Recently Hired As Riding Instructor - Need Ideas

[OTTB FAN]

I was hired today as a riding instructor at a summer camp. I will be working with 8 kids. In the mornings they will be on horses, but in the evening they will be in a classroom. After they get the riding basics down, which I plan on teaching thoroughly, I would like to incorporate games into the lessons or based on previous lessons. Does anybody have any ideas that would help strengthen their riding abilities while allowing them to have fun at the same time? I already have some ideas, but I need more. Any suggestions?

BTW- I believe most of them will be riding western, i'm not sure... But I do know that I will be teaching the bascs of English as well.

[Renae]

I would strongly encourage you to attend a CHA Instructor clinic http://www.cha-ahse.org/

IMO if you are asking these questions you do not sound qualified for the job and should find another camp to work at as an assistant or junior counselor for a season to see how to a run a camp horsemanship program. I mean you don't even know if the kids are riding english or western! Are you doing all ring work, all trail riding or a combo of the two? How much time before camp starts do you get to know the horses? Are the horses owned by the camp or are they rented from someone? If they are rented from someone does the camp get the same horses every year if they can and if so is there anyone at the camp that knows anything about the horses? Will your 8 kids all be similiar skill level or will it range from never been on a horse to very competant rider?

[OTTB FAN]

I honestly don't see how, by just asking a simple question about games, did you come to a conclusion that I am not qualified for the position. I take serious offense to that, as you have never met me, much less even spoken to me about the matter. I obviously am, OR I WOULDN'T HAVE GOTTEN THE JOB. Maybe you should have taken that into consideration before you said something. Now no offense or anything, but I did not ask your opinion on where I should and shouldn't work so its best that you keep that to yourself as well. I am asking this question b/c my boss said that I will have free time to allow the kids to play games atleast once every week, and that if i'm creative I may come up with the games myself, or use ideas from other well known games. The reason I am not sure if the kids are riding English or Western, is because I haven't met them yet plus we only have one English saddle, but when I do meet them, since you find it your business to make judgemental comments, i'll be sure to let you know which children express interest in English! To answer your other questions, which you really had no business asking, I will be doing a combination of trail and ring work, however, I do not see how that is relevant to the question. I have well over a month to become familiar with these animals, as much time as I would like to have with each. And yes, they are camp owned, thank you for expressing pointless interest in that area as well. The skill level of the children, as I have been told by my boss, is that they are all beginners, which is the only half way relevant question you asked regarding my question, and I do believe I already cleared that up when I previously posted that I would be teaching them all THOROUGH BASICS.

[Desert Topaz]

There's a book called Games on Horseback :)

[stryder]

And a thread on Off Course:
http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=204535

[fabuleux]

I used to teach at a riding camp. I was a "Helper" for about 4 years- so I knew all about how the camp was run. It was a day camp- 5 hours.

The first day was the rules day. Our goal was to get everyone mounted (I usually had 1-3 Helpers in the ring with me) and get them once around the ring working on stopping, steering, turning, etc. We stressed about getting TOO CLOSE to other horses- that can be a major problem if not addressed.

By the second day we were able to play red light green light at the walk. It's good to practice halting and making the fat ponies walk again! :lol:

I work with the kids individually on the lunge line while my Helpers worked with the kids doing turns over some poles at the walk. I'm pretty good at watching the kids on the rail as well, but my Helpers knew enough to do it on their own.

It's really fun, and honestly the kids love it when I'm a big dork. I'm LOUD, and generally am walking around the whole time. I am really goofy and try to make this camp fun for them- the rest comes in lessons if they come back! :D


The kids are awesome, but be prepared: You will have camp songs stuck in your head for months. ;)

[LearnToFly]

I would strongly encourage you to attend a CHA Instructor clinic http://www.cha-ahse.org/

IMO if you are asking these questions you do not sound qualified for the job and should find another camp to work at as an assistant or junior counselor for a season to see how to a run a camp horsemanship program. I mean you don't even know if the kids are riding english or western! Are you doing all ring work, all trail riding or a combo of the two? How much time before camp starts do you get to know the horses? Are the horses owned by the camp or are they rented from someone? If they are rented from someone does the camp get the same horses every year if they can and if so is there anyone at the camp that knows anything about the horses? Will your 8 kids all be similiar skill level or will it range from never been on a horse to very competant rider?

Wow. That was uncalled for!

I was a horse counselor at a girl scout camp. We would "joust" using pool rings and broomsticks, and play "polo" with those big plastic balls you can get at Wal-Mart and broomsticks. Just make sure the ponies are okay with it all first!! (all at a walk)
There's also shadow tag, and we would do a scavenger hunt on the trail where they could follow clues to find different objects that had a point value and the winning team got a prize.
We also made a horse puzzle, and gave the group as a whole a piece of the puzzle everytime they completed a specific task. When they got the whole puzzle and put it together, we had a special "Golden Horseshoe" ceremony on a day-long trail ride, where they were presented with prizes by the "camp spirit" for being true horsemen. It was pretty cool for everyone- counselors AND kids.

As for classroom activities, I had a lot of fun with the older kids talking about conformation and faults and how to use a weight tape, etc. It might be fun to look through Pony Club manual D and C for some fun informational lessons you could teach. You'll be amazed at how much they will learn in a short time!

[kdow]

I've personally been to some camps which had horses but were not 'horse camps' as such, and some of the issues people are raising about qualifications are really NOT that far out of line. People who are completely unqualified really DO get hired to 'teach' kids about horses. (Where 'teach' mostly means 'how to hopefully not fall off and get killed.')

And at least one rented horses every year, frequently didn't get the same horses again from year to year, and often ended up with at least a few horses that were completely unsuitable for the purpose of teaching beginners to ride. (Those horses just got to hang out in the pasture all day.)

There are a LOT of people who do a lot of VERY stupid things when it comes to summer camps and horses.

Anyway.

One thing that one camp did that did seem to help was even before sticking the kids on horses, they'd borrow other camp staff, give them each a bridle, and the staff would hold the bit with the reins behind them so they could walk along pretend to be a horse and the kids could 'steer'. It seemed to really help the younger ones get the idea of what to do and work out some coordination issues BEFORE actually dealing with a horse or pony.

Depending on the group, sometimes the first day they'd just stick entirely to groundwork - steering, learning about tack, learning to lead and groom, that sort of thing. With a more uncertain bunch not being put up on a horse the first day seemed to let them get settled in.

[Amwrider]

I would strongly encourage you to attend a CHA Instructor clinic http://www.cha-ahse.org/

IMO if you are asking these questions you do not sound qualified for the job and should find another camp to work at as an assistant or junior counselor for a season to see how to a run a camp horsemanship program.

:eek::eek::eek:
.....Or maybe she is quite qualified and just wants to field ideas to give the kids a great experience......

[IronwoodFarm]

As someone who teachs beginner children, I would say that progress can be painfully slow. Your group can only go as fast as the least advanced person. There is going to be lots of standing around as you work one-on-one with the kids. 8 beginner kids is alot to teach. The max I teach offline is 4 because of the logistics issues.

Incorporate games early....Simon Says gets stretching done and helps the kids identify the parts of the horse and tack. Have quizzes; give rewards -- a sticker, a piece of candy. I do lots of obstacle course riding at the walk with beginners. When trotting, we typically run along side the beginner and it takes a while before trotting as a group can happen. Basically beginners can't steer very well and it's a challenge at a walk.

For the educational component, do you have access to a DVD/video player. If so, see if you can get some horse tapes and show them. I've show everything from Sally Swift to Olympic competition to generic horse. The Horseopoly and Whoa Nellie board games are good too. I'd also recommend having hand-outs for any educational component. For example, a picture of a bridle or bits. Discuss the bridle, then have the kids take it apart and put it back together again.

One comment about education in general -- make it as interactive as possible. There are different learning styles and straight lecture is not going to address the needs of many learners. Let the kids get hands on experience. Have them work in pairs or teams. Have friendly competitions. Have them make a report to the group. The more then can do, the more they will learn and retain.

[lcw579]

And a thread on Off Course:
http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=204535


This thread had some good ideas. I used the collecting stuffed animal idea but changed it up a bit. With 3 girls I had a huge amount of beanie babies that I put out all over the ring within easy grabbing distance. I had 3 or 4 kids in the lesson and used different colored buckets so they each went out and collected as many animals as they could and tossed them in their bucket. These were all beginners who could only walk so it never got crazy with them trotting or cantering or cutting each other off - just lots of slow safe plodding and laughing when they couldn't get close enough to a standard and had to reapproach.

[OTTB FAN]

yea this thread had some really good ideas too. I can do the beanie baby idea for sure b/c i have some, and if i dont have enough, well they arent hard to find. I also like the candy idea. I can use that as a sort of reward for review questions or to see whose paying attention. I like the video idea, at the end i could have a little pop quiz on it, and whoever does well will get a prize, i think they would enjoy that... I also love the scavenger hunt idea...i just got come up with clues and such, and where to put them. And the obstacle course, red light green light.... basically everything on this thread is a usable idea. Thank you all so much. I just want the kids to enjoy what will most likely be their first real experience around horses.

[Renae]

No, just because you were hired does not mean you are qualified. Frequently camp directors know next to nothing about the horse part of their camo. For the kid's sake find out as much about the horses and equipment you have available to use and make efforts to attend a CHA riding instructor's clinic. The first focus of summer camp hosremanship should be SAFETY SAFETY SAFETY. This is coming from a former summer camp counselor and summer camp riding instructor who saw many camp directors who knew nothing about the horses at thier camp hire some very underqualified people.

For starters on trail rides you should always have 3 adults with the group of children incase of emergency. 1 to control the kids and horses who are not injured, 1 to deal with the injured child, and 1 to ride for help. You would never, ever send children out on trails with just 1 adult.

[spurgirl]

I don't know the farm/riding time set up-if you have an indoor, or whatever, but in case you have a REALLY rainy week, and the kids can't ride (outdoors)...Get some horse magazines, poster board, glue, etc., and start going to thrift shops and Goodwill type stores to find cheap little wooden boxes. Think decopauge (sp?) and posters...The kids can make posters of trotting horses, walking horses, etc., or do posters by colors-bays, pintos, etc. With a little jar of varnish, and cut out pictures, they can cover and make a pretty "horsey treasure" box to take home at the end of the week. I did this many years ago when I helped with a camp, and the kids loved them. Makes the class work more fun!

[Equibrit]

I hope you and the camp are insured !

[Guin]

My daughter went to numerous riding camps when she was little, and she always liked the "naming parts of the horse" games. Draw a big picture of a horse and do games about the various parts - stifle, poll, withers, etc.

Another fun activity is cleaning bridles - teach them how to take a bridle completely apart, then put it back together again. Prizes for the fastest one.

Also, the suggestion about horsey magazines for pictures is excellent. Start collecting magazines now so you have a big supply.

[OTTB FAN]

yes, no worries, we are insured. :)