FEBRUARY 2006 • VOLUME 6 • HORSES For LIFE™ Magazine

So what is NLP?

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) studies the structure of how humans think and experience the world. Obviously, the structure of something so subjective does not lend itself to precise, statistical formulae but instead leads to models of how these things work. From these models, techniques for quickly and effectively changing thoughts, behaviors and beliefs that limit you have been developed.

So what does that have to do with teaching?

What does that have to do with riding? How can it help me become a better and more effective instructor?

If we are to become effective instructors, we must always remember the burden of teaching lies with us. Not with the student, not with the rider. It is up to us to find those methods that are most effective with each rider, to help them to learn.

NLP can help us become more effective instructors by giving us some basic tools to understand how and what the rider is thinking and how he thinks.

It is common knowledge that different people learn differently. Some learn through touch, hands on experience, some can learn through explanation or through verbalization and auditorial, but most learn best through seeing, visually.

But how as instructors are we to know which works best with which students?  And to further compound the problem, how do we know at this moment in time what he is thinking about? As what and how he is currently thinking will influence which method he will best respond to?

Is the rider you are working with more responsive to visualizing a movement, having terms explained in pictures, or by demonstration, or by visualizing himself doing the movement?

OR

Is the rider one who needs to know how it feels? Does he do better if you explain to him what he needs to feel in his hands, in his body, in his legs? Will he learn best if you wait for that moment when he can feel in his body what you want him to feel, and then let him know that he now has it correct?

OR

Is this a rider that needs help through your explaining the method in in-depth detail?

NLP provides us with some tools whereby we can analyze the current thought pattern of the rider and by analyzing the current workings of his mind, we then are given a guideline on which method of teaching will work best with this rider at this moment in time.

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