well. my daughter has been riding at the new barn (http://home.comcast.net/~goodrich-puffer/index.html) for a while now, and loves it here. she is learning things like “posting”, “diagonals”, and “emergency dismounts”…oh my! more importantly, i am not experiencing that vague feeling of uneasiness that never left me at the other barn…the “i can’t put my finger on it, but something doesn’t seem quite right” feeling that mothers (and others) sometimes feel. i don’t feel like that at all when she is riding here. plus, this instructor taught her more in an hour than the prior one did in a month. this instruction makes the other look like…pony rides. expensive pony rides.
have any of you ever had a “gut feeling” about something that turned out to be true? did you follow your instinct right away, or wait awhile first?
Karen Creamer Author, Coach, Speaker 
well, susan, won’t it be wonderful if we can instill that sense in our children? what a gift we will have given them if we can teach them to listen to their own “still small voice” inside of themselves.
It can be difficult if the parent is being influenced by the child. Sometimes the children are swayed by their peers, or they are afraid they won’t ride at all if they “complain”. Parents should be able to check out various establishments and clearly know what the goals are for their children. A lot of the times instincts do not work because they have never been exercised. Keep up the good parenting- riding is a priviledge and it is also an activity that is inherently dangerous.
to camdenstables, your point about being influenced by my daughter is very well taken. part of my confusion was that my daughter was so happy to be riding that when i saw the joy in her face that eclipsed all else, at least at first. i don’t ride so i was sort of deferring to the “experts”, but i definitely did learn my lesson in this case. 🙂 thank you so much for your perspective on this.
I try to make sure the parents are addressed in the lesson- I turn to them as I am teaching to explain concepts. I try to make the student see that whether the parent is a rider or not, they are responsible for their child and have generally sacrificed a lot to have that child ride in the first place. Riding, I believe, involves a commitment from all family members and the one enjoying the actual activity should realize the impact riding can have on the others. No matter what the age – I stress that the participant needs to deal with the responsibilty that goes with the activity they plan to be involved in. My mother always said:”you can’t learn any younger”.
to camdenstables: i appreciate your comments so much; my daughter’s current instructor includes me in the lessons in just the way you described. and thank you for sharing your mother’s wisdom with me. 🙂
Karen,
my daughters have learned to trust me when I need to follow my instincts. They know when I say “It doesn’t feel right.” or “Trust me, it feels right.” that there is nothing like a mother’s instinct to lead us in the right direction!
Susan