We’ve all had one – that riding instructor or trainer who made a huge difference in our lives and forever altered the way we see our equine friends. October 5^th is World Teachers Day, and in honor of that we’ve decided to take a moment to appreciate all that our riding instructors do.

Deal with Us During Our Formative Years

Do you remember what you were like as a teenager? Your riding instructor probably does. Riding instructors don’t just teach riding – they help instill lessons about patience, disappointment, and hard work when we’re children and teenagers. These valuable lessons go on to shape who we become as adults, and riding instructors play an integral role in that development.

Keep Us Safe

When working with thousand-pound animals, things can go bad in a hurry. Riding instructors keep us safe when we don’t yet know how to do that ourselves. They are always looking ten steps ahead, and some of them must develop eyes in the back of their heads when teaching groups of beginner riders. Chances are you owe your safety to the careful attention of your riding instructors.

Change Their Lessons on the Fly

When was the last time anything ever went as expected with horses? Good riding instructors are masters of finding teachable moments. Fell off a horse? An instructor can show you what went wrong and can help prepare you to stay on better next time. Placed poorly at a show? Your instructor can evaluate your ride to look at what you could have done differently.

Cope with Bitter Winters and Hot Summers

While you have the physical exercise of riding to warm you up during the winter, and the breeze created in the summer to help keep you cool, your instructor braves the weather from the ground. Come frigid winters or sizzling summers, many riding instructors are out there in any weather.

Sacrifice Weekends to Horse Shows

Show seasons become particularly busy for riding instructors. How many Sundays has your instructor sacrificed to help you compete? Horse shows are big undertakings for instructors, who have to keep an eye on the well-being and the safety of both their equine and human charges. Since your instructor likely teaches on Saturdays, horse shows usually mean the sacrifice of their entire weekend.

So, let’s have a hand for the riding instructors who have shaped not only our love of horses, but also our lives.

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Original Source: A Tribute to the Riding Instructors