From meeting, to greeting, to getting on. The Equimist allows you to move as slowly as you need to make your first equine experiences, positive ones!
Jenna created “The Equimist Experience” to make space for new riders of all ages to come into the equine industry with a positive foundation. Too many times does she hear about first rides or experiences where people are bucked off, fell off, bit, kicked, or pushed too hard into their fear. Horses are an amazing experience if you are given the proper introduction. Below, is some of the information we will cover. There is no set speed for which we will cover them, nor is it dictated by The Equimist, or the client. The horse determines the pace that the client will learn. This will make a lasting positive impact on all of the clients future equine encounters❤
Limited Space Available! All classes are private and cost $45 a session. They typically last 30 minutes to one hour. Please email to inquire.
Steps
1. Meet and Greet
Horses are big and powerful creatures. It is completely acceptable and understandable if you are intimidated. Let go of the old way of thinking, where if you are scared there is something wrong with you.
Jenna is more than happy to take the time to stand around and talk with you near the horse, introduce you to the proper way to touch a horse, and to just stand in mindfulness.
We will begin to get acclimated to touching all of the areas of the horse. Gaining understanding of what areas are sensitive, what areas are pleasurable with a good scratch, how fast or how slow to move from one area to the next, and to regain calm and focus when things are not going smoothly.
3. Basic Care
Now that you are comfortable around the horse. It is time to learn the basics of taking care of them. We will go over all the things you need to know when you show up at your lessons or training barn. Or if you intend to have horses at your own house one day.
From bringing your horse in from the stall or pasture, to looking the horse over for boo boos, checking its water source, feeding them, and picking their stall. These are all things no matter what level of riding you aspire to accomplish are important to learn.
There will be days in your personal equine experience where you are just not in the head space to ride. Being able to enjoy chores is one of the most therapeutic experiences for a horseperson.
5. Saddling and Warm up
We will address saddling and bridling for different disciplines, pieces and parts of tack, where to check for wear and tear, proper cleaning and storage, and mindfulness for getting our equine friends ready and to the ring.
Once we are ready, we will look for certain indicators, analyze factors, and feel from our intuition what a horse may need to warm up. Clients will learn to lunge their horse, so if they are ever asked in the future it will not be a foreign task for the client. This will give us time to watch the horse in motion, and give understanding to what will be going on underneath of them in the future. They will learn the horses response to them, their surroundings, and the horses movement.
2. Walking Together
Once you are comfortable enough to stand next to and approach your horse, it is time to learn how to lead and walk beside your new friend. Devon will show you an expectation you should hold for all of your future equine experiences when walking from one place to the next.
Devon will provide you the building blocks you need to have positive equine experiences every place you go. She will provide subtle and kind body language to help you become aware of what you can do from your inner state of being to reinforce positive experiences into your future with horses.
4. Grooming
Now that you are relaxed and feeling super comfortable around sweet Devon, it is time to learn what brush does what and in what order. Brushing will come very easily because you have spent the time learning the first three steps. We will still practice mindfulness and good habits for when you would be working with horses that are not as sweet and predictable as Devon. But with good timing and great practice any horse can be as sweet and kind as Miss Devon, especially with picking feet.
We will also go over basic wound care, fungus treatment, hoof care, and skin conditions to watch out for. We will doing just thoroughly enough that one day when you see something weird instead of panicking and ruining your groove, you will just remember it is something that we had talked about in this lesson and you can report it to the person responsible for the horse you are caring for. Or if it is your personal horse you will know what to google!
6. Getting On and Riding!
The time has finally come to get on and ride! We will go over safe mounting practices and get our clients acclimated to just hanging out on the back of their new friend. Just as the other levels and this whole practice we will go at the pace of the individual as dictated by the horse.
We will learn all of the basics as far as walk, stopping, steering, balancing, and lunging at the sitting trot.
When Devon let’s us know that the client is ready we will all work together to match the client with a trainer that aligns with their personal goals. The Equimist looks forward to hearing all of their success stories once they are out in the real world!
Let The Equimist make you Equestrian Future Great!