Spruce Ridge Equicentre Rules
As the stable gets busier, it has become apparent that ‘rules’ need to put in place to maintain the safety and harmony within spruce Ridge.
- No running in the barn.
Fast movements, such as running can frighten the horses. The horses in their stalls may not be able to hurt anyone, but the horses on the cross ties may become frightened, struggle and break the cross ties, thus putting the horses and people in the aisle at risk.
- No loud noises.
Loud noises, such as yelling, can also frighten the horses. - The hayloft is out of bounds.
There is no safety railing in the hayloft and there is the risk that people can get too close to the edge and fall. - All people in the stable area must have closed toed footwear.
Sandals, flip flops and bare feet will not be permitted. - Spruce Ridge staff will supervise the riders, however parents
or guardians must supervise the other children.
Children may not be capable of anticipating how their actions may affect the horses. Children may play quietly, and with supervision, in the upstairs lounge, in the small viewing area just off the arena, in front of the arena in the sand pile (but they cannot throw sand around) and on the driveway (as long as the supervisors are watching for traffic). ALL OTHER AREAS ARE OUT OF BOUNDS. - Riders will be rotated through a variety of horses, including
their favourite and their ‘not so favourite’.
When deciding upon the mounts, the coach’s decision is final. Many new riders have over estimated their skill and have requested horses that they are not yet capable of riding. Safety is our first concern. Riders will be challenged but not placed in danger. - Riders are not to ‘help coach’.
Riders have to concentrate on the coaches’ instructions as well as what they, the other riders and all the others are doing. That is quite a bit of multi tasking! Many times the comments have been incorrect, thus causing problems. Be free though in your praise for your riders’ efforts. Riding is both mentally and physically challenging and all encouragement is welcome. - Please don't "help"
At Spruce Ridge we encourage learning, independence and the development of a strong self esteem (within safety). Please don’t ‘help’ your child get the horse ready. The staff is there to help and to allow the riders’ to learn the skills and to be independent. This process includes learning from mistakes. Learning skills take a long time and when a rider (especially if the rider is very young) is only riding once per week, it will seem as if progress is painfully slow. However, in the Recreational Program, there is always a staff member available to help a rider and we have had riders as young as 6 learn to completely groom and tack up. Help is provided when the child physically cannot do something. For example, our step stools just are not big enough for the really small riders to put a saddle on some horses. However, the rider can still bring the saddle to the horse. A small rider may not be able to actually put a bridle on; but they can tell the staff what needs to be done.
Mistakes
At Spruce Ridge, we understand that riders will make mistakes,
and, providing there are no safety implications, we allow the mistakes
to happen so a learning experience is provided. A rider, who rides
once per week, will have had only 48 times to practice a skill.
That’s not very many times.
Parental and supervisor encouragement of rider effort is essential
for the rider success. But please, allow the rider to grow and become
more confident by not ‘helping’, leave that to the staff.
Riding is an enjoyable way to improve • self confidence • self discipline • self control • team work
