For information on either teaching or training lessons please contact the Horse Usage Director at umec_horseusage@yahoo.com

Lessons

All members interested in particiapating in a lesson must be evaluated by a horse usage director and will be placed in a lesson according to their level of riding and experience.  Lessons are taught one a week and include 1 hour of riding and 1/2 hour before and after for tacking up/down.  We have lessons slots available for riders with all levels of experience. If you are interested, please contact one of the horse usage directors or come to a club meeting.

Teaching



All lessons are student-taught by advanced riders. All people interested in teaching a lesson go through an evaluation and must attend monthly teaching/training meetings. Once a week an outside instructor teaches these advanced riders who, in turn, may teach other UMEC members.

Training

The UMEC training program was developed for several reasons. Before the training program was implemented the horses were trained inconsistently, at different times and by different people. The training program, which came into effect in the fall of 2002, was initially designed for the horses with the purpose of working on behavior and handling issues, both on the ground and under saddle, but it developed into much more.

The training program involves a large group of people. All of our horses have one head mounted and one head ground trainer assigned to them for each of the spring, summer, fall, and winter semesters. They also may have assistant mounted or ground trainers assigned to work with the head trainers.



The mounted trainers work in the saddle to gymnasticize the horse and improve their balance, flexibility, an overall level of training. Trainers get two sessions a week during the school year and four during summer and winter. Ground trainers work on manners, desensitation, lunging, and any other handling problems. Furthermore, the head trainers are responsible for teaching the assistants their training methods so that the assistants may eventually become head trainers themselves. In this way, knowledge is continually flowing through out the club and our members can increase their skills as horsemen.

Trainers must have achieved ground level 5 and be evaluated at the beginning of the semester by their training director(s). They must be able to show comprehensive UMEC barn knowledge; including barn procedures recordkeeping, facilities, care and use of equipment, basic horse health, emergency protocols for horse and rider, the UM faculty that run the barn; including the Campus Farm manager, and the faculty advisors. Head trainers must show a level of competency and comfort when working around the horses, be an advanced rider as deemed by the training director(s), and submit a resume to the directors prior to being accepted as a Head. Assistant trainers are also evaluated at the beginning of the semester and paired with the Head based on their experience and other factors. It is the job of the Head trainer to instruct the assistant in the many ways of training.

Herd Health and Medical

For more information contact the Herd Health Directors at umec_herdhealth@yahoo.com



The UM Equestrian Club shares responsibility for the health and well-being of ANSChorses. This means our members perform much of the regular care and duties of feeding the horses and cleaning their stalls. They also learn proper health care, how to check reference values such as temperature and respiration, how to identify diseases and lameness, and basic wound care and nutrition. Many learning clinics are held to teach UMEC members about health and all veterinary proceedures such as deworming, vaccinating, and teeth floating are open for memnbers to watch and learn. All members must be checked off for SOP ground levels by Herd Health.