Lessons

The camaraderie that takes place at the barn is a strong, healthy influence on a developing young person. In today's world of instant everything, developing a relationship with a horse can be extremely rewarding and beneficial. It is a life lesson in patience, creating and sticking to a plan, and the rewards that are associated with the progress. At Windermere, we offer riding lessons for all levels of riders. Our riding program is geared towards competitive riding on the Michigan Hunter/Jumper circuit(s). We place a strong emphasis on equitation as our belief that form is function. Windermere has several school horses available for the learning rider of all levels and with four instructors working throughout the year, we have the ability to offer lessons seven days a week, thus making lessons available for anyone no matter what their time constraints might be.

Getting Started:

Typically, the minimum age for riding at Windermere is 8, although lead line lessons are available for children as young as 5. Lead line lessons are held as half-hour privates as we feel this is more appropriate for younger children.  Horsemanship and safety are important parts of your instruction. At Windermere, all students ages 8 years and up start with hour-private lessons.  The first half of this lesson is spent on the ground learning about safety, caring for the horse, and the tacking/untacking process. If the student is younger than 12 years old, we ask that a parent s participate in the ground portion of the lesson enabling them to assist their child later on.

Once the student is comfortable working around horses and is able to groom and tack the horse without needing direct supervision of an instructor, the student will then progress to either a half-hour private or an hour class. Most students are able to "graduate" from hour privates after a month or two of instruction. Students whose skill level or age still requires one on one work with the instructor will move into a half-hour private before participating in an hour class. Students placed into an hour class will be riding in groups of two to four riders of comparable riding abilities. We keep classes small in order to provide individualized attention to each student and to promote safety.

What to Wear & Expect:

Beginner riders are expected to wear hard-soled shoes and long pants. We require students to wear a helmet at all times while mounted. In a child's first month of riding, we find a bike helmet acceptable. However, if it is decided to continue on in our riding program, we do require the purchase of an ASTM/SEI approved riding helmet. We also recommend the purchase of full or half chaps as we find that this makes riding much more comfortable and allows the rider's leg to be more secure.

Students who have graduated from their hour-private lessons are expected to arrive approximately 30 minutes before the lesson to groom and tack their horse. Riders are also likely to spend an additional half-hour after the lesson practicing horsemanship; cooling out the horse, untacking, grooming, and putting away any equipment used.

Our students are the main concern at Windermere. We base our actions upon their needs and wants as these individuals are the fuel to our success and value of our sport. We also believe that our students and staff form a team. Our main goal is that we all work together so that we can produce an effective learning environment.