Читать книгу Geoff Teall on Riding Hunters, Jumpers and Equitation - Geoff Teall - Страница 49

The biggest advantage in taking group lessons is the ability to learn by example. You watch other students doing exactly the same exercise on the same day as you. You learn from their horses, their perspectives, and their different backgrounds. After watching others, you can try the exercise. You can quickly get a feel for what you do understand and identify what you don’t understand.

Riding in a group gives you a huge increase in exposure to a single lesson. You have several opportunities to try a given exercise. You can also watch each of the other riders try the same exercise several times. Most beneficial of all, your horse gets a break while you continue learning.

In a group situation, you have a mini audience of your peers and your competition (fig. 3.4). Competition in lessons can become fierce. In other words, if two students are struggling with the same exercise, there is a certain amount of natural competitiveness that will encourage both riders to improve more quickly.

Another benefit of group lessons is that they require you to perform an exercise at a particular moment. The moment arrives, you know what you have to do, you have to do it now, and you have to do it in front of people. Learning to perform on command is a great skill booster.

3.4 Every time you are in a group, you have a chance to practice riding in front of an audience, as you would at a horse show.