PonyPros Mission and Philosophy

Mission

To empower students to create profound relationships with horses by teaching students about horse psychology and giving them natural horsemanship tools for communication.

Some of the PonyPros' Philosophical Principles

1. Kids should be on appropriately sized ponies.
2. Parents and children should be able to appreciate and respect each other’s knowledge about horses. Parents should not feel taken advantage of and children should not feel micromanaged.
3. Families should be able to be involved with horses without suffering exhausting financial pressures.
4. The barn should be a fun place- low stress, low drama- a place where people can relax and be themselves.
5. Horses should be treated as equals.
6. Good riders should be good riders no matter what saddle they are riding in and good horses should be good horses no matter what saddle is on them.
7. Neither people nor horses should ever have to feel scared, but those who never learn to work through fear and come out indignant is an essential life skill.
8. Horses and humans can learn to speak the same language. Learning to communicate with horses will help you communicate more completely in other areas of your life.
9. Horses and humans have goals that are not mutually exclusive. In fact, their goals are often the same when the situation is presented correctly.
10. The difference between coaching and instructing is that coaches believe that the athlete already has all the skills needed; they just need to figure out how to harness them. Instructors function under the belief that they need to give the student skills. We are coaches.
11. The coach’s job is to keep frustration low, safety high, and to help students and horses make steady progress.
12. Horses are born light and responsive. They become dull with improper handling.
13. Riders’ legs should cling to the horse like a wet towel, not grip or squeeze constantly.
14. Riders’ hands should be as sensitive as a horse’s skin.
15. People’s names are innately tied to their personalities and affect how others view them. Horses should be given names that fit them and that draw out their best qualities.
16. Horses and people both want safety, comfort, and play. The PonyPros are here to show you how to get them!