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The Horsemanship Academy originally evolved from the idea of simply providing riding instruction for our clients whose horses were in training, to an in-depth study of the Art of Horsemanship. We often say our clients helped us design our program by always asking for more information and sharing their experiences with us; good and bad. Our goal within the Horsemanship Program (HP) is to teach our students how to interact with horses in a safe and confident manner on the ground and in the saddle. One of our students, Ray Caamano, explained how he felt about the program, "The difference for me after going through the training is that I traded my fear for confidence through education." The HP is progressive in nature. Each lesson has been carefully planned. There are six lessons per Phase, each lesson building up to the next . Every Phase is individually designed with specific goals, allowing the students to continue on to the next level if they desire. The HP comes with a workbook that supports the training, state of the art video equipment is used to further reinforce the students' learning experience and other resource materials are provided. We offer the HP in private, semi-private and small group classes. The students begin with a ground school. This portion of the program begins with a thorough understanding of the horse's anatomy and conformation. We then move on to understanding the horse's mind; the psychology of the horse, in other words, why horses do what they do. Next we teach the mechanics of the bit, how it works and why. This lesson includes a discussion on saddles, their design, what to look for in a quality saddle and in many cases we evaluate their tack for them. We next focus on how to safely handle a horse on the ground, the proper way to catch and halter, lead and tie. We explain the proper way to groom and handle the horse's feet and how to correctly bridle and saddle a horse. Then comes the round pen training where we begin teaching students the fundamentals of our training philosophy, "The Bright Way." This is a training method based upon Pressure and Release, (Pressure= Punishment and Release=Reward.) We reinforce the positive results through consistent condition and response exercises. Once our students master their ground-school we move them up into the saddle, where they begin to learn how to ride in a balanced and safe manner. By the end of the First Phase our students have successfully learned how to safely handle a horse on the ground. In the saddle they have learned how to walk, trot, lope and back a horse. The strength of the program is that we teach our students in a relatively short period of time, the skills that take self-taught horse people years to learn. We invite you to learn with us "The Bright Way!" |
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Contact Dennis
Bright or the Bright Ranch
Webmaster |
