As a riding instructor myself, I have found that there are a lot of things that you need for riding lessons that you wouldn’t think you might need. Because of this, I’ve decided to make this short list to help out all of you aspiring riding instructors out there who are trying to get ready to start your first lesson.
5 Must-Have Things For Riding Lessons
There are a lot of things needed when it comes to giving horseback riding lessons. There are some things that are obvious necessities like a safe mellow horse to use, helmets, or proper riding equipment, but sometimes you will find yourself wishing that you had gotten something else as well. These are some of the most useful tools that I have bought for giving lessons and I will never regret any of these purchases.
- Cones
- Lunge Line
- Leather Hole Punch
- Colored Rubber-Grip Reins
- Mounting Block
Cones
Though this might sound silly, putting up trafic cones in your arena is actually super helpful! Horses like to have a sense of directon when they are working so having these cones out in your arena will not only help your horse to stay better focused, but it will also help to give your student something to aim to.
I love using cones in different cone patterns to give my students different things to turn around. We set up all kinds of patterns in the arena with my cones so my students can practice steering, turning, and guiding the horse to different parts of the arena and around different obstacles.
Any basic cones will do the job, but I really recommend this so it makes your riding lessons more fun and interesting than they would be if all you did was go in circles or ride on the lunge line.
Lunge Line
The lunge line is a really useful tool, especially when it comes to teaching kids how to trot or just doing basic balance exercises on the horse in the very first few lessons a student takes.
Lunging is great exercise for the horse as it helps to strengthen and condition their muscles without the weight of a rider on its back.
My lunge line was one of the best investments I made because I now use it all the time with some of my students beginning to learn to trot.
Leather Hole Punch
A leather hole punch is a life saver. Why? Because some of my students are so tiny that I am constantly having to punch new holes into my tack. My stirrup leathers have about 6 new holes added to them thanks to my handy leather hole punch.
Because I have that, I am able to adjust my tack to all of my students without having to constantly tie knots in my stirrup leathers or other equipment. Making sure that your tack fits your students properly is important so your don’t have any safety issues or risks and they can all use the tack properly. with this being said, sometimes extra holes are needed to be punched into tack so your students are able to ride safely and comfortably.
Colored Rubber Grip Reins
These reins saved my life! Little kids, being honest here, don’t really have the best coordination so holding the reins evenly is something that we struggle with all. the. time.
Because we struggle on holding the reins evenly so much, these reins really are the best thing ever. Not only are the colors cute and go good together, but they also line up with each other. So if you tell your student to hold onto the light blue part of their reins, they will automatically hold the reins evenly. Then, as they get better, your riders can eventually graduate into using solid colored reins.
Mounting Block
My lesson horse Cisco is about 15.1 hands high. Even though he isn’t the tallest horse in the world, he definitely isn’t the shortest. This means that my 6 year old student isn’t able to get up on his back all by himself. For a while I was having to lift up all my kids onto Cisco’s back until finally I went and got a mounting block. Now, with the mounting block, my students can easily jump up on Cisco without any of my help!
Having this tool is important not just to save you from lifting all these kids, but also to teach your students how to mount and dismount on their own.