The girl sat silently on her horse, staring at the pommel of her saddle. Her face was contorted in an expression of agony, but no amount of gentle prompting could convince her to speak. Finally, two big tears slid down her cheeks. “I don’t know,” she whispered, every word an effort.
Had we been chastising her for terrible riding, or questioning her ability to commit to the show team as promised?
No, we were simply building a combination for her to jump. We had asked the girl, an honors student in her junior year at high school, “What’s 11 times 3?”
It seems hard to believe, but in our years of teaching riding lessons and horsekeeping skills, we have seen more tears caused by simple math questions than by a horse standing on someone’s toe!
When caught off guard by something resembling math, a surprising majority of students will produce something similar to a freeze response in a horse.
Once they enter this state, any pressure can result in a meltdown or shut down. Just think of them as a horse that’s gone over threshold.
In our experience, this phenomenon is most common in teenage girls, even those supposedly acing algebra and trigonometry.
But we’ve seen math phobia in students of all ages, from a variety of educational backgrounds.
Why does this matter? Because we use mental math in the arena and around the barn on a daily basis...
- Placing 20-, 15- and 10-meter figures precisely inside a regulation dressage arena, and determining percentage scores for students after scoring their practice tests.
- Calculating rations to ensure our horses are getting their recommended daily fiber intake, especially the horses who need to lose or gain weight.
- Setting polework exercises that can be ridden at the walk, trot and canter.
- Building jump courses and gymnastic grids, and adjusting them to suit individual horses and riders.
- Checking the scoreboard at horse shows to make sure everyone’s faults and time penalties were added correctly. (We have caught mistakes and reported them to the show office before, changing the placing of the class.)
- Taking vital signs, particularly heart rate — because no horse stands with their head still for sixty full seconds, especially after a workout!
- Determining dosage for supplements and medicine.
- Budgeting to ensure every horse’s expenses are covered — not a pleasant activity, but a necessary one!
In order to meet several requirements for both Horsemanship and HorseSense Levels, our students need to be able to do these calculations efficiently.
And call us old fashioned, but we believe they should be able to set a simple line of trot poles or figure out twenty percent of 1000 without pulling out a calculator.
But if kids aren’t developing the ability to do mental math confidently at school, it may fall on us to teach them the math skills they need at the barn
You probably signed up for this job intending to teach body language and posting diagonals, not multiplication tables.
If you think about it, though, we teach a lot of life skills disguised as horseback riding. Responsibility, compassion, sportsmanship, punctuality, patience… the list goes on and on.
Good horsemanship involves a lot of thoughtful problem solving, and number-crunching is occasionally part of it.
And just think of the marketing potential. If you can help students learn some useful math, your program will sound particularly appealing to parents!
Here are some strategies for incorporating math practice into your mounted and unmounted lessons:
Ask without judgment
As early as possible, ask students how much arithmetic they think they can comfortably do in their head. Can they add? Subtract? Multiply? Find common denominators?
Younger children, of course, may not have previous experience with these skills, but you can start talking numbers in Red Level while setting walk poles and discussing safe feeding practices.
Emphasize that there is no wrong answer to this question — but that students will need a few basic math skills in the arena and barn, so if they find metal math difficult, they’ll need to plan on practicing some math skills along with their two-point position and shortening reins.
Explain this cheerfully and confidently. Students often believe that math is something they either can or can’t do, and may be skeptical of your assurance that they can develop their calculation skills through practice.
Should this conversation take place in proximity to a parent? You’ll need to go with your gut here. A supportive parent can be a great help, but if the child already feels pressure or shame, or has developed a resistance to anything perceived as “schoolwork,” you may need to approach the subject from your own unique, horsey angle.
Practice makes progress
You can ask your students to practice mental math at home, but accept that it may or may not happen. Instead, look for opportunities to incorporate it into your regular lessons.
A few ideas:
Talk through every calculation you make on the job. As students circle at E or B, explain that you should be able to walk ten big paces from A or C to the edge of their circle — because placing a 20m circle in the middle of a 40m arena leaves 10m of space on each side.
If you place ground poles 9 feet apart, students will likely feel their horses put in three walk steps, two trot steps, and one canter step — explain why!
Play estimation games. Ask students:
“How many feet do you think it is from here to that cone?”
“How many strides do you think your horse will put in between these fence posts?
“How many steps would you guess you’ll take pushing that wheelbarrow to the muck heap?”
“How many steps would you guess your horse will take on a 20m circle?”
Not only will students be applying numbers to a real, visible purpose, they’ll develop their eye for a distance, which will come in handy when they’re riding over obstacles.
Do your students aspire to jump? Explain that they’ll need to know their multiplication tables in order to calculate striding and set safe distances.
Practice reciting the times tables during the warm-up walk or mid-lesson break every week, starting with 1 and working your way up.
To encourage students to practice ahead of time — and sneak in some fitness work while you’re at it — tell them they will be riding in two-point position without stirrups while reciting their numbers each week. No sitting down until they get to 12!
A lot of math phobia going around? Consider holding a Math for Equestrians class
You might pitch it under an alternative title: “The Secret to Successful Jumping Practice” or “Horses By the Numbers”.
This can be a single class or a series of lessons including discussion and hands-on activities that allow students to practice putting math concepts in action.
Consider making attendance mandatory for students who hope to achieve upper Levels or join advanced classes.
MARKETING TIP: Advertise your horsey math class to homeschoolers! Look up local homeschool groups and community Facebook groups that allow promotion to parents.
You can read more about pitching homeschool horsemanship programs in THE BIG BOOK OF BARN LESSONS.
Do YOU find working with numbers to be easy and natural? Or do you struggle with basic math skills, and reach for your phone’s calculator at every opportunity?
If you are in the first group, you may need to practice some empathy.
Math is a part of life, but for various reasons, not everyone can wield it confidently.
We know many children who gravitate toward horses because they think they are “bad at school,” and find the barn to be a safe, non-judgmental learning environment. These students may need a little extra help from you in order to practice fundamental horsemanship skills such as taking vitals and setting poles.
Think of it as an opportunity to Level Up your own teaching skills — and to reflect on the amazing way that horses help us learn everything!
