2009 American Riding Instructor Convention

The 2009 American Riding Instructor's Association International Convention was held Novemer 18-21, in Naples, Florida. The weather was perfect, the agenda of networking, education, research, products and speakers was amazing, as always. The group picture above pretty much says it all.

Featured speakers were Jane Savoie (Dressage), Denny Emerson (Eventing), George Morris (Hunter/Jumper), Susan Harris (Balanced Seat Riding), Rhonda Watts-Hettinger (Sidesaddle), Peggy Brown (Centered Riding), Julie Fershtman (Equine Law), Shirley Boone (Insurance for Instructors and Facilities), Bob Allen (Business Aspects), Sgt. Jerry Mayo (Royal Canadian Mounted Police), Rod Bergen (Equine Stress Management), Kimberly Carlton (Teaching Aspects), Judi Whipple (Teaching Aspects), and product representatives, Jochen Schleese (Schleese Saddlery), Suzanne Johnston (Cover-all Building Systems), Roy Burek (Charles Owen Helmets and Vests), and many other sponsors and vendors who did not speak but had lots of products available for inspection and sale.

Instructors came from as far away as Australia and Spain, and also from every state in the U.S. The networking opportunities were endless and everyone was taking advantage of finally meeting people we have communicated with over the phone or internet--in some cases, for years! It is great to be able to put a face with the name you have become familiar with and know you can trust.

All the instructors who are certified through ARIA that I have come to know have a standardized foundation in their rding and teaching philosophies (no matter what specialty they teach), and all I know uphold the Code of Ethics of ARIA. I feel lucky to know them.

There is probably an ARIA certified instructor in your area. Look at the ARIA website in the instructor directory, and you will find a listing of instructors by state. Each listing has their name, address, phone number, what their specialty(ies) are, and what level certification they hold. Level I is "instructor in training", Level II is "basic instructor", and Level III is "advanced instructor". Level III is the highest regular certification ARIA offers. If you are looking for a qualified riding instructor, this is a very good place to find one in your area. If you are a professional who is thinking about getting certified, contact one (or more) of the ARIA instructors in your area, and ask them questions--all the certified instructors that I know are more than happy to answer questions about ARIA! I know I am! :-)

I believe that every instructor who offers lessons to people should be certified by a nationally or internationally recognized certifying association (like ARIA). The public who comes to us to learn to ride has no basis for recognizing safety and quality in our programs, and so we, as a group, need to willingly prove to our students and potential clients that we have the skills to teach them to understand and ride horses.

We all know that there is no mandatory licensing of riding instructors, and anyone can "hang out their shingle", whether they know anything or not, so it is up to us to self-regulate our industry. Becoming an ARIA certified instructor is a major step in the right direction. Taking the next step and continuing our education through clinics, symposiums, seminars, conventions, and yes, through horseshows keeps showing our students and potential clients that they can have confidence in our abilities as they discover all the layers of horsemanship.

I Love Ponies!

It's true. I love ponies. Children are the future of our sport, as well as the rest of the future stuff. They are who will take care of us in our old age. Would you rather be taken care of by a person who was raised in front of the television and computer, or one who was raised in the company of horses (and ponies)?

Let's face it, if a child's first experience has to be on the back of a horse, the most important life lessons have to be put off (grooming, leading, haltering, handling, etc.), just because of the size difference. A good pony levels the playing field. The kid can groom it thoroughly, pick up its feet, tack it by themselves, and be responsible for the bulk of its general care. This teaches them responsibility, independence, leadership, hard work, teamwork, and so forth from a much different perspective...they do it themselves, rather than have an adult do everything for them until the are big enough.

Pony breeding has come a long way in the United States. If ponies were ever as bad as their reputation, that is no longer the case. These days, there are a great many ponies who have wonderful, calm dispositions, good, balanced conformation, and good to very good gaits. To a point, the issue of good training is still a challenge, but there are capable adults who are small enough to start and train ponies for the children.

The pony in the pictures is one of my very favorite ponies! His name was D'Apples, and he was the heart and soul of all the children at Windsor when I was the director there. He was a grey Welsh Cob and was 13.3hh. His disposition was unparalleled, he had really good gaits and was willing to try anything. I showed him at a local show in the off-season for Windsor (the kids were not there to show him themselves) and received scores of 66% and 68% at Training Level (that was his only show that I know about). He died way too young at 13 years old from Melanoma. It was the worst case I have ever seen, and if he had not received the stellar care (due to his owners at Windsor and a great vet), he would not have lasted as long as he did.

But he is not an exception....there are many, many great ponies out there. The Hunter/Jumper world utilizes ponies very well, but I would love to see a much more wide use of ponies in the dressage world. After all, a foundation in dressage should be what we are teaching our ponies AND our kids at the beginning, before they specialize in any discipline....even before Hunters--I see too many kids going over cross-rails long before they have the seat and effectiveness of the aids which is what makes it safer. Most of them survive, a slight majority of them even stay interested in horses, but at some point, all need remedial lessons in their seat and position to keep moving forward in their riding. Wouldn't it be easier to learn the foundation at the beginning than to have to go back and UNlearn the bad habits and replace them with good ones?

I would love to hear from people who have had (or known) great ponies. If you email me their pictures and stories, I will post some of them here.

My Arabian Dressage Horse

This was my first serious dressage competition horse. She was a purebred Arabian mare, and for you Arab owners and lovers, she was an Ivanhoe Tsultan daughter out of a pure Crabbet mare. For those of you who are not familiar with Arab bloodlines, she had really good breeding for dressage.

She was lovely, and I had her for 14 years. I actually saw her for the first time two years before I bought her, and her initial trainer had her earmarked to be a western pleasure horse, and even had shown her a couple times in "maiden" western pleasure classes, with a bit of success, but he also was a good enough trainer that he followed the training scale principles, even though he had probably never heard of it.

But when I tried her, I knew she had the qualities I was looking for....she was forward, and calm, and naturally pretty balanced for an Arab. I was actually looking more for the breeding than what kind of training the horse had. She also had an awesome disposition. She was an amazing horse. She would go anywhere, preferred the company of humans over horses, was bonded to me wholeheartedly, she was great at shows, didn't mind being by herself, calm, trusting, willing, and had so much "try" in her, that I swear she would do anything.

This is the horse that I could let loose to graze and would stay around the house before we had fencing, looking through the windows every now and then to make sure we were still around; would lower her head for a small child to put the bridle on; knew when a person had a learning or physical disability and would adjust herself to accomodate that person in whatever way they needed; would puff up in the show arena and bang out a relaxed and flawless test after just almost getting run over by the 17hh fire-breathing-dragon in the warm-up ring (and best that ruddy-warmblooded-horse, just for good measure LOL); who would give true collection and self-carriage to a student, if she sensed that is what they were trying for, even if the aids were not quite there, but would absolutely not transition from walk to trot if she felt that the rider could not balance, even if they were giving the aids for that transition....I could go on and on. She was self-assured, but incredibly generous to her humans. And that is an inherent trait in Arabs. I love them for that. A well-trained Arab is the consummate amateur's mount. They are intelligent, and sensitive, and generous of nature. They can do anything pretty well, and some things they can do better than anyone. :-)

I still miss her. She was put down in 2004, just after the hurricanes (which she weathered with the grace and courage that made her who she was) due to complications from Cushings Disease, and she is buried in her front pasture.

Competition Riding vs. riding for "fun"

There I go again...putting "fun" in quotations. Hey, for those of you that ride, you KNOW why that is! LOL For those of you that don't, riding is fun in the same way that a serious visit to the local gym is fun. It is hard work. Even when you aren't riding, horses are work; you clean the stall and paddock, you maintain the barn area, you groom the horse, you carry feed and hay and tack, etc.--it is physical (well, except for those of us that pay to have all that done for them). But even those of us that pay for all the extraneous physical work, there is no getting around the physical aspect of the riding itself. And all of you who don't ride, who are thinking "what do you mean, physical....the horse does all the work; you just sit there", I laugh hysterically, and then say, "let me give you a lesson sometime". (Seriously, I would love to....call me) But I digress.

In spite of the work, riding is exhilerating. It allows you to run faster, jump higher, and be more graceful than you ever thought possible. It allows you to dance, and allows for an unspoken yet deeply personal partnership with another species. It allows more than a communication--it is a connection and understanding that is more profound than anything else I have experienced.

If I sound like I am waxing poetic, well, so be it. It is the truth.

But this relationship does not come easily. It is like a marriage, in that it requires commitment, empathy, patience, forgiveness, flexibility, persistence, focus, firmness, gentleness, and understanding. And no one thing is more important than the other. They are all absolutely imperative. Some say that it is too bad that horses can't talk, but I am thinking it is a good thing. Not only are the 911 lines not overburdened with complaints of abuse because Silver didn't get his dinner at 5pm sharp, but seriously, it forces us to find a way to make ourselves understood on a deeper level than merely speaking louder and louder at our partner.
This is riding, whether you compete or not.

In my opinion, there is no such thing as "competition riding", but that phrase is a covert insult (and well-deserved) to people who take any means or trick necessary to get an "appearance" for the show-ring. This rarely works at all, and never works for long. Head-sets are a perfect example. There is no principle of good training/riding involved in repeatedly yanking on a bit or applying artificial devices (think drawreins, chambons, gogues, tie-downs, etc.) to get a horse to lower its head and neck and "tuck his nose". This doesn't address (and, in effect, detrimentally affects) the rest of the body. That is only one example. There is a very long list of others.

I believe the reason for the existence of horse shows is to exhibit correct training. It is not a place to find out how much you think you know, or to overface your horse to gauge how much you are lacking. It is a place to show off what you and your horse absolutely know and have talent for compared to an ideal standard. It is the recital....you have prepared your horse and yourself; you know the routine and the qualities behind it and the reasons for it so that will get you the best outcome possible that day. You are compared against the preparedness and talent of other horses/riders, so set yourself up for success.

Get the best instruction available to you, prepare your horse and yourself AT HOME, get it right consistently and solidly beforehand, and then go show what you know! That is when it is the most fun--notwithstanding all the additional work it is. LOL

Competition isn't for everyone, but I do believe it is important. It will develop goal-setting, sportsmanship, teamwork, organization, timing, scheduling, and time-management, in addition to the qualitites mentioned above in the fourth paragraph (about the relationship with your horse). This is important in life in general. If parents knew what life-skills could be learned from horses, they would be pushing their kids into quality lessons from the second that "I want a pony" is first uttered.

I am a better person for having horses in my life. I am more well-rounded, more worldly, more empathetic, more accepting, more confident, more fit, communicate better, and am more of a leader than I think I ever would have been without them. I am also a better learner, and a better teacher because of them. And I know how to love.

So, no matter what your age or circumstance, take a chance. Get out and learn to ride from a quality instructor, include competition at some point, and keep learning. Riding is a lifetime commitment, but it is a commitment I couldn't live without.