A Therapeutic Riding Volunteer Becomes the Instructor

December 12, 2007

After volunteering for several months at Pegasus Farm, a therapeutic riding center in northeast Ohio, I actually got to help teach a class on Monday night. This isn’t typical for volunteers, but I guess my years of experience teaching riding lessons and horse care has been showing, so Randy felt comfortable leaving me with a class.

C is 22-year-old student I worked with on my very first day at Pegasus. He has some mental and physical issues, but is a real character. I was his leader that first Monday, and it was then that he dubbed me “trouble.” As we were walking in the arena, C was warning me not to step in the piles of horse manure every time we came close. I’d ignore it on purpose and pretend to almost step in it. Then I changed up the game and started pointing the poo out before C could. He then decided it would be funny if I DID step in it and tried to convince me to do so. I thought about doing it to amuse him, but wimped out. I must have made some sort of impression on him, though; that’s usually what it takes to get a nickname like “trouble” and get called that week after week. I really enjoyed this first experience with C.

This Monday, Randy decided to pair me up with C again. Right before class, we learned that two of the other students had canceled (C was already there) and another hadn’t shown up. So Randy and I took C into the ring to get started, and Randy told C that he was leaving the lesson with his “ace volunteer.” It was a little nervewracking to be placed in charge of teaching right under Randy’s nose. I often work with students like this, but Randy has to pay attention to the whole class so his attention isn’t solely on me and my student. I was a little nervous about it.

Then, our late student happened to show up after her horse had already been untacked and put away, and Randy left the ring to talk to her mom and work things out.

It was just me and C. C can typically ride independently, but it takes a whole lot of cajoling to get him to actually make the horse do what he wants him to do all by himself. It was a great opportunity for C to learn a whole lot in a little bit since my entire focus was on him. We made some major progress, and it was so exciting to see the lightbulbs going off in his head as he began to understand what I was teaching him. So many of these students need constant reminders to know what they are supposed to do even for the simplest tasks like stopping or turning.

C is typically easily distracted by everything else going on in the ring, as it is with many of these students, so one of our major emphases is getting them to focus ahead on where they are going. He also did not use the reins correctly or effectively. His horse, Joker, would run through the bit and refuse to halt, and C would lean forward to try to stop.

By the end of the lesson, C was using his reins properly with much better results, sitting back to stop and slow down, and focusing on where he was going, even looking ahead around the turns … all without any prompting from me. It was so rewarding for me — and for him — to see him grasping the concepts and implementing them on his own. What a big jump from a more discouraging volunteering night two weeks ago!

For weeks Randy has been making comments and suggesting that I should teach therapeutic riding for a living. I’m pretty convinced that he didn’t set me up to teach because he needed the help; he wanted to see me in action with the students.

When I go to Pegasus to volunteer, my entire focus is on helping the students and caring for these saintly horses. I don’t want it to be about me or about how successful I am. So, I don’t always like getting compliments from Randy; I don’t want my focus to be skewed or to get prideful about it. At the same time, being successful also means that I am making a significant difference for these wonderful riders. I suppose there’s nothing wrong with being good at what you do and sharing those successes as long as I keep it — and myself — in perspective.

Posted in Jackie's Thoughts, Making a Difference, Riding and showing, Therapeutic Riding