To understand my teaching philosophy I start with this definition of learning. Learning is the process of creating behavioral changes in the learner. Until the learner makes a behavioral change there has been no learning. The teacher is there to facilitate learning therefore helping the learner learn. As the learning facilitator or teacher of riders the first lesson must be that when the rider is working with their horse they are its teacher, and as in marriage vows that's for better or for worse. I teach with that lesson always in mind. Therefore the student/teacher must also understand how important their own balance, posture and attitude is to the responsiveness of the horse, the constant learner.
As a teacher I am prepared to find different ways to help riders understand how to better communicate with their horse. Students learn in different ways; orally, visually and tactilely and at different rates. Using oral techniques I must find the right words for that rider which will convey my message. Words can mean different things to different people and I must recognize that individuality amongst my students, hence I try to be aware of their personal background and interests. Visual teaching may mean from the ground I posture my body as I want them to sit; I may demonstrate something by riding their horse; take the same opportunity when schooling another horse; or use videos of them or other riders. We hope to purchase or develop a side by side video comparison on the computer for a visual teaching method. For tactile learning I may place their leg in position or press on their hip to help them feel where their body needs to be. Walking alongside a mounted rider with hands on the rider's body or hand can help to give the rider a better understanding of how posture and balance can change the horse's responses. As for speed of learning, learning is the constant and time is the variable. . If the rider is willing to continue on the learning path I will take as much time as they need albeit perhaps not in one lesson. I will break a concept down into small pieces to enable an interested student to learn. If they happen to "catch on" quickly I'm ready to go on as well.
I use the background knowledge of the rider to help convey ideas and understanding of the concepts and techniques I am trying to teach during a lesson. For example: a women who regularly works with a personal trainer for fitness and strength training can relate to being her horse's personal trainer and would also be able to empathize with the horse's fitness and strength development; a business manager understands how different management techniques affect results, IE micromanaging shuts down people's initiative and under managing begets chaos, the horse's responses to nagging or lack of support; an accomplished skier understands body control and handling poles doesn't make a turn or a stop but can aid in the process, half halts and rein aids.
Every student sets their own goals, short and long term. We discuss the requirements to reach those goals and may alter the short term goal or proceed forward. I commit to the plan as I would expect from the rider. Along the way we are both ready to accept the challenges that may arise from extraneous circumstances. Does anything ever go along like the plan you design? Unfortunately, I've not seen it happen with horses and horses don't read the books on dressage. The methods in the books are tried and true therefore I must adapt and improvise to the individuality of each horse and rider, not change the techniques.
For me my least successful moment would be my having failed to communicate. I may have missed on finding the right words for a student to understand a principle, or an inability on my part to open the student's mind to a concept. My most successful moment would be when a student finds joy in their riding, accomplishing a goal they set, experiencing the moment when they feel one with their horse, when "it just got easy". That's success for me no matter when it happens.
My greatest teaching mentor has been my dad. He was a professor of medicine and a practicing physician. Notice the educator first. He is and will always be an inspiration for my teaching. He never would give me the answer to the problem in my requests for help on homework. He'd ask me questions facilitating me to learn how to get the answer. Not what I wanted at the time but became the best lesson in the end. Of course my sons had to suffer through that same lesson as well. He taught me how to learn and in doing so taught me how to teach.
