OUR "WHOLE HORSE"
APPROACH
In addition to riding, we prioritize the importance of educating our students about the entire realm of caring for horses. Our approach encourages our students to "see through the horse's point of view." Our tack room is filled with books and educational material to supplement our students during their lessons.
LESSON coverage:
EQUINE BIOSECURITY: Maintaining a clean environment is standard for everyone- especially horses. The term "biosecurity" refers to the precautions taken to limit the spread of disease with horses. Students will be able to analyze best practices for proper flooring, bedding, footing, exercise, and safety for horses. Before our students ride, we place a strong importance on learning to clean up and SHOW the horse that they can trust you. This comes by cleaning their stall, filling up their water buckets, scrubbing equipment, and taking time to make sure that after the ride, the horse has a clean home to come back to.
HORSE NUTRITION + FEEDING MANAGEMENT: Students learn the water needs of horses, various types of hay, and supplements necessary for a horse's well balanced diet. They help to make the pelleted feed for the horse, and participate in measuring the different feeds. They learn how to manage and be able to test for a horse's level of hydration. They will be able to properly assess hydration status and will have some knowledge of ways to prevent/react to dehydration, and will be able to identify essential parts of a horse's digestive system.
HORSE PHYSIOLOGY + MAINTAINING HORSE HEALTH: Students will be able to identify the parameters of normal health in a horse. They learn to measure a horse’s vital signs, including temperature, pulse, and capillary refill time. They will be able recognize ranges of what are considered normal vital signs for the species, breed and individual horse.
HORSE BEHAVIOR + GROUND TRAINING: Understanding how horses relate to their environment and communicate is critical to training and management. Students will learn basic equine senses and communication, normal/abnormal behaviors and the basic psychology used in training. They will work hands on training the horse through lounging, hand walking, and exercising/stretching the horse in the arena before they ride!
Students will also able to distinguish the cues horses use to communicate with each other, and the special cues used on the ground for training and during mounted activities when they ride. Students will able to recognize the importance of reading a horse's physical and mental state of mind.
EQUINE ASSISTED SERVICES
DISCIPLINE: ENGLISH EQUITATION+ RECREATIONAL RIDING:
Now it's time for the exciting part! Taking all you have learned, and applying it while you ride. Students ride within the English discipline and will learn the basic cues, 4 natural aids, and improving their seat to fit their horse's pace.
Gradually, the student will advance to trotting (posting and/or sitting) and cantering. Obstacle courses, pole patterns, small jumps, and trail rides will be implemented in the student's lesson place based off of their progress lesson by lesson. A lesson plan will be prepared each semester, to track progress on their riding AND horsemanship skills.