Saturday, April 28, 2018

Horsemanship / Horse Riding Lessons in Sioux Falls, South Dakota area. at DoubleHP / New Hope Horses.

Are you looking for a place to learn about horses in the Sioux Falls South Dakota area? Here we are!  Our horsemanship program is getting a little later start this year.  But it is time.  This year we have an application for you to fill out.  Our program is a little different than others, so we want to make sure it is what you are looking for.  Ours is not just riding lessons.  It is riding lessons, but it is also horse safety, care, behavior, and non-riding activities.  If you don't want to ride, we have lots of non-riding activities and programs too.  We encourage and reward greater participation, dedication, and try.  Come more often, learn faster, lower your hourly rates.  We provide the horses, saddles, etc.


First, take a look at our horsemanship audition videos at www.youtube.com/gentlereins.
These are videos right here at our facility with our horses.

Here is more info about "how to sign up":

How to sign up for the horsemanship program at New Hope Horse Shelter / DoubleHP

1. Watch our horsemanship / audition videos at www.youtube.com/gentlereins.  These are some of our horsemanship students in the last few years, right here at our facility, with the horses who live here.

2. Look at your schedule, to see if it will work with our schedule.  At first, we want you to come 2-5 times a week.  Twice is fine, if that is what works for you.  We schedule in advance, on a monthly basis.  Sessions are 1- 2 hours each.  They are scheduled M-F.  Start time can be between 10:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.  It is our goal that as you advance through our program you will need less supervision/coaching and your schedule can become more flexible.  Our weekends here are reserved for advanced students. If you have recently received your certificates for Level 3 online and freestyle, you will probably  very quickly receive a great deal of schedule flexibility here, low or no costs, and the opportunity to help coach our beginners, if you would like to.  If you are just getting started or are a beginner yourself, that is something to look forward to!

3. Consider some of your individual factors:

                Previous Horse Experience - There is no previous horse experience required; however, if you have quite a bit of horse experience, you will probably speed through our first two levels. 

                Age - There really is no age limit.  We have riding and non-riding programs, so you don't have to ride if you don't want to.  If you are younger than 18, we need to involve a parent or legal guardian in all of this planning.  For youth 12 and under, we require an adult to participate in the sessions with the youth, at least for the first few sessions or until we all feel comfortable with the youth being here without the adult who brings the youth.  We have had children as young as 6 in our program, but it can be difficult at this young age.

                Weight & Height - This is important for riding and saddle-fit purposes, but not so much for non-riding activities.  Our beginner- approved riding horses are medium sized, so beginner riders cannot weigh much more than 170 pounds.  For advanced riders, we do have a couple of bigger, younger horses that might fit you.  These horses need further training before they are beginner-approved. So if you are advanced, perhaps you will be interested in these horses.

                Physical, emotional, and mental fitness - Are you fit enough for a 2-hour session with a horse?  You don't need to have any previous horse experience to do this.  But you need to be able to focus on what we are teaching you without having thoughts about other things that will distract you from learning and practicing.  You will need to develop non-stop awareness and be willing to find and use an appropriate level of assertiveness.  This is a self-improvement program for humans.  Yes you will learn horsemanship skills, and you will ride if you want to.  But you will also explore (and hopefully enjoy) new ways to communicate, move, excel, and have fun with a horse (and actually with life in general).  If you enjoy music, rhythm, dance, either individual or team athletics/sports, you will enjoy this with horses.  If you don't know if you like those rhythmic things, you can find out here with the horses!  When something isn't going quite right between a human and a horse,  usually there is something the human should do differently.  It's hardly ever the horse; it's almost always the human. Once you get to that realization, your advancement will be incredible!  This is why we talk about fitness. Physical, emotional, and mental. 

4. Complete/submit our 2-page Application; and contact us to further discuss schedules, rates, and goals.  Darci Hortness, Horsemanship Coach. 605 359-0961  email doublehphorses@aol.com  
 
Here is the info. on the application.  We can email it to you, or you can just copy/paste the info. here.  Email it back to us or send to DoubleHP, 25337 470 Ave, Crooks SD  57020.
 
 
Application (2 pages) for Horsemanship Program at New Hope Horse Shelter / DoubleHP
Horse Help Providers, Inc. (DoubleHP), 501c3 nonprofit for horse rescue/sanctuary
25337 470 Ave, Crooks SD  57020, 605 359-0961, email doublehphorses@aol.com www.facebook.com/newhopehorses, www.newhopehorses.org
Name of participant ________________________________________________
Name of parents/legal guardian (if participant is under 18 years of age)
address (city state zip) ______________________________________________
phone numbers ____________________________________________________

email address _____________________________________________________
If you manage your own website, blog, facebook page, youtube video collection, etc., that you think we might be interested in, write down your internet links here. (this is optional)
 
Participant age ___________          height _________________         weight ____________
 (helpful info. when considering horse/saddle/stirrup fit)
Our "how to sign up . . ." sheet will help you complete the rest of this form.
What kind of schedule are you looking at?
Summarize your horse experience, no matter how basic or extensive that may be.  No previous horse experience is required, but we like to know about it if you have some.
 
Page 2, Application for Horsemanship, New Hope Horse Shelter /  DoubleHP
What are your main areas of interest or goals or reasons for joining our program?
After reading about rhythm and fitness (physical, mental, and emotional) as they relate to our horsemanship program, please write about any experiences, thoughts, questions, or concerns you have regarding those topics.
Anything else you want to tell us or ask us about our horsemanship program.