Teaching Safe Horsemanship: A Guide to English and Western Instruction

Designed to help instructors create a safe and productive riding environment, this guide provides expert tips on constructing lesson plans, effectively communicating with students, and weeding out dangerous animals. Offering advice on how to minimize accidents and the best way to handle them when they do happen, Jan Dawson also includes suggestions on protective release forms and insurance considerations. Whether your student is learning how to sit in the saddle for the first time or trying to master jumping routines, safe riding is correct riding.

Author Jan Dawson was the owner and operator of Golondrina Stables and Training Center in Texas where she offered boarding, riding lessons, and horse training. She trained riders and horses in hunt seat, western, and dressage until she retired in 1995 to devote her time to horse showing. She teaches clinics to riders and instructors across the United States, teaches safety seminars, and certifies riding instructors. The techniques she uses to instruct her students are also visible in her book, Teaching Safe Horsemanship. Dawson is president and clinician of the American Association for Horsemanship Safety, Inc., and also writes Caution: Horses, the Association’s newsletter. She is a member of the United States Dressage Federation and the American Horse Show Association. Dawson lives in Fentress, Texas, with her family.