Productive communication between student and instructor is a two way street.  I also ask questions during lessons about anything from how something feels to what is the plan for riding the next pattern or course.  The feedback I get helps fuel the lesson.  

When you take a riding lesson you have two instructors, one human and one equine.  If  you are fortunate enough to be able to ride in addition to your lessons, or if you only ride  on your own, your horse is an invaluable teacher, regardless of his training.  Under saddle, horses offer their riders and instructors a steady stream of information about organization and position. 

PERCEPTION 

"Body Awareness" mean knowing where your body is in a space.  When riding, a lack of body awareness often leads to inaccurate perceptions of what your body is actually doing versus what you think you are doing.  This is one of the greatest obstacles to achieving your goal of becoming a balanced, relaxed, and strong rider

Regardless of what problems you are dealing with, when you ride a horse your body falls into place in a way that feels correct and in balance with you.  If you tend to ride with more weight on one side, it is because it feels as though you are in the middle of the horse.  It feels right to you.  Because of this dynamic, making the correction will initially feel awkward to the rider and be difficult to maintain.  On the other hand, this also makes it readily identifiable, which is key to using inaccurate perceptions to improve your riding.

LEARNING

Webster's dictionary defines learning as "to acquire knowledge, understanding, or mastery (of) by study or experience; to memorize; to become informed of discover".  Learning to ride is a process of moving knowledge and feeling from the conscious part of your brain to the unconscious.  Training through repetition enables this process.  By consistently reprogramming your body as needed (using conscious thought), your unconscious begins to recognize and retain the physical memory of your corrections.  As this occurs, overcoming bad habits becomes easier and requires less conscious input.

Unfortunately, along with conscious movement, unconscious and involuntary movements also take place.  This occurs when moving one part of your body causes another to move simultaneously without you being aware of it.  Identifying this type of connection lets you work on overriding unconscious movement with concious planning. 

TEACHING THE "DISABLED"

As far as the horses are concerned, al humans are disabled because we do not have four legs.  It doesn't matter if you are defined by other humans as handicapped, mentally and/or physically.  We all have to work hard to understand horses because we are opposites on a species level. 

In January 2001 I became Senior Instructor and later Associate director, for Hope Springs Equestrian Therapy, located in Chester Springs, Pa.  I soon realized teaching physically and/or mentally challenged people was not very different that teaching those who are "normal".  People learn to ride with patience and repetition  regardless of who they are.  Over the years, my students have taught me as much as I have taught them.  I have been lucky enough to coach and train athletes for the Special Olympics Chester County Equestrian Teams since 2001.

Afrer local competitions in the spring, counties send temas of riders to the State Games, held at Penn State University.  This year in adition to bringing home many ribbons, my student (and friend) brought home 3 medals ( 2 gold and 1 silver).  Go to http://www.pasocc.org to see more pictures and complete results.