How to Teach Confident Riding With the Use of Your Lesson Horses

Make sure your students know that riding that new, tougher horse is a right of passage for them and that they are ready; they should be confident and ready to rise to the challenge. Be sure to clearly communicate this with them and their parents throughout the progression and development of your relationship with them as instructor (and student).

Once your student is confident in getting on whatever horse you assign and rise to the challenges without complaint, they are ready for you to use a variety of horses to teach them all the tools they need in their toolbox.

That being said, they might go through a period where they will be back on the same horse again weekly for a while, which is fine as long as they know that its because that horse is the best one in the barn to teach them what they need to learn at that time.

If you teach your riders progressively and let them gain confidence at their own pace, I think you will find that they get to a point where they look forward to and enjoy riding different horses, whether it be a random change every once in a while or a different horse every week.

Offer Students Who Own a Horse a Chance to Ride Different Horses

As a side note, if you also teach students who own their own horses, I have found that they will benefit from riding other horses from time to time. Each horse is so different and responds differently to different people. If the kids who own their own horses never get on anything else, they might actually lose confidence or become complacent with certain habits. Some horses will let you get away with some things, and others will not.