TEACHING TIP: Give Your Students Permission Not to Look at You

“Look at me when I’m talking to you”.

From a young age, our students are often taught to “look at the teacher” or “look at the adult” when being spoken to. It’s a deeply ingrained habit that reinforces attention and respect in many social and learning settings. However, when it comes to horseback riding lessons, this rule doesn’t always apply. In fact, we often want our students to focus on where they’re going, which is typically out in front of their horse, not on the instructor.

Communicating Expectations

As instructors, it’s essential to clearly communicate when students should be looking at you and when they shouldn’t. In many situations, it’s perfectly acceptable—and often more beneficial —for the student to continue looking ahead since the horse can feel where the rider is looking and often “follows the look”.

Students can demonstrate they are listening to the instructor by acting on the instructions given to them. Let your students know that you’ll gauge their attention by the changes you see in their body position, where they are heading in the arena, answering a question, their ability to follow other directions given, etc.

Remember, wherever a student’s body is oriented is often where their horse will go. So, if the student is attempting to keep their horse on the rail but looking at the instructor in the middle of the arena, the horse will likely start drifting or turning into the instructor because of the body cues given by the rider even though they were unintentional. If you need your student’s full attention, either position yourself within their line of sight or have them temporarily halt their horse so they can shift their focus to you without accidentally changing where the horse feels they are being directed.

Here are a few phrases you can use to reinforce this shift:

• “Keep looking at [next item] while I tell you the next step.”
• “Keep looking at [wherever they are going] and show me you’re listening by doing [specific skill].”
• “Halt your horse at [item] and once you stop, look at me while I show you [skill or next step].”

Encouraging Positive Change

Once you make this adjustment to students defaulting to ‘not looking at the teacher’ in your lessons and clearly communicate when they should or shouldn’t be looking at you, you’ll likely see a positive change in your students’ riding positions. You will also likely see students have more success in being able to keep their horses going where they want, maintain safe spacing, and stay better oriented in the arena.

When introducing this shift in my lessons, I often joke with my students, “This is probably one of the few times in your life you don’t need to look at your teacher.” It’s a lighthearted, encouraging way to reinforce that in our lesson settings, breaking the “look at the teacher” social rule is allowed.

A New Way of Interaction

To help students break this habit of looking at the human instructor more quickly, encourage them to think of their horse as the teacher and to look at and talk to their equine instructor. I often suggest they look “through the horse’s ears” while listening. While not a perfect shift in vision, it helps prevent the drastic head turns that can throw off their position if they shift their look to me.

Remember, the students we teach have been conditioned to “look at the teacher” for years, so it will take time for them to adapt to this new way of interacting with you….think about how many times you yourself heard a similar phrase of “look at me when I’m talking to you” while you were growing up. Expect to spend several lessons reminding them and giving them “permission” to keep their focus on where they are going, not on you.

This simple but effective change can make a big difference in your students’ overall riding experience and will help them to maintain better riding position and control of their horse during lessons.

Do you find you have to tell your students it’s ok to not look at the instructor during lessons? COMMENT BELOW!

Want to learn more about topics mentioned in this post? Check out the Intuitive Instructor Content below:

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