked like we might be using our reins for balance we did this without reins.

- taking away reins while trotting is a good one for balance.

- Hands on head and turn the pony with your legs/body showing them where there legs need to be for correct bend but making it more interesting. (normally assisted by a leader if your RS ponies were anything like the ones I dealt with)

-Round the world while the ponies walking. (As a child I was once asked to do it at trot, wouldn't advise it!)

- while there walking round ask them questions about horse anatomy and tack. I used to do this while they were weaving cones or changing the rein.

- When possible (and if ok with parents) I used to take the children for a walk around the farm up the lane for a change of scenery. Sometimes an hour of me barking stuff at them is too much to take in. Some children aren't even bothered about learning they just want to sit on a pony.

- I made them shout out the stride so that I could tell whether they were actually feeling it or just bouncing up and down. Up down up down or 1-2-1-2 depending on how I felt.

If I think of anything else I will come back.
I've probably not been that helpful but I've enjoyed reminiscing with myself about it all!! Oh how I don't miss standing in a school in all weathers. I do however miss teaching some of the kids!

Good Luck!

 

[Kat]

Most of the good ones have been mentioned, my nephew loves the traffic light game and grandmothers footsteps. Both get faster and more frantic the better the kids are at riding.

The others I can remember are getting the kids to shout out the name of an animal or a type of food for every letter they pass (normally done when trotting to the rear of the ride) and singing a song or nursery rhyme while trotting to the rear of the ride. Gets them to relax and breath rather than being tense and concentrating too hard.

Lots of touch the ponies ears, touch its tail, touch your toes, knees up like a jockey, out like a frog, down like a cowboy, hands on your head type things in walk and trot.

Obsticle courses are great and mini races too. Especially if you get over competitive leaders! Bending, steering between two poles, stopping between two markers, steping over poles or doing a tiny jump all add interest for the kids.

Round the world and half scissors are good too, and when the kids get a bit more secure then make it a race!

 

[wizzywhitch]

hi all this sounds great sorry to but in but i teach private lessons to kids ranging from lead rein to 10yrs who are beginning to jump the lessons are 1/2 -3/4 hour help some have been coming for a year now any fresh ideas we've done some leg yielding done some grid work the pony in question is a good little jumper sometimes quite slow other times very keen