As many riders don't understand how to use the reins when directing the horse I decided to find some good training videos online which I could then pass on to my clients. What you see can be so much stronger a message than what you just listen to. I think this one is pretty good (by Jane Savoie):
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I remember when my mom was first teaching me to use my outside rein to turn and the inside for bend - it was one of my worst lessons ever. I just didn't get it. I suppose that's difficulty is normal for learning something new, though.
How do you teach your beginning students? If it's a kid's first time on the horse, do you teach them basic steering with left rein for left and right rein for right? Or do you start right away teaching these principles?
It's hard to teach this to children. I have similar memories to you - I was taught this when I was allowed to get off the lounge (that is when I could canter a few steps without the reins) and I was about 11yrs old then. I recall it as a very confusing thing.
I completely stopped teaching 'pull with left to turn left etc' even on the first lesson. My tactic for now (until I find a better solution) is to tell them to keep the contact with the pony's mouth (no slacking on the reins) and if they want to turn let's say left I tell them to tap,tap with the left leg where it is, take the right one back to turn the pony's bum, and take their left hand away from the pony's neck and towards the direction the want to turn (not pull backwards). It seems to work for now.
However, with teenagers and beginner adults I explain the principle from the word go. I don't believe in simplifying this particular thing. I noticed that for adults it actually makes sense to take the horse's shoulders and body instead of just the head.
I tell them that to perform a turn you have both bend and turn. It takes a lot of talking to start with but it's very rewarding to see the horses improving and to teach riding rather than travelling on the horse's back.
That is a great video, I am definitely going to refer clients to that in the future!
It is very difficult to teach this, I found that for some riders it's helpful to drop one hand. If the rider is making left turns, I will only allow them to hold the right hand on the right side of the reins, they then begin to use the outside rein without me repeating the same thing over and over.
I only use it as an exercise here and there of course, because other things fall apart, but it's a good way to train the rider to use the outside rein and find out they don't have to pull the horse's nose around to get him to turn.
Thanks Deanna, I do that exercise too sometimes. I even made one person ride with half a rein (as an outside only) for a full hour some time ago to get her to understand the principle!
I remember the first time I was taught to ride a circle. I was a twelve year old kid that thought I knew everything about riding. In the space of one lesson, I realised that I knew nothing - important lesson to learn. I had no idea that bending one way could be so complicated. I guess that process just keeps on going - the more you learn, the more you realise that you know nothing!
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