We want to give our beginners a strong foundation that keeps them safe in the excitement to come. Along the way, we hope they’ll learn to appreciate the little stuff: better balance, improved communication with their horse, and the ability to ride joyfully without going fast.
Rainbow Level was created to bridge the gap between “first ride” and “regular student”, giving our Rising Riders a way to measure their achievements.
No matter their age, their previous experience with horses, or their aspirations, these Red Level students are the foundation of a riding school. They are our future lessees, boarders, campers and competitors – the clients we hope we’ll serve for years to come.
We wanted to recognize our students’ progression and achievements even if they could only afford a couple of lessons a month, never attended a show, and never owned a horse of their own.
Use this sample HorseSense teaching guide for unmounted lessons that give Red Level beginner students an introduction to equine behavior and stress signals.
Use this free sample teaching guide for beginner unmounted HorseSense lessons that teach the safety rules for barn, arena, and pasture. These are the skills that every Red Level student must practice from the moment they first set foot in the barn – rules that you must enforce in order to make safety-consciousness the cornerstone of your program.
Equine learning game with a quiz bowl format. Great for teaching young students about horses in unmounted lessons, camps, and clinics.
This sample set of lesson plans for Yellow Level Horsemanship  in the Learning Levels equine curriculum teaches flatwork skills to beginner riders, with detailed lessons and suggestions for modification.
A sample set of Learning Level equitation pattern diagrams for riders with different skill levels.
A sample set of Learning Level obstacle course diagrams for riders with different skill levels.
A sample set of Learning Level jump course diagrams for riders with different skill levels.
Sample set of lesson plans for teaching Red Level Horsemanship to beginner English riders in the Learning Levels equine curriculum – contains two free lessons.
Red Level HorseSense introduces a BUNCH of important safety rules for both unmounted lessons and beginner riding lessons. You can help your students remember all those critical rules with this handy checklist.
Try our free sampler for the study guide download files on your printer – or just open in your browser – to make sure the format will work for you.
Give students this handout with easy directions for signing up on Quizlet and a link to join our free HorseSense Learning Levels Classroom.
Sample set of lesson plans for teaching Rainbow Level unmounted and mounted lessons to young children – contains two free lessons.
Sample set of horsemanship lesson plans for teaching English riding lessons to Green Level students – contains two free lessons.
Stuff Happens card sets contain discussion scenarios to help your students remember safety rules and apply them when riding and when working with horses.
Stuff Happens card sets contain discussion scenarios to help your students remember Red Level unmounted safety rules and apply them when working with horses in the pasture.
Level Up flashcards have terms, definitions and images for terminology used objectives in the Learning Levels curriculum. This free sample lets you test print or view our flashcard formats online.
This fill-in-the-blank worksheet is an “open-book” supplement to the Red Horsemanship Study Guide, emphasizing key concepts and equine terminology for beginner riders.
Booklet just for keeping track of your Rainbow Level students’ progress. This printable booklet contains Rainbow Level objectives from the Learning Levels equine curriculum, formatted as a checklists and written in simple language for your youngest students.
Use this helpful taxonomy for the Learning Levels curriculums to plan efficient mounted and unmounted lessons. This PDF download contains a simple list of our equine educational topics, with revised definitions to incorporate our English and Western Horsemanship, HorseSense, and HorseCentered curriculums.
Our website will be offline on
Thursday, July 4,
starting at 10:00 AM (EDT),
for routine maintenance.
We’ll be shined up and
ready to ride by
July 5.
We’ve been blessed with many talented photographers over the years: students who voluntarily stood in sweltering/ freezing arenas, capturing lifelong memories of lessons, camps and shows. We’re grateful to all of them!
One former student, Delaney Witbrod, is now a professional photographer with a gift for animal portraits – see more of her fine work here. We’re also grateful for photos of Western riding donated by LLPro instructors – particularly Bit of Pleasure Horse School and Joyful Hearts Photography!
You’ll find illustrations throughout our online courses and printed materials graciously donated by our friend Rhonda Hagy. Evan Surrusco contributes additional illustrations and handles most of our photo processing. Contact us for information about their work.
