Relief Coaching.

Working on Accuracy

I was asked to cover at an RDA group the other day, it was with some riders that I hadn't taught for a long time and there was also some new riders in the sessions.

As I wasn't sure quite what they had been working on, I decided to work on accuracy using poles as this always seems to go down well and is stimulating for both riders and helpers.

I set the arena out  using 8 poles, 4 poles were set on a large circle and 4 poles were set on a small circle.

I also used trays on poles with items on, half way between the poles.

                          

    First I got the riders to walk around and over the poles on the large circle, the poles that I used had  a coloured centre section so I asked that the riders rode their horses over this and this helped them with being accurate over the poles, to look forward and plan where they wanted to go.
   Once happy with this, I asked that they rode over the middle of the poles on the smaller circle.
   Then to make it a bit more challenging for the riders I  asked them to ride first over a pole on the outer  circle, then on to a pole on the inner circle, then on to an outer pole.
   The exercise was repeated on the other rein.


       I then introduced the poles with trays that had items on. The riders had to walk over the poles and then ask their horses to stop beside the pole, as we were working on accuracy the horse had to stop so the rider's leg was right beside the pole, the rider then chose an item, then proceeded to walk over the next pole and place the object on the next tray.
       We started by walking over  the large circle of poles and then went on to walking over the small circle of poles.
       The riders were then told they had to walk over a set number of poles before putting the item on a tray.
        I also allowed the riders to chose whether they walked over the small circle of poles or the large circle of poles.
       The exercise was repeated on the other rein.


At the end of the sessions all the riders said they had thoroughly enjoyed their riding and had found these exercises quite challenging in various ways. Next session I shall carry on using a similar layout, to stimulate the riders, encourage more stretching and balance keeping with the idea of accuracy.
  

Activites at Acorns and squirrels.



                 We have been back a couple of weeks now at Acorn and squirrels RDA since half term, we were not able to ride just before half term because of the rain, winds and flooding around here, as not many helpers or riders could get to the stables.

                 We have had two new riders join us Rebecca and James, they have ridden before at a riding school and wanted to continue with their riding. One of their disabilities is that they are deaf, the carers that bring them to the sessions sign for them during the sessions so as to know what is going on and can participate in the riding session.

                 It has been quite a while since I had riders with hearing difficulties, so I need to work at remembering the signs to be able communicate with them, we have struck an agreement, I teach them riding and they teach me sign language.

                  I have been getting the riders to start to be more accurate in their halting and walking and turning, first while they are being led and then when they ride off the lead rein.

                  I have been setting out the school with buckets at the letters A,C,E and B, to start with I got the riders to stop at each bucket making sure that their leg and foot was above the bucket, then once they were happy with that they were given an item to place in the bucket when they stopped.

                I placed a pole with a tray on the top in a cone, I placed some items on each of the trays. The riders stopped by the pole collected an item and the placed it in the bucket.

                The riders were then asked to walk to a bucket of their choice as each of the buckets were a different colour, once they had done this and were happy about coming off the lead rein, they did. The riders did this in both directions.

                 I also got them to stop between the bucket and pole, take  an item off the tray and place it in the bucket on the opposite side.
                 This meant they had to put the reins into one hand ,then transfer the reins to the other hand so as to be able to place the item in the bucket.

This is good practice for organising the reins and using the fine motor skills.

 




There are  several different sign languages that are available, the ones that I have used for my riders are mainly Makaton  and Somerset total communication.

 

Traffic Lights.

                                                          

I came across this idea in an old RDA magazine and thought it might be useful to share here.

Its called Traffic lights.

The benefits are as follows:-

Practice stopping and starting on command.
Changing the rein.
Improved balance of the rider on the turn.
Increased attention of riders and helpers.




The game.

Have the riders on a 20m circle in the middle of the school, with the leaders on the outside.
The Instructor calls out at random red, green or amber. (If signing amber is orange).
When the rider hears red ,they halt.
When the rider hears green they walk on.
When the rider hears amber they walk round the leader who marks time, until they have changed the rein. Once the rider has the pony facing the other way the leader then changes to the outside and the game continues.


It can be adapted for what standard of riders you are teaching.
The ride can go around the arena rather than working on a circle and then chose where and how they change the rein when amber is called.