Sunrise Farm Horseback Riding Lessons, Horses Boarded, Horse Training in Pelham New Hampshire

Are you are looking for a new riding instructor to help you with your continued learning growth? Before you make this your endeavor, ask yourself an important question: “Can you accept the truth?"

How do you know the truth? Is the truth what you have been taught by others? Can you see out of the box and expand upon the knowledge given to you by your previous instructors? Is your mind so closed with the joy of cantering or jumping or doing the fun things that your thinking is clouded by your own self-importance?

This is a bitter pill to accept for anyone. You must see if you are truly ready to take the next step in your learning. You should not allow your “pride” to get in the way of accepting new concepts or in accepting … that you are not as good as you may have thought.

I am constantly in this position of telling people the bitter truth that their ability to ride is not what they believed it to be. This is quite difficult to have to serve them the bitter pill, the truth of reality.

The question becomes “whose reality?” Was it their previous instructor’s reality? Was it what their instructor’s knowledge was or, their instructor’s ability to communicate? Was it their instructor’s ability to keep the student ill informed.to keep them as there student?

As your instructor’s reality becomes all you know, why have you decided to seek another instructor? And if you have, then why would one be resistant or even defiant to seeing through the eyes of a new instructor?

Why would you want a new instructor to yes you to death? How do they tell you how to ride? How can they prove it? For instance, when I instruct anyone, whether it is a new student, or a veteran student, I show the student how physics proves “it” will work; not just because “it” is what I say. Therefore “it” always has to work. I take a more scientific approach with instructing but I do keep the human factors of enjoyment involved.

What is enjoyment? If you are having a riding lesson it should be in your ability to learn more. For some people, I feel it is the ability to yahoo around and do as they wish, even if it is out of control. They do not understand the ramifications of what they do because of lack of knowledge. One new student of mine thought that a warm up was cantering the horse around the arena before her lesson. A little walking then mad dash into cantering! This person had to start from mounting her horse and what to look for in your horse’s performance at standing, and what you can learn about your horse from there. She did not realize that all training starts when you put your hands on the horse in the paddock, in the stall or on cross ties. This student needed to learn that the mindset of training was the most important thing; not how well she could stay on at the canter. Which was incorrect also.

To sum this up, be prepared for the bitter truth. Better to prepare yourself than not. What can the worst be, to be over prepared for the truth or under prepared and have a hurt ego? Remember, having an ego does not help you learn, but keeps you back from opening up your mind to new information. Do not be defiant or resistant, for knowledge comes with a heavy price. It is called humility.

Ride well, have fun and ride safely

Begin your education as a student at Sunrise Farm today! Call 603.635.7631 or email us with your questions, comments, feedback, etc.

Mark Matyszyk
Owner - Trainer - Instructor
SUNRISE FARM