Guide 'N Gallop

08/15/2024

🥰🥰🥰

Registration Now Open & Jump Heights are Now Listed!

See you in September!

Register now at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc8h-TCZF7cGsrz64IXiYWuCpAHrBeRU3KgjXs3WzvdoNT2NA/viewform

08/13/2024

School is starting and classes are filling up!
What better place to be after the last bell rings than outside making friends on horseback?

08/12/2024

Horseback riding teaches responsibility.
A child must take care of the horse, groom them, and take responsibility for their care. This helps to instill a sense of responsibility, which is an essential life skill.

08/08/2024

WINNING VOTE- SPIRIT!!!

Hey Students! This Saturday we're doing a Ride In Movie, 8:30! Bring your own chair, we'll provide popcorn. Families are invited too!

Let us know if you're coming!

08/06/2024

Ooooh!!!

It’s time to register for the Blue Peak Farm Equine Trail Sports event in September! Come join us! Link to register is below:

https://www.equinetrailsports.com/event_group/12946/view

08/02/2024

Horseback riding is an activity that can benefit children in many ways. From increasing physical activity to creating a strong bond with an animal.
There are many reasons why you should consider introducing your child to the sport. 🥰

PART ONE- Horseback riding encourages physical activity. By mounting and dismounting the horse, controlling posture and maintaining balance, your child will engage more than just their hands and feet; they will engage their full body. This boosts their cardiovascular health and improves their muscle tone.

08/01/2024

We love our program and are proud to say we are developing well rounded equestrians! 🥰

Riding schools for children -

I used to teach children riding lessons a lot. It was really fun and rewarding to instill in young people care and respect for the horse, and good riding skills. I found chikdren far more receptive and empathetic than many adults, because they hadn’t been taught to ignore horses expressions to get something done.

The pressure from parents to accelerate the kids skills to more fun stuff, or to prevent the child’s boredom, was a steady presence in teaching- along with maintaining the school horses soundness and mental well-being from being ridden by beginners. Keeping lessons good for both horse and rider was a job of creativity and constant adjustment. I believe it can be done, but the culture at large doesn’t typically make it profitable, as many parents struggle to want to pay for lessons on sound husbandry and good riding basics. The kids want to canter, by God!

I have some firm beliefs about good riding stables, and I realize the expense and strain and adjustment is an ever pressing reality, I stand by these beliefs:

-children should learn good riding fundamentals first, and not progress to trotting, cantering, jumping until they have a good understanding of a balanced seat and can demonstrate it

-children should learn care of and respect for the horse comes before their entertainment. Grooming, tacking, warming up and cooling down, quitting an activity or adjusting if the horse is stressed, learning groundwork, etc, should be a non negotiable

-children should learn to feel a balanced horse to the extent possible. A beginner horse should not simply be a lame horse that tolerates them, but one to teach th em how to ride- children should not be set up for a future of kicking and pulling to get a horse to do something, but learn to feel how to direct a horse with their body, and to feel movement that is balanced, setting them up for a lifetime of being able to balance future horses.

- children should learn to read accurately equine expression and well-being. Children should not be taught to describe horses as lazy, stubborn, etc- these are taught by adults and children learn to adapt these views. The adults are responsible for setting the culture and views of horses and their handling.

Many riders struggle with normalizing tight, crooked, and unhappy horses because this is what they learn to ride on. The instructor is responsible for setting the culture of what their program entails, and I believe this means setting firm boundaries on what the purchasing client can expect, instead of catering to unreasonable demands to keep business. That is a whole can of worms in itself, but one worth opening.

07/26/2024

How fun are these tumblers we had made?! Taking pre orders now, message us if you're interested! Expected delivery is two weeks from now. $50 a tumbler

Hurry! We have a limited number available.

07/13/2024

🐴 LAST CALL FOR HORSE SUMMER CAMP NEXT WEEK!! 🐴

Come join us for an exciting, educational, FUN camp next week! There’s no better way to spend your summer than with new friends and sweet horses!!

☀️July 17th-19th, 8am-1pm

☀️Riding, water games, horse care, crafts

☀️Optional fun rodeo day on the 20th to show off new skills for friends and family

☀️$375, Springville Utah, Ages 7-13

Message us to get signed up! Spots are limited!!

07/12/2024

**Riding instructor position opening**

Does watching a new rider’s eyes light up with excitement thrill you? Are you an accomplished equestrian with teaching experience? Do you truly love horses and people (especially young ones)? Are you energetic, positive, responsible, and a good communicator? If so, we want to meet you!!!

We are looking for someone who can start work immediately. Our program is extremely active and offer specialized equine focused classes, such as summer camps and show teams, as well as basic equitation in English and Western disciplines.
What can YOU bring to WOW potential clients/students?

Happy to train the right applicants. Riding and training our lesson horses weekly is a MUST.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Job Type: Part-time

Pay: $13.00 - $18.00 per hour depending on experience

Experience:
*Professionally TEACHING horseback riding: 3 years (Preferred)
*Horse Riding/Training experience 5 years (Required)

Work Location: SPRINGVILLE, UTAH

Hours per week: 15-25

This Job Is Ideal for Someone Who Is:
*Dependable -- more reliable than spontaneous
*People (especially CHILDREN) oriented -- enjoys interacting with people and working on group projects
*Adaptable/flexible -- enjoys doing work that requires frequent shifts in direction
*Autonomous/Independent -- enjoys working with little direction
*Innovative -- prefers working in unconventional ways or on tasks that require creativity

CONTACT US TO SCHEDULE A WORKING INTERVIEW 🥰

06/27/2024

Thankful for our lesson horses!

They are never just RIDING SCHOOL PONIES❤️🐴

One day you may move onto bigger, fancier horses, but never forget the school horse who made you, as without them, you wouldn’t be able to ride anything at all.

The patient soul that tolerated your bouncing while you figured out how to sit the trot.

The kind mare that didn’t walk off when you stumbled up the mounting block, trying to get your foot in the stirrup.

The sweet gelding that picked up the trot even though your body was telling him to do the exact opposite.

The saintly angel that never spooked, which was a dam good thing because your balance was precarious at best.

Too often we forget where we came from. We move on to the next chapter in our lives and say, “Oh my gosh, I’m learning so much! I’m going so far! I could never do this kind of thing on that old school horse!”

But infact you could, you were just not ready to do all these things back then.

But that school horse gave you the confidence to move forward. That school horse took care of you in all respects and allowed you to take the time you needed to find your way. You couldn’t have become the rider you are today without that riding school horse, always remember to love them unconditionally for our riding school horses are what help start your dream, make dreams come true and get you ready for those bigger dreams 🐴

06/23/2024

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You can be a great rider if you really want to know the truth, with no false praise, and you are truly willing to do the hard work it takes to improve. YOU will be the one that improves the most.

Those that think they already know or don't accept and learn from criticism will not progress, and will remain average.

06/21/2024

Acquiring students is easy - keeping students is hard

The initial excitement, the enjoyment that comes with experiencing those changes- the light bulb moments, feeling the horse soft and easy and happy with a little adjustment. It’s really fun to watch those in the initial lessons, to make a little tweak in the riders position or mind frame or approach and see quite a change in no time at all.

But time goes on an excitement fades as the work becomes work: it stops being magic and starts to roll into laborious and tedious awareness, habit development or habit changing. You might hit a wall and plateau in development, and have to watch your friends all progress past you while you plug away at learning to not pull when you pick up your reins for example.

Its the difference between chasing a thrill and chasing development- the thrill seekers will be on within a few lessons to something else that gives them a quick burst of “magic,” until the thrill fades there too.

The horsemen and women don’t panic when they’re buried in details, because they know mastery of riding is mastery of details- doing basic things with perfection. They are there when it gets hard and stops being glamorous, and they are the ones their peers will call lucky when it looks easy on the other side.

06/04/2024

Words to take to heart!!

How to turn a bad ride into a good one

The very first thing you need to do is check your seat!!
Make sure you…
1.) tuck your pelvis underneath of you and are not pushed forward into anterior pelvic tilt. Fear and anxiety tend to push us toward fetal position, so sit back on your b***y and stretch those legs down.
2.) Every time you change directions scooch your entire b***y towards the inside so that your inside hip knee and heel are about 2 inches lower than the outside (especially going to the right!)
So often problem start because the human has led to the outside and they don’t notice What they do notice is the horse ignoring the aids, and hanging on the inside rein.
3.) Fix your hands. Make sure your rein length is set so that you can give aids easily without doing weird things with your arms or wrists, but also so that you still have enough bend in your elbow that you can offer your hand forward. Make sure you and your horses are not hanging on each other. I’m not telling you to be all light and soft, because sometimes you need a strong rein aid (I have no problems, telling a student to pull their horses lips back to their ears if that horse is completely blowing through the aids!) but you NEED TO RELEASE!!!!!!

To be clear, never, never, never ever yank. Even a small tug on a rein is always completely unacceptable. But once you have connection, if you NEED to pull back HARD, go ahead, BUT THEN RELEASE!! 

So often riders pick fights with horses, because they just keep pulling until the horse does the thing , but the horse can’t do the thing because the Rider is pulling. On the flip, some riders refuse to ever be effective, so they use light aids, but they end up nagging and desensitizing their horse, which overtime causes the horse to require stronger and stronger rein aids. 

Pic of one of my young students being able to release the rein shortly after this horse pretty much drug her down the long side.  She downright wrestled him, and then softened! She was able to ride on like it never happened, even though he was spooking at the lawn mower LITERALLY the whole ride.

05/29/2024

Amazing Show Series to put on our calendar!

📢📢 Mark your calendar and come show with us!! 📣📣

05/24/2024

🐴CALLING ALL HORSE LOVERS! No better way to kick off your summer than a morning full of fun and new experiences. Come ride with us and make some new friends!🐴

We have multiple camp options through the summer for all ages and experience levels. Send us a message to sign up!!

05/21/2024

We had a great Mini Riders Show this last weekend, first of the season. Smiles all around and really showing all the hard work they put into their lessons. 🥰

05/19/2024

One of my biggest frustrations in this industry is the lack of understanding and consideration for the role that lesson horses play. So often, I see riders complaining about lesson horses for a huge variety of reasons: for their perceived lack of quality or value, for having to ride one they don’t like, for not getting to ride the one they do like, for their trainer not having enough lesson horses, or for the lesson horses not being available at their convenience when their personal horse is out of commission. I’ve dealt with all of the above and I know I’ll continue to do so, but I think it’s important that people understand the reality of lesson horses, and that’s that they aren’t here for your kid to ride forever and climb the levels with your one or two lesson a week commitment. They’re here to get you started, safely and productively, while you decide just how far you want to take this.

Lesson horses are incredibly special creatures. They have to be easily caught by beginners who don’t know how to properly approach a prey animal. They have to stand like statues on the crossties while tiny kids take the better part of an hour to get them clean. They have to hold their head still while beginners jam the bit into their teeth for the fiftieth time in a row to put the bridle on. They have to stand still at the mounting block while someone stands for too long with all their weight in the left stirrup and then slams down on their back with no consideration for their comfort. They tolerantly teach riders who are unbalanced, uncoordinated, and unclear, who catch their mouths and bounce on their backs and kick at their sides, and every single time, they are expected to just come again without so much as a swish of their tail or pinning of their ears. And any time one of these horses has a moment where they act like a regular horse or force the rider to really ride, they’re labeled annoying or rude or bad or lazy or whatever.

Lesson horses are not intended to take you up the levels and jump big jumps and win all the classes. If these horses were this beginner-friendly and this tolerant AND the hack winner with an auto lead change, you couldn’t afford them! That’s not to say these horses can’t be winners if you ride them well and pull your weight, but their ability to win in the show ring is not where their real value lies. Lesson horses exist to bring new riders into the sport. To teach them the ropes and get them started, lay a foundation and prepare them to make a bigger commitment to the sport by leasing or purchasing the next step horse. Lesson horses are not responsible for chasing your Olympic dreams for you. They’re responsible for getting them started in the first place. For riders to act like a lesson horse isn’t valuable because he isn’t the winner in any company is ignorant and unfair.

Every horse you ride has something to teach you. Whether it’s the crotchety old school pony who likes to root when you’re not paying attention, or the younger lesson horse who will only pick up the right lead if you ask *just right*, or the ultra reliable skip-change king, they all will add to your toolkit that you can one day apply to the fancier model you get to take you to the next level. Don’t forget about all the lessons you learn along the way and remember that without lesson horses, you wouldn’t be riding at all!

**Thank you so much for all of the shares!! The fact that this took off the way it did shows that people love and appreciate their lesson horses, as they should!! If you wish to share my words with your own photo, I would really appreciate being given author credit. Thank you!**

-Jeanette Arnout

05/18/2024

Message us about our summer camps! Our first one is coming up on June 5-7, 8. We'll be riding, learning about horse care, playing games, crafts, and there'll be an optional playday rodeo on the 8th for families!

05/08/2024

Do you want tough, happy, resilient and inquisitive kids? Want to have them begging to go outside and get dirty? Learning how to communicate with body language, finish tasks and ask nicely?

Then sign them up to come ride horses!

Introductory riding lessons for all ages
Trail rides for ages 8 to 88
Birthday parties
Summer day camps for ages 4-8
Farm visits for the whole family

🦄Let's ride!🦄

05/06/2024

From this... to this in just 24 hours!
Welcome to the barn, sweet baby kitties. Great job mama 🥰