Teaching 6 & 8 yo children...

[DidiR]

Thought I'd post here rather than the New lounge...

I am going to teach a friend's kids on their pony, as they don't want to be told by mum! I am thinking at this age, they just need to have fun and build confidence... anyone got any good ideas what to focus on?

They share a pony, so will be riding one at a time, anything I can do to involve the one on the ground at the same time?

 

[CracklinRosie]

Variety is the key when teaching kids of this age. Their concentration span is limited to about 10-15 minutes so it's quite good that they share a pony.

Good idea to involve the one on foot, get the rider riding round them. Use cones or something at 3 points and the little person as the 4th one. Riding figure eights and asking which side they'll be passing on etc etc. I love teaching kids, it's so easy and great fun. There's a range of books that I have that are great but I don't have them here and I can't remember who wrote them, sorry not much help.

I'll find out tomorrow and PM you.

 

[DidiR]

Thanks Rosie! Any ideas welcome!!

 

[draught]

ok so any ideas on how to teach a 14 year old horse lover. its not on tara for good reason but on a 16.2 so also need ideas on how to introduce her without scarying her by facing her with the mare.

 

[1588]

I'd be gutted if the kids that I taught (in school) only had a 10min attention span

If the topic is interesting enough they can tune in for quite a bit longer.... after all they are little people, not chimps

 

[Nosey]

My 7 yo loves anything with games involved - gymkhnana type games mainly. You could inc. the non mounted child in that ie to pass something over.. eg flags / potato in bucket etc. Handy Pony variations are also popular, timed round the worlds / scissors etc and you can intersperse this with a bit of slightly more formal instruction.

 

[CracklinRosie]

What I meant was that you had to keep the lesson varied and interesting as their minds tend to wander if not kept captivated. Trotting round and round in circles isn't going to achieve much. One on one tuition is much more intense than a group session. Even the EIS wouldn't recommend longer than a 40 minute session on any one topic.