Twice in recent weeks I have been asked for advice on how to build a riding instruction program that has meaning. I have been thinking of little else since then.
The answer will not flow easily. It is a field fraught with potential road blocks. It is easy to start a meaningless riding instruction program. All one has to do is look at the established horse world's template.
But building a program that creates better people and better horses is much more difficult. Today I will mention a few nuts and bolts things that matter for all riding programs, both those that seek meaning and those that merely seek the approval of those who view horses as fungible objects whose worth is only shown by their success in competition.
Future posts will focus on what I have learned in the twenty years that has gone into building our breed conservation and natural horsemanship program. For now let's just talk business.
Form a corporation. You can go to an online service to do so, but I would only trust something this important in protecting you from future law suits to a real lawyer that you can sit down and talk to about limiting your liability. The lawyer can advise you about your state's laws concerning releases and signs.
Get insurance. It will be difficult and confusing. Get an agent that you trust and begin the process of preparing applications.
Get your tack safe and check on its safety often. Require helmets and boots for all riders. Wear them yourself.
Put all contracts for lessons in writing and fully set out in the contract the duties of both student and teacher.
The most important safety practice is one that insurance agents seem to know nothing about. Knowledge of the horse's mind and understanding of the horse's behavior are the most important safety shields that a student can have. That is why our safety record is so stunning. Even with the extraordinary number of hours that our student's, in total, put on the horses over a year injuries that actually require medical attention are quite rare indeed.
That means that you must teach natural horsemanship every single day that you are with a student.
Future posts will be more specific and will deal with avoiding the perils of falling into the pattern of merely being a place where little rich girls learn to go ride horses in circles.
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