Many have asked if I would mind if they reprinted or quote me. I’m good with that. What is the point of trying to teach if you keep the information under your pillow.
A line from the movie “Hello Dolly” said “Money is like manure, it doesn’t do any good unless you spread it around.” I’m not sure if that is word for word, but you get the idea. Same thing with knowledge.
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Do you learn by reading, watching, hearing, or hands on doing?
I’ve been working with an 8 year old for months now, and was having a hard time getting through to her. There are different learning styles, but no matter what door I try to go through, I was not reaching her. I’ve tried demonstrating, and she just looks around at the surroundings. I describe what I’m looking for her to do, and she nods and smiles, but it goes no where. I try having her do the motion, but she still struggles. What I have found is that anything I tell her to memorize she excels at. She learned all the body parts of a horse, all the color and markings of a horse in one week. She obviously learns by reading. However, I have never really seen anyone learn how to ride a horse by reading a book. You have to get out there and physically do it.
Riding is a physical sport, no matter how you cut it. You can’t learn how to ski by reading a book either. You can learn the basics, but when you hit that slope you better be physically able to apply what you have read. Especially if you hit a patch of ice. Tried skiing, but I like a little more control of a situation. Took out a lot of people on my way down that hill. Trees are not forgiving either. And I Hate Being Cold!
I’m not really athletic. No hand eye coordination. I never felt left out if I was the last person to get picked for a team sport when I was a kid. I understood and was just happy to be picked at all. I was really good at yelling “Car!” We always played in the streets.
Yes I struggled to learn to ride. Not too bad. I need to see something done to imitate it. When I paint something I need a picture to copy. I can match it almost perfectly. When I learn a new dance I have to break it down to the steps first, then the upper body motions.
The one difference with riding is that I had the passion. I wanted it so bad that nothing would stop me.
This child seemed as though she did not really have the passion. Yes she wants to get on and just tool around. She would be happy to go to a pony track and just go three times around for (in my day) a quarter. Have no idea what they charge now.
So with my frustration I spoke to her mother. I explained that the child still had no control of her horse, or lower body stability. These are the things that are going to keep you on and a live. She has been doing this for three months, and still walks into the barn and with no purpose in mind. She knows that when she comes in she is to put her horse on the cross ties and clean him, then get him tacked up. She stood there like she had never been in a barn before. Her mother explained that her daughter had just been tested and that she is now in the gifted program. So with that we were both baffled.
We spoke for sometime. Just going through every aspect of the lesson and learning process. Where was the missing piece to the puzzle? Then it happened; a light bulb moment. The young mother had been pregnant since the daughter had been taking lessons. A month after starting the lessons the mother had the baby and had not been bringing her daughter, the grandmother had. The mother realized that just maybe it was the lack of involvement on her part, that might be causing the problem. She knows her daughter better than I do, so I let her handle it on her end. I told her to speak with her daughter, but first make sure that this is something that the child really wanted to do, before she gave her the options.
This past Saturday a whole new child appeared. Her mother brought her and the other three girls to the lesson. One older who watched the two year old, and the mother carried the two month old with her. The child I am teaching walked into the barn, got her horse out of the stall, and put him on the cross ties before I even made it back in the barn (I was herding the two year old out of the stinging nettle). She was busy cleaning her horse and was 100% with the program. She rode better than I had ever seen her ride before. What I had been saying all along really did reach her.
I know a lot of times when I’m working with the preschoolers at church, even though they are not looking at you and are involved with something else, they do hear what you are saying and will repeat it back to their parents after church. Such was the case with this young girl. Everything was registering, but was not making itself apparent.
The mother told me that she felt it was her preoccupation with the new baby, that was affecting her daughter more than the she realized. She thanked me for bring this all to her attention, and spending almost an hour on the phone with her, trying to figure everything out. It not only helped me as an instructor, but her as a parent. Not to mention the young girl. I couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong, and why I wasn’t reaching her. The mother just assumed everything was alright at home.
Teaching riding isn’t about only making a good horsewoman, it’s about making an adult who you really would like to be around in the future.
My other students are now either ending their high school years or are starting college. I love them all and keep in touch with them even as they move away. They are all beautiful, intelligent young ladies, who are kind, caring, wonderful human beings. I hope in some small way that I had a part in molding them into whom they have become. It’s nice when they call, just to say Hi! and tell me that they love me.
It’s not always about what you are doing wrong. Sometimes it’s outside circumstances that are blocking the learning process. But take the time to really evaluate what is going on, and don’t hesitate to speak with the parents, or an outsider who is familiar with the situation..
As for knowledge – Pass it on. Or as they say now-a-days, pay it forward.
