01/06/2026
Outdoor winter lessons build confidence.
This is an old picture, and I am not sure if parents(except my students lol) would send their children today to an outdoor lesson like this, but lessons like this offer unique learning opportunities. Riders become stiff in the cold and it is important that they learn early that bracing your body, regardless of the reason, interferes with communication between horse and rider because it violates the primary principle riding of, "Let the horse move you." A stiff braced rider body separates you from your horse as your horse will withdraw from a braced rider. Riders cannot communicate effectively with their horse if they have little or no unity of balance and motion.
My point today is that we should be teaching the so called "advanced" principles of riding like unity from day one and every day after that. I see too many instructors teaching static forms that judges reward early in their lesson programs, but not the true primary elements like unified balance and movement with the horse. For example, ba****ck lunge line lessons are among the best to start a student learning these primary elements, but this once common teaching tool is hardly seen anymore.
This student might as well be on a lunge line because that pony is very well trained. Well trained lesson horses and ponies are absolutely essential for a first rate lesson program that begins with the essentials of horsemanship. You cannot expect a new rider to find sympathetic balance and movement with their mount if they are constantly distracted by flaws in the horse's training.
But with the right horse in the optimal contained area, students of all ages can learn proper horsemanship starting with their first lesson. Additionally, if you continue teaching through all kinds of conditions, students learn from a depth of experience much more powerful than can be found in an indoor arena. Just make sure that the rider is dressed correctly for each ride. We need better lesson programs that do not "teach for the test", meaning how to please a judge and win a ribbon. We need lessons that teach effective riding.
-Stolen
