You might think that the only one who benefits in a group lesson is the lead rider. And sometimes this is true. But there are many ways to engage the other riders in the lesson. It starts with just keeping the correct distance. Riding exactly one horse length distance is easier said than done. It needs constant corrections from the rider. You can compare this with your first driving lesson, you can’t keep the car straight. You wander all over the road. After a while you learn to make minor corrections all the time without thinking. This also happens with adjusting the distance in a group.
Of course the riders in the group don’t have to follow the leader blindly. Everybody can try to ride a diagonal precisely or look where the 20m circle goes.
Our master beginners horse, Jake, knew exactly how to get out of work. With beginners he was usually the last horse and when he came to the start of the circle he’d fall back to walk, walked a 4m circle, or smaller if he could get away with it, and trotted off again when he came to the track. Don’t you just love them? I try to use a good lead rider during my lesson or the lesson can become quite messy. When a new rider had not been in front yet, but is more or less ready, I put her/him in second place with the warning that next time they have to ride in front. So, look where the lines and circles go! The responsibility that goes with being a lead rider takes most riders to the next level.
Encouraging riders to take charge of their horse gets them ready for musical rides, also called quadrille. You can see eight riders in the Spanish Riding School perform this. But in our case we make it much simpler. Let’s start with four riders and give the riders numbers like this: Riders 1, 3 become number “One”, the riders 2 and 4 become Number “Two”. We begin with something simple by going up the centre line at A in walk and at C the riders “One” turn left and the riders “Two” turn right. They walk along the long side back to A and turn up the centre line again in the same order in single file. At C the riders have to ride away from one another, and you’ll see quite a few that just want to follow the horse in front.
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