Improve Your Riding Instruction Skills With These 10 Things

There Is A Lot Of Education Involved In Becoming A Good Riding Instructor.
You take riding lessons. You practice teaching. You might even work on certification. Perhaps you go to a school that will teach you to teach. But if you want to pull ahead of the pack and be better than the average instructor, you'll plan your own "continuing education" through self-education.

Here Are 10 Ways That You Can Improve Your Instruction Skills :
1. Be A Rail Bird At Horse Shows
Watch classes and sharpen your eye for good points and weaknesses in riders. Watch the "big guys" and pay attention to the detail of how they ride courses, patterns and compete in classes. Watch riders in the schooling area. Pay particular attention to the better competitors and how they school their horses. Listen to coaches.
2. Participate In As Many Course Walks As You Can
Ask if you can tag along. Listen to what more experienced coaches and instructors advise their students to do.
3. Attend Clinics, Even If You Go As An Auditor.
Sometimes you gain more from auditing than from riding because you don't have to worry about a horse. Attend a huge range of clinics from riding to saddle fit. Broaden your knowledge base.
4. Learn All Of The Rules Of Your Sport.
Teach the rules to your students. Make sure they are knowledgeable of rules before they enter a competition. There are few things more frustrating than having a student disqualified because they did not know the rules.
5. Learn To Ride A Discipline That Is Not Your Own.
This has several advantages. Not only does it expand your horizons, it puts you in the position of being a student, closer to a beginner again. This will refresh your mind regarding what students go through. Plus anytime you can ride with a new teacher you will pick up pointers, good or bad, for your own teaching methods.
6. Observe Classes and the Schooling Arena Of A Riding Discipline That Is Not Your Own.
Again this expands your horizons. You might be surprised at what you learn.
7. Volunteer As A Side Walker For A Therapeutic Riding Program.
You will have a fresh view of the effort some people put into learning. You will also get a new perspective of the joy some folks have at just being able to get on a horse.
8. Volunteer.
Offer to help with a 4H show or a Pony Club meeting, Be a jump judge for a local Horse Trials. Offer to be gateman for a local horseshow.
9. Watch DVDs.
We are fortunate to have DVDs on every aspect of horsemanship. Build a library of DVDs for yourself. Also you might be surprised at waht you can get through your local library
10. Read.
Reading can help you teach better. Read books on learning styles, teaching riding, and read the classics on horsemanship. Read about other riding theories, other disciplines. Read about the history of riding. The more knowledge and understanding that you posses, the more you will be able to give to your students.

Barbara Ellin Fox
http://www.ushorsemanship.net
US Horsemanship Blog