Discipline, Patience, and a Sense of Accomplishment
As a parent today, there are many options when it comes to your kids’ activities. While the pleasant weather here in sunny California leaves us spoiled for choice, it is incumbent upon us to choose a worthwhile, rewarding activity that our kids get excited about. Horseback riding is a perfect example of something that offers so much more than other types of physical activity. The outcome is simple, but valuable: a sense of accomplishment. When your kids learn, and demonstrate how they have grown, it elicits pride in themselves for seeing a task to its completion. This sense of accomplishment, in turn, builds confidence. Children learn patience by reading the body language of the horse, and communicating with the horse with non-verbal cues. Things such as the squeezing of your leg on the horse or why the horse stomps take time to learn. A generous amount of preparation happens before each ride, causing children to learn self-discipline as they discover how to properly groom, saddle, and care for the horse.
Rewarding In More Ways Than One
Horseback riding by its very nature is an activity that engenders an emotional connection. You have the bond between horse and rider, working together as a team to navigate the terrain ahead. Then there is the connection between the rider and nature – out in the world, experiencing what the world has to offer at its most basic elements, the sun, the earth, and the wind in your hair. Each of these are rewarding, and make learning horseback riding all that much more worthwhile. In the end, all of these things (building patience, developing communication, and learning self-discipline) depend upon the understanding and strength of the relationship between the horse and rider.
.jpg)