Some days things just click - and volunteering improves my riding

This week we have high school students at the DHP (Detroit Horse Power) summer camp. Initially I wasn't sure what to expect, there is a lot of 'angst' going around about dealing with teenagers. Well, the kids this week are amazing: Interested, respectful, willing to learn, and just fun to be around.

I found out that it's much easier for me dealing with teenagers than the younger kids. Teenagers I just treat like adults, with the smaller kids I sometimes don't know if I bring things across right. Live and learn!

Again, this work is giving me so much respect for teachers (school and riding), I never really thought about it. In high school I was mostly bored out of my mind and thus became quite the truant. Not sure how I managed to graduate with good grades...

After three days off it was time for the boys to get back to work. Luckily both Chambord (after some initial reluctance) and Remy jumped right in. I had a super lesson on Remy today, he was with me, I had moments where I felt like screaming "YES!!" because he was collected, light in the bridle, round underneath me. And -yay- we got clean and forward changes, finishing with canter on the center line to halt. I am counting eins, zwei, drei (vier: change). Interestingly, I still count in German, it doesn't matter where I am.

My volunteer job teaching the beginners at DHP has me review the basics. Today I did the 'General Safety' portion, explaining how horses perceive things, their vision, the difference between fight and flight animals, how to safely work around horses, and a myriad of other things. When it came to riding I had the students do exercises to improve their position, and also get a feel for the movement of the horse (i.e. close the eyes to feel the movement). I try to encourage effort and praise improvement.

All this is actually helping my own riding, I am more conscious of things that I might otherwise take for granted. Just the other day Judy reminded me that "Remy wants praise way more than cookies" (I forgot to tell him "good boy" and stroke his neck when he did a good job - and yes, Remy thrives on praise).

To summarize: My volunteer job has me revisit the basics, which makes me focus better on my riding position. I am reminded to show appreciation for my equine partner's efforts, as well as our teacher's (who seems to prefer German chocolate and Madeleines over praise *smile*). All this puts me in a great mood, so JP is happy = Win-Win all around!