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length of little kid lessons
Topic Started: May 13 2010, 05:50 PM (345 Views)
MayaTy02
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Hi all, my daughter has one 1-hour private lesson each week. It's a pretty intense lesson with only about two breaks where she walks maybe halfway around the ring. It's alot of trotting a she's not cantering every lesson. Today, she started out awesome, like honestly the best riding I've seen her do. By 45 mins in, she was done, toast. And of course that's when she normally would work on the harder stuff like jumping a cross rail or cantering (both of which she has trouble doing on this pony - pony tends to take advantage of her and run out at jumps). She starts so good and ends terribly, not paying attention, losing focus and today at least, in tears that she thinks she did badly and her trainer was "mad" at her. (which she wasn't but she did speak sternly to her to get her to pay attention).

So, trainer and I both thought at the same time, maybe we need to shorten these lessons. She will be riding more often come summer but right now, it seems like too much for her.

My question is, to those of you with young kids (6-7-8 yrs) and those who train them, do you do hour lessons or half?or do an hour but allow for more frequent rest periods? Does it make a difference if they only ride once per week as opposed to multiple times per week.

I don't want to baby her, but I'd rather see her have a strong half hour and end on a positive note, than start out great and fade to disappointment. Thanks for your feedback!
Edited by MayaTy02, May 13 2010, 05:58 PM.
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Nylar
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If you can manage it schedule-wise, 2 1/2 hour lessons a week may be more productive than an hour once a week. My little ones do 1/2 hour privates or 1 hour semi-privates, but even with a couple of them in the ring we make time for a few breaks in the hour. We do really easy theory type stuff, which I try and make as fun as possible for them (while still being real learning and relative to their level).

Only one of my little kids has her own pony, so she's the only one who rides more than 2x a week. But even though she's fit enough physically to ride an hour, she mentally has no interest in working for that long without taking a break.

It's counter-productive to even try, because as you're finding, as they get tired/bored, the lesson falls apart.

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MayaTy02
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Thanks Nylar, I am definitely leaning towards two half hour lessons. I will chat about it with my trainer on Sunday so just want to think of other options, like longer breaks. She can't really do a semi-private yet because she isn't really on the same level as the other young girls since they all have their own ponies and are farther along than she is. Maybe after this summer of 5 day/week riding camp will actually get her farther along :)
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Trialbyfire
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My kids ride together and they have a 45 minute lesson. Private is only 30 minutes, no matter how old, and group [3 or more riders] is 60 minutes. Personally, I find 45 minutes to be pretty long for a flat lesson as an adult. 30 minutes seems short but 45 minutes is a long time unless there is a demonstration or something in the middle.

I think you'd find two 30 minute lessons to be more beneficial from a riding perspective, but of course more of an effort from a parenting/scheduling perspective......welcome to my life. ;) It kills us!! [Don't even ask me about the 2.5 hour Russian class....yikes!]
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MayaTy02
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2.5 hour Russian class.....ugh. I could only handle an hour at a time and I was in college! Good for them though!

Yeah after thinking about it, I'm feeling like of course it's too long, but she hadn't had a problem with it until lately. Maybe she is giving her less breaks or maybe we really were only doing 45 mins and now she's going for the full hour? I think we'll do the two half hours, as long as we can fit it into the scheduling. I am going to be at the barn every day between myself and Maya!
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OpticalIllusion
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Our privates are around 30 minutes, but more about how long it takes to accomplish that days lesson.

Our group lessons normally run an hour or more depending on the level. Obviously a group of younger kids working on posting on the right diagonal wont take as much time as a group who is doing courses one at a time.

Our show team lessons are two hours, but are not open to everyone. They get to rest while others work individually.
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Indy
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At our barn, the beginner kids are scheduled for an hour but that includes time in the beginning to brush & tack up (with assistance). They're on about 30-40 minutes. Almost all the lessons are private so they can get a lot done in that time.
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Trialbyfire
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MayaTy02
May 14 2010, 04:52 AM
2.5 hour Russian class.....ugh. I could only handle an hour at a time and I was in college! Good for them though!

Yeah after thinking about it, I'm feeling like of course it's too long, but she hadn't had a problem with it until lately. Maybe she is giving her less breaks or maybe we really were only doing 45 mins and now she's going for the full hour? I think we'll do the two half hours, as long as we can fit it into the scheduling. I am going to be at the barn every day between myself and Maya!
I think she'd get more out of the two lessons split, but obviously that's what makes it so hard on you. Driving back & forth twice v. once, etc. which is one of the reasons we're looking to switch barns....our barn is about 30 minutes away. So add to that the 20-30 minutes it takes my kids to get dressed & ready for their lesson, get there 20-30 minutes prior to the lesson so they have time to groom, tack up, use the bathroom...45 minutes on the horse, another 20+ to untack, groom, blanket, find all their crap....30 minutes in the car....it's a 3 hour deal for a 45 minute lesson....twice a week. So two entire afternoons. :brickwall:

Hopefully your barn is much closer!

[Our Russian class is in Saratoga, so it's 60 minutes driving each way, which is why we only go once/week....but as you can imagine....that is a LONG time for 8 & 11 year olds to sit in a foreign language class!] Poor kids! :)
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Delia
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At my trainer's barn, the 6-7 year olds have 1/2-hour private lessons and are encouraged to do 2 of them a week. But even if they ride only once a week it's still just 30 minutes in the tack, for exactly the reasons you're experiencing with Maya. They get tired, frustrated, and their attention span goes out the window.
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SnackPack
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My trainer teaches a lot of little kids and lessons are 30 minute privates. In fact, most of her lesson slots are 30 minute privates, even for adults or the more accomplished riders. Group lessons are 45 minutes to an hour. She says most kids can't handle longer than that mentally...and a lot of the beginning adults can't handle much more physically. :teehee:

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MayaTy02
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oh trust me I can't handle an hour private myself :) Thanks for the input all!
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Delia
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MayaTy02
May 14 2010, 08:15 AM
oh trust me I can't handle an hour private myself :) Thanks for the input all!
Last year I once made the mistake of having a group lesson with several of my trainer's juniors. HUGE mistake. 20 minutes of trot work without stirrups. :o I seriously thought I was going to just slide off the side towards the end.
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MayaTy02
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HA HA Delia! I told my trainer I am keeping my stirrups for the forseable future...not sure how long she'll entertain that notion!
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Witchy
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Delia
May 14 2010, 08:35 AM
MayaTy02
May 14 2010, 08:15 AM
oh trust me I can't handle an hour private myself :) Thanks for the input all!
Last year I once made the mistake of having a group lesson with several of my trainer's juniors. HUGE mistake. 20 minutes of trot work without stirrups. :o I seriously thought I was going to just slide off the side towards the end.
Made that mistake too. I rode for two hours and we were doing lots of gymnastics. I thought it was great and I did really well keeping up with the juniors, until two days later when I could barely walk.



As for the lessons, it depends on the kid. Sophia, who just turned 9, even when she was 7 could do two hours and never get tired or bored. She finishes her lesson and then rides two or three others and still begs for more. She's not like normal kids however... she's more of a small sized adult in every aspect of her life.

Francesca, who's 6, and a normal kid, is done at about 1/2 an hour. She will ride for an hour if she's doing a lot of jumping. She gets bored very easily and isn't one that likes to be pushed, so we just sort of let her figure out most things on her own with a little guidance. If you really start to drill her or make it not fun, she immediately asks if she can be done, so we have to get a little creative about how we teach her things.

Both of my kids are insanely fit. They never stop running and jumping from the minute they get up until they go to bed, and will spend hours on their trampoline. They both take gymnastics for two hours once a week, with one hour of private, and one hour of teams. My girls also ride 4 or 5 days a week, sometimes on the trail for 2 or 3 hours, so they aren't ever really tired from riding. They do get frustrated or bored fairly often though.

I think once a week for an hour would be very hard and exhausting if she's not really fit. I'd go with the two 1/2 hour lessons. If the hour is really more convenient, ask the trainer to do a short warm-up, then jump, then do some more flatwork at the end of the hour. Do the hardest stuff at the beginning and end with some fun stuff.

I'd also work on her fitness at home so that she isn't physically tired after her hour. If you could ride more that would really help, but I know you don't have ponies in your back yard, so it's not really possible, so you need to find exercises that get her fit enough that she can really progress with her riding, even if it's only once a week. Just my opinion, but once a week isn't really enough to get you fit enough to ride well or for the lessons of the week before to really sink in. If you could do twice a week, that would be great and she'd progress a lot faster.
Edited by Witchy, May 14 2010, 09:16 AM.
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