RSH EquineConnection

Recently I taught my first pedagogy lesson. In an equestrian context, pedagogy is the art and skill of teaching riding and horsemanship. Master Teacher Catherine Marshall is accessing how we communicate, structure the lesson, create rapport and choose what to focus on, to support the development of both horse and rider.

Some feedback from Karen

“I had an interesting and informative day at the Legerete day at Naturally light Equitation.
I was greeted on arrival by Rachel who was very warm and friendly and put me at ease right from the off. I was allowed to do an arena walk with my horse before she was stabled, which was really useful as she can be a bit spooky new places. Whilst we were doing this Rachel was asking questions about myself and Diva‘s history and having a look at her confirmation and way of going.
There was a good introduction to the lesson and Rachel explained how the 45 minutes was going to pan out. I didn’t actually realise that Rachel was going to ride my horse which actually was very interesting to watch.
I was asked what my aims were, and what I wanted to achieve. I then asked to warmup in front of the audience by where I was evaluated.
Rachel then sat on my Horse which was really interesting to see as she’s not often ridden by anyone else and it was good to see someone demonstrate some of the Légèreté moves. This was quite a short period of time for someone to get to know your Horse and come up with a plan.
Rachel was very approachable throughout and explained things. I had asked her to back up the French wording for some of the moves with the English equivalent which she duly did.
I had a good rapport with Rachel throughout the session and we certainly saw improvements. Rachel was very happy to repeat instructions for my geriatric brain and hopefully it was very evident that we met the aims and objectives that we wanted to try and achieve at the beginning.
I thoroughly enjoyed the whole day and enjoyed the intellectual conversations whilst sat in the audience. I would be very more than happy to volunteer again because I gained a lot from watching as well as participating.”

After 20 years of teaching, this still filled me with anxiety. Although I know all my fellow Foundation Course teachers were willing me on from the audience, and I knew the audience are a super-friendly bunch too, it still had the itty bitty sh*tty committee (as Jane Pike would refer to it) giving it their all.

It was an absolute relief when it came to feedback time and, somehow, with all that going on inside, I had managed to provide what was needed. Catherine Marshall even commented that you know someone is confident when they give lots of breaks. If I’m honest, that was more autopilot mode than confidence!

I was lucky to have such an experienced jockey who could follow my guidance with ease, and such a beautiful horse to work with. Thank you, Karen.

And we’re off! 🐎 Today, our Champions for Children’s campaign launches. For the next 2 weeks, all donations made via the link in our bio will be DOUBLED 🤩

We turn 30 this year and we want to make sure that we can keep Brixton riding for another 30 years (and then some).

Can you help us raise £40,000 to make sure that even more young people in London can access the transformative power of horses? 💚

Pony Club Area 11

This was a beautiful presentation to watch massive well done Anna Vickery Equitation

Is this a myth? Let us know in the comments 👇

The horse world is full of ‘myths’ about some of the things that horses do – without recognising that many of these behaviours are due to pain.

Myth busted: Horses are a highly social species that require regular contact with other horses. If the horses are introduced slowly and provided with suitable resources to reduce the risk of conflict, then the risk of injury is reduced.

Horses that have been kept in isolation for most of their lives and/or have poorly developed social skills, can learn how to interact with other horses safely. This will require time, patience and empathetic, systematic training. We strongly advise seeking help from an equine behaviour professional in these circumstances.

For more information on introducing a new horse to your herd, read here 👉 https://bit.ly/4ec8KiM