Therapeutic Riding or Traditional Riding Lessons: What's the Difference?

If your child loves horses, your first thought might be to find them a riding school, and for plenty of children that will be exactly the right thing. But there are also children and adults who desperately want to be around horses and ride but find the traditional riding-school environment difficult to access. That is where therapeutic and wellbeing riding can offer something different.

What is the difference between therapeutic riding and riding lessons?

The main purpose of a traditional riding lesson is usually learning and improving riding skills. A rider might work on their position, steering and transitions and gradually progress through different ridden skills. They may ride within a group, follow a lesson structure and work towards becoming a more capable and independent rider. If that is what somebody wants and they enjoy that environment, a good riding school is the right place for them.

Therapeutic and wellbeing riding can still involve learning those riding skills, but riding progression doesn't have to be the only reason somebody is there. A participant may have SEND, experience anxiety, struggle within groups or simply need more individual support and a different pace. They might want to learn to ride just as much as anybody else, but need a different way of getting there.

A more individual approach to riding

At Wild Mane, we can work around the individual rather than expecting them to keep up with a group lesson. If somebody needs longer before getting on, we have that time. If they need to know exactly what is going to happen first, we can do that. If they arrive one day and riding isn't right for them that day, the session doesn't suddenly become pointless because there is so much more we can do with horses from the ground.

Riding is only one part of horsemanship

We don't see riding as the only important part of being around horses. Grooming, leading, caring for them, understanding their behaviour and learning to communicate with them are all part of horsemanship. We want somebody to get to know the pony they are working with, rather than the pony simply being something they get on at the beginning of a lesson and hand back when they finish.

Therapeutic riding doesn't mean clinical therapy

Therapeutic riding also doesn't mean that we are providing clinical therapy. At Wild Mane we use therapeutic approaches within our work, but we aren't calling something therapy simply because a horse is involved. Our Therapeutic & Wellbeing Riding is about making riding and horsemanship accessible to people who may benefit from a more individual approach.

Which type of riding is right for my child?

If you are trying to decide which would suit your child, I would start with why they want to ride and what they need from the environment around them. If they want traditional riding lessons and can access that environment, that's where I would look. If they want to ride but need more individual support, fewer pressures, a different pace or somebody who can work around their needs, therapeutic and wellbeing riding may be a better fit.

Therapeutic & Wellbeing Riding at Wild Mane

We're currently taking names for the Wild Mane Therapeutic & Wellbeing Riding waiting list while we prepare to start sessions.