The Riding Club

"We let students trot on the first lesson because it makes it more fun!".....I’m gonna say this a little more plainly…this is gonna be long. Bear with me.

We saw the comments…I get it. Fun sells. To a non horse person, trotting is the definition of "fun" and "progress". As a professional, it is our job to change that mindset, not cater to it.

Rushing kids to trot right away just to keep them excited or make parents feel like they’re “doing something” is exactly what I was talking about in my last post.

That’s not good horsemanship. And it’s not putting the kid or horse first.
These are 1,000 lb animals. Not a ride at the fair. They have a mind of their own. Rushing progress isnt creating fun- it's creating risk.

Sometimes our kids walk.
Sometimes they walk for a while.

And yeah… sometimes they get a little bored. Boohoo.

That doesn’t bother me. Because what they’re actually learning in that phase is what keeps them safe later.

You don’t skip basics in anything else, but for some reason people expect to skip them with horses. Kids in gymnastics don’t walk in and go straight to the beam.
They condition. They stretch. They do drills over and over. Football players don’t just show up and start running plays. They practice footwork. Timing. Repetition.
Basketball? You’re not scrimmaging day one. You’re dribbling. Passing. Shooting form.

Walking might not feel exciting to a new kid.
But that’s where they learn balance. Feel. Control.

And honestly…It’s good for kids to not get instant gratification. It’s good for them to be a little bored sometimes. To have to work for something. Build patience.

We’re not here to entertain kids for 30 minutes. We’re here to teach them how to ride.

Even our “just for fun” riders with no competitive desire learn how to do things the right way.

If you want quick fun, go somewhere else. Fall off there. If you want your kid to be confident, capable, and safe around horses- that’s what we do.

Baby Zara not giving up on getting scratches, even when its supposed to be mum's turn!

Prize winners at the show today

It sounds simple, almost too simple, but it cuts right to the core of how horses experience us.

So many horses are never truly given the option to say no. They learn very quickly that resistance is met with pressure, escalation, or being pushed through. And over time, what looks like “obedience” is often just a quiet shutting down. A horse that has learned there is no point in expressing a preference.

When you genuinely allow a horse the space to say no, something shifts.

Not because you’ve “lost control” or given up leadership, but because you’ve created safety. Real safety. The kind where the horse doesn’t have to brace, defend, or prepare for being overridden. And in that space, you start to see something much more honest emerge.

You begin to see willingness instead of compliance.

Because a horse that feels heard doesn’t need to fight to be understood. A horse that knows their signals matter doesn’t need to escalate them. And a horse that is given a moment to process, to question, to choose… will often choose to come with you anyway.

Not out of pressure or out of habit. But out of relationship.
And that “yes” carries a completely different quality.

It’s softer, but more powerful. Quieter, but more connected.
Less about doing what they’re told, and more about participating.

That’s where everything changes.

Because the goal was never to get the behaviour.
It was to build a horse who wants to be there with you.