What if They Can’t Ride?

Presented by Michelle LaFleur & Jenny Hartung

This set of videos will take a look at students taught by Michelle that are currently unable to participate in mounted lessons for various reasons.

Section 1- Introducing Longeing to your Student

Using demonstrations with an actual student, this section will give instructors some basic skills to use when introducing students to longeing (or lungeing) a horse. Body language is such an important technique to have when communicating with horses. Longeing allows the student and instructor to see the same image at the same time. Longeing involves many of the skills our students come to us to improve including eye/hand coordination, motor planning, ‘reading’ another creature’s body language, timing, multi-tasking, and focus. In follow up segments, there will be different types of equipment used as well as different horses. This will provide several avenues and techniques for members of IIC to take back to their own barns.

Section 2- Serenety

This section will follow the progress of Serenity, an 18 year old student with a medical condition that requires her to be on a dose of Warfarin that makes riding an unsafe choice at this time. Serenity is horse crazy and will do anything she can to be around them….so groundwork lessons it is!

Section 3- Long Lining

Long lining can not only be taught to students who can only do groundwork lessons but it can also be a way to further practice use, understanding, and refinement of reining for those students who also do mounted or driving lessons.

Section 4- Groundwork Lessons that Have a BIG Impact

This presentation will look at the survey results from instructors across the nation and their thoughts on groundwork lessons, ideas of how to regularly incorporate unmounted work looks at various Ideas for groundwork lessons you can incorporate into adaptive (therapeutic) lessons. Tips for overcoming top “it won’t work” reasons are included as well as a look at how groundwork lessons can benefit student in their daily life.

Section 5- Desensitizing for Driving and Everyday Work- Learning to Read the Horse

This video shows a groundwork lesson with a student who is unable to ride due to a current contraindication for mounted work. The activities in this lesson focus on preparing a horse for driving but they are also exercised you can do with ANY horse to better prepare them for groundwork and riding by making them more safe and less reactive to things in their environment.

Section 6- Showing a Student how to Evaluate Muscling on a Horse’s Back

In this video, Jenny and Michelle teach a student how to do a basic assessment of the muscling on a horse’s back. They also use this short lesson to show the student the root cause of why felt like she was moving to one side while riding in a pad set. Although the student in this video does ride, this type of horsemanship lesson could be used for groundwork only students.

Ground Driving 101- Fundamentals and Benefits

Michelle introduces you to the fundamentals of the equipment and methods used for ground driving which applies to horses both new and experienced in this skill. She also discusses how ground driving can benefit your horses, students, and volunteers. This is a recording of the live presentation given at the 2021 Southwest Educational Event.