Stable Management Lessons
Hello lesson team!
We hope you have had a great start to the spring session and are enjoying the warmer weather and return to outdoor riding, especially the hacking!
Spring is a time for growth and renewal and after two years of pandemic considerations and restrictions we are dusting off our mission statement/raison d’être and looking at how our program, as it has been running since 2020, serves that mission and where we need to do some catching up. In so doing, we have agreed that the stable management part of our program is currently missing for many of our riders. Good horsemanship and good riding are about much more than simply jumping a series of fences once or twice a week. At Old Orchard Farm we have always aimed to produce good horsemen and women as well as good riders.
So, in the coming weeks expect some (or part) of your weekly lessons to look a little different, especially for our beginner and intermediate riders.
Your instructor may wish to go over proper methods for catching and leading, saddling and bridling, fitting a martingale etc. to make sure that you are completing these tasks in the manner which is most efficient, effective and kind to your horse or pony.
It is also important that our riders understand why we do things the way we do, i.e. why do Guppy and Simon wear a different type of bit than Sterling and Kermit and so on, so expect to work through many of those questions in your upcoming lessons!
We ask that you embrace these learning opportunities and know that they are an essential piece of your development as lifelong horse people. The best riders in the world advocate the need to revisit the basics and assess your methods regularly!
We thank you and look forward to our continued partnership,
-Your Instructor Team at Old Orchard Farm
