I Want to Teach

I've been fighting with myself over the last year or so. Bill supports me and always wants me to do what makes me happy, so for that I love him....and he's also my reality check. He reminds me that I don't have very much, if any, free time to go gallivanting around riding whatever horses I please, teaching at a bunch of different barns and plan my life/wedding. The wedding luckily has 14 months to plan itself, so I'll get there when I get there.

Last fall I started to kind of teach Lucy, without really "teaching". I just kind of helped out and stood on the other end of the lunge line. This summer she's started taking real lessons and I have enjoyed teaching more than I ever expected. I tossed around the idea of getting into a show barn or a lesson program somewhere last fall, but nothing ever really cultivated out of it so I stopped looking. I started hacking horses for Shari Brickman this spring so that was a distraction from my main, original goal of wanting to teach.

Now I have decided it's time to move forward with this lifelong pipe dream of wanting to teach for an established team. I am not interested in getting my own insurance to cover my own personal "team", but I would love to step into a teaching role for a team who already has a lesson program. I am not looking to quit my full time job as a graphic designer in Arlington Heights, so this will have to be a part-time position somewhere. Sound complicated yet? I know, I know.

A facility had my dream position open up a few weeks ago and the trainer said she wishes I was available for it - but it's 35 miles one way, and there's no way I would be able to justify that to my family or my horse. I have since applied to one farm who seems to have the ideal position, and I'm waiting to hear back. My fear is they will see on my resume my lack of "professional teaching" experience and throw me out the window. I am praying with all my might to get the benefit of the doubt from them and hear the phone ring any minute now...

When I rode at Heide's, I rode every type of horse there was, and helped my peers very frequently. I learned the elementary basics of riding and horsemanship and learned that this is something I never want to stop doing. I want to ride as long as I live. Then I wanted to become a more serious competitor, so I moved to Diane's. Here I learned patience and rhythm. I continued riding every horse that had four working limbs and continued helping my peers. We frequently took group lessons and were asked to coach one another - which was always my favorite part. I loved coaching. I loved teaching. I loved learning. After college, I started "helping" my friends and since I wanted to keep my amateur status, I never did it for money. I would give my friends lessons for free just because I loved to teach.

So yes, my resume appears to be thin on professional experience, because it is. Only this summer did I decide to take the plunge and become a "professional" in the industry - which I began my career as a judge at St. Charles Farm and Windy Isles Farm as well as teaching little Miss Lucy. But I promise, I have the experience to back up my motivation to teach and more than anything right now, I want to share my knowledge. I want to share my experiences and trials and tribulations. I want to share what I know with everyone who is willing to listen and learn - and I love learning more and more from watching others teach and perform. I go to clinics annually to watch, in addition to horse shows just to see what trends are popular right now, what horses I should keep an eye on, and what trainers are up-and-coming.

I'm hoping to get the call on this position I've applied for - but if I don't, I know it's because God gives us everything for a reason. Whatever is meant to happen, will happen. This waiting thing just isn't always my strong suit ;-)