Working with Professionals (Part I)
The best way to get involved with horses is by taking riding lessons before buying a horse, so a riding instructor will be the first professional you will need to find. This is the most difficult and most important choice you will make. A serious riding accident can result in a fear you may never be able to conquer, a permanent disability, or fatality. Different instructors may be equally skilled, but in different disciplines, with different methods, and/or different philosophies. All too many are simply incompetent. So how do you go about finding the right professional to work with?
Before you begin looking for an instructor, take some time to think about what type of riding you want to do and what you want to accomplish. Do you want instruction on horse care and management as well as riding? Is your goal to be able to trail ride and safely ride for pleasure only, or would you like to compete? Be sure to find an instructor that values your individual goals.
Once you know the type of instruction you are looking for, you can start looking for the names of instructors in your area. Ask other riders you respect and admire who their instructor is. Check the bulletin boards at feed and tack stores, look in newspapers (horse specific newsletters are best), look in the yellow pages, ask farriers and veterinarians for recommendations. Be sure to contact your local county extension office. The 4-H horse clubs are great for exposing children (ages 8-18) to many aspects of horse ownership and care as well as riding skills.
Another good place to look is at a local horse show. Even if showing is not one of your goals, seeing an instructor working under pressure will give you a very good picture of their personality and temperament. Notice not only which students are winning, but which are displaying good sportsmanship and receiving a lot of positive support.
When you have found a potential instructor, ask to visit the barn where you would be taking lessons. Look for neatness and orderliness. The isles should not have shovels and pitchforks lying around, and the pastures and arena should be free of junk. Look for cleanliness - the stalls, isles, brushes, feed tubs, water troughs, horses. Take a moment to read, "Horse Talk" in the article archives and have a little "talk" with the horses in the barn. They should be clean (except the ones out rolling in the pasture) with manes and tails free of unsightly mats and tangles. You should not be able to see rib or hipbones and their feet should be trimmed to a nice round or oval shape without cracks splits, or broken pieces or sticking up.
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